Nineteen Eighty-four, inspiration from it, and a comparison
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First off, I'd like to introduce myself to the community as a first-time writer. That being done, let's get straight to the case at hand.
I just finished off "Nineteen Eighty-four" by George Orwell(That is the writer's pen name, and the name which he is most known by) and it was an ideologically sharpening experience to read, to put it that way. It made me picture the totalitarian state's negative aspects in full-HD brutal visions, all at the same time having some very sinister connections and similarities to today's world.
For instance, in the book, the writer talks of "Newspeak" which in all shortness is a constructed language for the purpose of making "thoughtcrime" (freedom of speech/thought etc) impossible. This is the main similarity between 1984's Nightmarishly described totalitarian super-state and today's fairly liberal social-democracies (in my case, anyways)
Newspeak isn't even called Newspeak in our society, but Political correctness.
There are even phrases that mean the same thing, action or other, that by how you write about them, make them "illegal or legal".(in the sense of morally allowed)
For example: Racial Discrimination, and Affirmative Action.
Free Enterprise Capitalism, and plutonomy
Or Hell, even Capitalism and Greed.
Education and Propaganda.
What also goes on is such a twisting of the language that you cannot call a road a road but very nearly must call it "Flattened Asphalt Surface which Motorized transportation-devices use to their advantage".
Schools aren't called schools, but Educational Knowledge-centres
Hospitals are called "Health Maintainance buildings"
Black people are called "People with a high concentration of melanine in their skin
Whites are called "caucasian"
bums are called "homeless people"
and so forth and so on goes the list of these words.
There are so many "politically Correct" newspeak words, and phrases that bear such a striking resemblance to the novel 1984, and that potentially could distort our language and ways of being into something quite unnatural.
Furthermore I'd like to state that I am from a fairly socialist country, born and raised and may therefore be heavily biased by my "education" and Traditionally Christian Values(not a belief in god, but that's for another time)
Have a good day, sirs.
EDIT: fixed a few mistakes here and there
I just finished off "Nineteen Eighty-four" by George Orwell(That is the writer's pen name, and the name which he is most known by) and it was an ideologically sharpening experience to read, to put it that way. It made me picture the totalitarian state's negative aspects in full-HD brutal visions, all at the same time having some very sinister connections and similarities to today's world.
For instance, in the book, the writer talks of "Newspeak" which in all shortness is a constructed language for the purpose of making "thoughtcrime" (freedom of speech/thought etc) impossible. This is the main similarity between 1984's Nightmarishly described totalitarian super-state and today's fairly liberal social-democracies (in my case, anyways)
Newspeak isn't even called Newspeak in our society, but Political correctness.
There are even phrases that mean the same thing, action or other, that by how you write about them, make them "illegal or legal".(in the sense of morally allowed)
For example: Racial Discrimination, and Affirmative Action.
Free Enterprise Capitalism, and plutonomy
Or Hell, even Capitalism and Greed.
Education and Propaganda.
What also goes on is such a twisting of the language that you cannot call a road a road but very nearly must call it "Flattened Asphalt Surface which Motorized transportation-devices use to their advantage".
Schools aren't called schools, but Educational Knowledge-centres
Hospitals are called "Health Maintainance buildings"
Black people are called "People with a high concentration of melanine in their skin
Whites are called "caucasian"
bums are called "homeless people"
and so forth and so on goes the list of these words.
There are so many "politically Correct" newspeak words, and phrases that bear such a striking resemblance to the novel 1984, and that potentially could distort our language and ways of being into something quite unnatural.
Furthermore I'd like to state that I am from a fairly socialist country, born and raised and may therefore be heavily biased by my "education" and Traditionally Christian Values(not a belief in god, but that's for another time)
Have a good day, sirs.
EDIT: fixed a few mistakes here and there
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I had never heard of this book (which I'm kind of surprised at) and will have to check it out from the library. Anyway, I love these kinds of stories, with the whole dictatorship government trying to crush individualism and make everyone mindless zombies that just do what ever Big Brother tells them to. And on the newspeak thing, I'm pretty sure I saw this on the Colbert Report the other night with Frank Luntz, where they were talking about how he changes words to make them sound more appealing to the American public, and that sounds pretty damn close to this...just saying.
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I just watched the movie on TV a few weeks ago, but i can't recall if i acctually read the book. i knew the story and the theme for as long as i can remember.
Big Brother is watching you.
if you've not already, read Fahrenheit 451. it's a similar premis, but goes in a different direction.
Big Brother is watching you.
if you've not already, read Fahrenheit 451. it's a similar premis, but goes in a different direction.
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MrShadowzs wrote...
I had never heard of this book (which I'm kind of surprised at) and will have to check it out from the library. Anyway, I love these kinds of stories, with the whole dictatorship government trying to crush individualism and make everyone mindless zombies that just do what ever Big Brother tells them to. And on the newspeak thing, I'm pretty sure I saw this on the Colbert Report the other night with Frank Luntz, where they were talking about how he changes words to make them sound more appealing to the American public, and that sounds pretty damn close to this...just saying. I would also suggest "Brave New World", another story about a controlled civilization, hierarchy in society. Bit more different overall though.
