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Michael Perkins's Reviews > 1984
1984
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鈥淥rwell was one of those upon whom nothing was lost. (This included, as Orwell himself said: 鈥渢he power of facing unpleasant facts鈥�). By declining to lie, even as far as possible to himself, and by his determination to seek elusive but verifiable truth, he showed how much can be accomplished by an individual who unites the qualities of intellectual honesty and moral courage.鈥�
-Christopher Hitchens
============
And now coming to the U.S.....
UPDATE: here's our new Orwell
China: 鈥淭he goal is algorithmic governance"
and a link to a more comprehensive impact of artificial intelligence....
=======================
It has been sometime since I read 1984. It was fascinating to get re-introduced to the specifics of Newspeak. As in the book, not only are our politics severely degraded, but so is our media. Every morning, I look at about six supposedly dependable news sources across the spectrum. Increasingly the "content" has become a mixture of celebrity gossip and Newspeak. In 2016, I think one-time stalwarts, such as the NYT, got a harsh lesson in their lack of clout. Unfortunately, the old mainstream media seems to have increasingly mimicked social media to compete for readership.
Trump proved to be an unholy godsend to the media. Some, not necessarily right wing, mourned his 2020 loss because he was an "entertainer."
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Such a society portrayed in 1984 did exist in the supposed utopia of the Soviet Union. But in many ways our own society is more Huxleyan than Orwellian.....
鈥淲hat Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egotism.
Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumble puppy.
As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists, who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny, 鈥渇ailed to take into account man鈥檚 almost infinite appetite for distractions.鈥�
In 1984, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we fear will ruin us. Huxley feared that our desire will ruin us.鈥�
鈥� Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
===========
A book that signifiently influenced Orwell...
/review/show...
======
Aldous Huxley and Eric Blair (Orwell) at Eton
/author_blog...
-Christopher Hitchens
============
And now coming to the U.S.....
UPDATE: here's our new Orwell
China: 鈥淭he goal is algorithmic governance"
and a link to a more comprehensive impact of artificial intelligence....
=======================
It has been sometime since I read 1984. It was fascinating to get re-introduced to the specifics of Newspeak. As in the book, not only are our politics severely degraded, but so is our media. Every morning, I look at about six supposedly dependable news sources across the spectrum. Increasingly the "content" has become a mixture of celebrity gossip and Newspeak. In 2016, I think one-time stalwarts, such as the NYT, got a harsh lesson in their lack of clout. Unfortunately, the old mainstream media seems to have increasingly mimicked social media to compete for readership.
Trump proved to be an unholy godsend to the media. Some, not necessarily right wing, mourned his 2020 loss because he was an "entertainer."
--------
Such a society portrayed in 1984 did exist in the supposed utopia of the Soviet Union. But in many ways our own society is more Huxleyan than Orwellian.....
鈥淲hat Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egotism.
Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumble puppy.
As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists, who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny, 鈥渇ailed to take into account man鈥檚 almost infinite appetite for distractions.鈥�
In 1984, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we fear will ruin us. Huxley feared that our desire will ruin us.鈥�
鈥� Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
===========
A book that signifiently influenced Orwell...
/review/show...
======
Aldous Huxley and Eric Blair (Orwell) at Eton
/author_blog...
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Quotes Michael Liked
“Officially the change of partners had never happened. Oceania was at war with Eurasia: therefore Oceania had always been at war with Eurasia. The enemy of the moment always represented absolute evil,”
― 1984
― 1984
“All history was a palimpsest, scraped clean and reinscribed exactly as often as was necessary.”
― 1984
― 1984
“Julia had once been picked out to work in Pornosec, the sub-section of the Fiction Department which turned out cheap pornography for distribution among the proles. It was nicknamed Muck House by the people who worked in it, she remarked. There she had remained for a year, helping to produce booklets in sealed packets with titles like Spanking Stories or One Night in a Girls鈥� School, to be bought furtively by proletarian youths who were under the impression that they were buying something illegal.
鈥淲hat are these books like?鈥� said Winston curiously.
鈥淥h, ghastly rubbish. They鈥檙e boring, really. They only have six plots, but they swap them round a bit.”
― 1984
鈥淲hat are these books like?鈥� said Winston curiously.
鈥淥h, ghastly rubbish. They鈥檙e boring, really. They only have six plots, but they swap them round a bit.”
