More about 1984

I am endlessly fond of pointing out that the residents of Paris rioted in the 17th century when the French government decided to formalize the street names and assign numbers to the buildings. This was considered to be altogether too much government interference in the daily lives of people. Now look at us here in our "free countries" of the First World. It's to the point where we can't even imaging how our addresses could be considered an invasion of privacy, so effectively our freedoms have been eroded.

Think about the things George Orwell predicted in 1948 - find one that hasn't come true:

The cameras are everywhere. That doesn't even need explaining. If I cross the border I am photographed. When I take money out of the bank I am photographed. When I buy a pop in the corner store I am photographed. All in the name of protecting me from crime. Big Brother is looking out for me.

The perpetual war. This doesn't even need explaining. America sells weapons to it's own enemies, for chirssake. So does Russia, France, England, and a host of others.

The Lottery. "Voluntary taxation for the mathematically inept". Robbing the poor and stupid to fill goverment coffers.

Newspeak is everywhere. Turn on the news on just about any given day and you're likely to hear of someone being convicted of a "sexcrime". I used to have "Unemployment Insurance" (since I was, obviously, insuring myself against being unemployed), but now it's "Employment Insurance" because God forbid my fragile, out-of-work ego be damaged as I am starving. Not that I was able to collect when I actually was unemployed because I failed to meet the convoluted criteria for collecting on the insurance the government forces me to buy.

The Ministry of Truth. Have you read a newspaper lately? Post-it notes are less yellow. Have you seen "The Patriot" or "Pearl Harbor"? Did you know that the US lost a war and that the White House was burned down by the victorious troops? If the Gulf War was about "democracy" why is it that Saddam Hussein was elected and Kuwait is an absolute monarchy? Meanwhile shit is happening in Afghanistan that would make Hitler blush but you hear next to nothing about it. I could bore you to death with examples.

Go ahead, pick anything. It's happening right now. It's just that it was done so gradually no one really noticed.