Saturday, July 14, 2007

The 1984 in 2007

We don't exactly have a Ministry of Truth, but the entertainment and advertisement industries of our world, combined with the language of today's politicians, seem to be doing a pretty decent job of what Syme describes as the purpose of Newspeak (pgs 53-53): narrowing the range of consciousness until the need/opportunity to think for oneself is eliminated altogether.

The entertainment and advertisement industries seem to have merged into one big thought-killing/controlling machine. In movies, TV shows, and music videos, actor and actresses with unrealistically flawless bodies swig cans of Pepsi or Coke, wear insanely expensive designer clothes, possess all the latest technological gadgets. If you drive to SF airport or flip open a magazine, check your email or turn on the TV - you'll see those same celebrities (or other equally flawless models) hawking those same products on billboards, ads, animated banners, and commercials.

This stuff is everywhere, but we're so used to it that we don't see it. Even when we find ourselves fat from the cases and cases of soda we drink, clothed in last year's ridiculous trends, surrounded by piles of obsolete gadgets, and drowning in debt from buying them - we still think our thoughts are our own.

But they are your own, say the politicians. Spending money boosts our economy. The rate at which gadgets become obsolete testify to the fact that America is the home of the best and the brightest of minds, always at the cutting edge of technology. And don't let anyone call you fat. You're not fat - you're simply a horizontally-challenged person of substance.

Pretty soon we're all going to be like the duckman, quack quack quacking.

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