― 1984
Reading Progress
Finished Reading
October 1, 2012
– Shelved
December 27, 2017
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Started Reading
December 27, 2017
– Shelved as:
to-read
January 5, 2018
–
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"Orwell anticipates our own day in 1984....
"Julia could describe the whole process of composing a novel, from the general directive issued by the Planning Committee down to the final touching-up by the Rewrite Squad. But she was not interested in the finished product. She 鈥渄idn鈥檛 much care for reading,鈥� she said. Books were just a commodity that had to be produced, like jam or bootlaces.""
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"Julia could describe the whole process of composing a novel, from the general directive issued by the Planning Committee down to the final touching-up by the Rewrite Squad. But she was not interested in the finished product. She 鈥渄idn鈥檛 much care for reading,鈥� she said. Books were just a commodity that had to be produced, like jam or bootlaces.""
January 6, 2018
–
Finished Reading
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Cecily
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rated it 4 stars
Jun 10, 2018 02:32PM
Reading this now, half a decade after you wrote it, seems bang up to date.
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What's amazing is that the Orwell-Huxley quote is the preface to a book that came out 33 years ago! The book, "Amusing Ourselves to Death" was about the perils of TV addiction. Talk about prescience about where that behavior might take us in the years ahead.
I have opened your review of that to read tomorrow when I am more alert.Meanwhile, how about this....
鈥淒istraction, rather than being occasional and derivative, becomes perpetual and primary. Rather than being a diversion from the main thing you do, it becomes the main thing you do.鈥�
Gosh, I can relate to that. Scarily so.
Enjoyed your review of Fahrenheit 451, including the inclusion of the article link for LA Weekly in which Bradbury explained how many have misinterpreted the meaning of the book.
Thanks. His intended meaning is even more relevant than the more obvious one.
I confess, the last time I read it, awhile ago, I had no clarity on his intention, true or false. That makes it one for the re-read list.
Don't forget David Foster Wallace's perceptions about amusing ourselves to death in Infinite Jest.
Yes, very prescient on that. He was able to deduce from our TV addiction a major problem that would persist. Now, it's clear in what form, including new forms of TV itself....Reed Hastings, Netflix鈥檚 CEO, has said its biggest competitor is sleep. 鈥淭hink about it: when you watch a show from Netflix and you get addicted to it, you stay up late at night 鈥� we鈥檙e competing with sleep.
I cite the trivial (though ubiquitous in Winston's World) to remark on the two-way video screen in his apartment. How interesting that in 2021 (and by now for about ten years in the West) folks voluntarily carry tracking devices. Some of us old schoolers have two-way video on laptops. And some have an on-line microphone turned on 24/7. Thankfully not so trivial - "leadership" is not so malevolent as that in 1984 . Plus, such things as PGP, VPN, and tape over the 'eyeball' (laptop camera) are readily at hand - some of that requires extra no money.
(one presumes "Alexa" includes encryption)
I wonder what Huxley would think/say to see the near ubiquity of the MePhone? Mind Candy voluntarily carried - perhaps even more distracting than Soma.
I first read 1984 in a blithe, abstracted way when I was 14-15 - and why not? I was born in a liberal republic with historically unrivalled autonomy, so prevalent that (with some knowledge of that history) it seemed as free as the air we breathe. Of course enjoying historically unrivalled wealth - essential freedom from want - made a blithe/abstracted reading all the easier.
Ten years later my re-read affected me much more deeply - though still thankful for prosperous freedom. The final chapters comprised a horror story unrivalled by any of the supernatural kind
(see how modern, successful mitiagation of natural privations remove fear of "the unknown" and the fantastic?)
No horror writer ever came up with anything so scary as the systematic removal of the very concept of freedom (Newspeak).
I suppose psychological torture existed in the forties - but surely Orwell advanced the notion somewhat (those final chapters) - perhaps providing modern torturers with fresn inspirations (a reason for Soviet leadership to read such a "banned book").
(how interesting it must have been to look into such a literary mirror)
Surveillance existed for millenia before this novel - but the real innovation - that two-way screen - suggests that Orwell may have known about Farnsworth and his television prototypes. Even if he didn't - that screen qualifies 1984 as science fiction.
we are a combination of Huxley & Orwell. We've taken a step in the direction of China in deploying facial recognition software. The danger is that it lacks nuance.
Great review Michael. I fear more the banning of books than people鈥檚 desire to read them. But both are great concerns.
