Monday, July 16, 2007

The two similar societies

In regards to the in class discussion about Bush’s unclear speech, I feel that if an individual really cared about what’s going on around them, he or she should really use their own time to research on the issue and use their own brains to judge the credibility of the issue themselves. In our society, you can’t rely on the media or government officials to give you truth on current events because every new station and government official is biased in some way for whatever reason. For example the Fox New Station is one of the only new station in America that stands on the liberal side of the political spectrum. While, news channels such as ABC, NBC, and CBS tend to be on the conservative side. However, my point is, if an individual really wanted to know the truth what’s happening, he or she should not rely on anything but themselves. Every one of us is born with a brain, so we should use that brain to filter what we see and hear around us and to make educated judgments by ourselves. Nevertheless, the sad truth is, the majority of Americans just don’t seem to care that much and are not willing to put in that extra effort, as a result, the majority of the population is living by false information.

In connection to 1984, I definitely agree that the telescreen from 1984 is very similar to how the US government is currently spying on it’s own citizens under the Patriot Act. Another thing that I noticed was the close similarity between the working class of America and the people of 1984 in terms of their everyday lifestyle. The people of 1984 have very little free time after work, and even if they did, they are so tired from work that the only enjoyment at home that they have is smoke and drink beer. This is very similar to the working class people of America; their work hours so long that when they come home they can only watch TV and sleep. However, more importantly, when people are constantly worked like animals, they don’t have the energy and the time to think and to find ways of elevating their living standards. You find this a common sight in America, people who find a job, usually stay at that same job level all their lives, because they simply don’t have that extra energy and time to educate themselves and climb higher on the social ladder. In the case of 1984, by keeping all their citizens either constantly at work or dead tired by the time they get home that all can could do is to smoke and drink alcohol, it becomes really easy for the government to control them. Because, like the people of America, the people of 1984 don’t have that extra time to think about why their life is so difficult everyday, and if the possibility of a better lifestyle is out there.

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