In 1984
In 1984I hope it will never be as bad as it was in 1984
In 1948 Eric Blair, better known as George Orwell, wrote a book with chilling insights into the future, 1984. In that book he describes in detail how the government of Oceania manipulated the truth and regulated feelings and thoughts. An irrational future for society, perhaps not even today in the media there are ways of lying to us and making us think what they want by showing us what they want us to see. In 1984, Thought Police watch the people through telescreens, microphones and helicopters. Many people do not believe this will come true because they do not see it happening. However, it is entirely conceivable that the government could be watching us now. Perhaps, though only on a small scale.
Internet surveillance is one of the hottest subjects within this notion, and some people are very good at it. The people watching probably would not go directly into your account, which would be as illegal as entering your private room without a warrant. However, they could easily watch the packets of information running through their systems and rebuild the your private E-mail, or newsgroup transactions, piecing those together can be detrimental to you, as well as legal for the watcher. In order to change the future and the present you do not need to own a time machine. You simply have to control the past. In 1984 the government, or "The Party," controlled the past. They were able to destroy all proof that something did or did not happen. "The Party" was able to destroy all of the references that something, even a person, ever existed. Although one may remember that person, they could never find proof that it was true. The most alarming part about this is that it is much easier to do it in the world today. Since most information is now kept on disk, and backed up onto even more magnetic media, one could simply destroy all areas where the data said that someone had existed. Talk about a missing person.
Our government is taking steps towards this type of Orwellian society all the time. It is hard to believe, but just look at recent legislation. It first started with the advent of the...
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