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I think comparing Newspeak to political correctness can have merit, but it is very easy to push it too far. There's nothing wrong with referring to a "bum" as a "homeless person." In fact, I think it is wrong to simply refer to the homeless as "bums" because it takes away the humanity and any of the reasons that exist for them being homeless. When you say, "Look at that bum on the street," you're saying, "Look at that guy that doesn't want to work," when the fact of the matter could be that the person has an untreated mental illness that prevents him from working; or he lost his job and had no savings and wasn't able to pick himself back up, so the street is the only place to go; or he could be an alcoholic dismissed by his family that hit the bottom of the barrel and had no one to help him get back on his feet.
There isn't a problem with being more descriptive and accurate. All people that live on the street are not "bums"; because they do not have homes, they are "homeless." That's not even political correctness.
Calling people "white" or "black" is similar. Words have power, and colors can be symbolic. "White" can be the best, and "black" can be the worst. "White" is good" while "black" is evil (who hasn't seen that in a video game?). These words are commonplace, but it's not like they actually make sense. Black people aren't black; they're brown, some darkers than others and some lighter. White people aren't white; they're pink, and some "white" people are even pretty damn dark, so that "white" doesn't describe them at all. When people talk about each other, it's not much of a problem, but if a large authority figure like the government said that "white" and "black" were official titles and everything else was unneeded, it could feel oppressive.
To summarize, calling a road a "flattened asphalt surface on which vehicles travel" is too much, but we still have "dirt roads" and "gravel roads" and "highways." They're all roads, but we describe what they are when we refer to them, and things work better that way.
There isn't a problem with being more descriptive and accurate. All people that live on the street are not "bums"; because they do not have homes, they are "homeless." That's not even political correctness.
Calling people "white" or "black" is similar. Words have power, and colors can be symbolic. "White" can be the best, and "black" can be the worst. "White" is good" while "black" is evil (who hasn't seen that in a video game?). These words are commonplace, but it's not like they actually make sense. Black people aren't black; they're brown, some darkers than others and some lighter. White people aren't white; they're pink, and some "white" people are even pretty damn dark, so that "white" doesn't describe them at all. When people talk about each other, it's not much of a problem, but if a large authority figure like the government said that "white" and "black" were official titles and everything else was unneeded, it could feel oppressive.
To summarize, calling a road a "flattened asphalt surface on which vehicles travel" is too much, but we still have "dirt roads" and "gravel roads" and "highways." They're all roads, but we describe what they are when we refer to them, and things work better that way.
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It seems like this belongs more in Random (or a Literature section, if we had one). There isn't a lot of "discussion" going on here.
0
Abstrous wrote...
First off, I'd like to introduce myself to the community as a first-time writer. That being done, let's get straight to the case at hand.I just finished off "Nineteen Eighty-four" by George Orwell(That is the writer's pen name, and the name which he is most known by) and it was an ideologically sharpening experience to read, to put it that way. It made me picture the totalitarian state's negative aspects in full-HD brutal visions, all at the same time having some very sinister connections and similarities to today's world.
For instance, in the book, the writer talks of "Newspeak" which in all shortness is a constructed language for the purpose of making "thoughtcrime" (freedom of speech/thought etc) impossible. This is the main similarity between 1984's Nightmarishly described totalitarian super-state and today's fairly liberal social-democracies (in my case, anyways)
Newspeak isn't even called Newspeak in our society, but Political correctness.
There are even phrases that mean the same thing, action or other, that by how you write about them, make them "illegal or legal".(in the sense of morally allowed)
For example: Racial Discrimination, and Affirmative Action.
Free Enterprise Capitalism, and plutonomy
Or Hell, even Capitalism and Greed.
Education and Propaganda.
What also goes on is such a twisting of the language that you cannot call a road a road but very nearly must call it "Flattened Asphalt Surface which Motorized transportation-devices use to their advantage".
Schools aren't called schools, but Educational Knowledge-centres
Hospitals are called "Health Maintainance buildings"
Black people are called "People with a high concentration of melanine in their skin
Whites are called "caucasian"
bums are called "homeless people"
and so forth and so on goes the list of these words.
There are so many "politically Correct" newspeak words, and phrases that bear such a striking resemblance to the novel 1984, and that potentially could distort our language and ways of being into something quite unnatural.
Furthermore I'd like to state that I am from a fairly socialist country, born and raised and may therefore be heavily biased by my "education" and Traditionally Christian Values(not a belief in god, but that's for another time)
Have a good day, sirs.
EDIT: fixed a few mistakes here and there
The idea that "political correctness" is equal to a government enforced newspeak is going a little bit to far. People, luckily, have begun to move away from intentionally malicious words to describe people to words that can describe the same thing without having to demean the person being described.
A good example of this in the united states is the general drift away from the word "Nigger" to "black" or "African American". Also, I have never seen someone describe a person who has black skin as "a person with a high concentration of melanine in their skin", which brings be to the main point, which is that the "political correctness gone wrong" you describe is simply not happening.
I have traveled a fair amount in the United States and Canada, and have been to Europe a few times, but I have never seen a School called "*Insert name of town here* central Educational Knowledge-centre".
TL;DR Version: Much of the "political correctness" we see is good, and extreme examples such as "Educational Knowledge-centres" are either nonexistent or so mind bogglingly rare that they may as well not happened.
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Voba wrote...
I have traveled a fair amount in the United States and Canada, and have been to Europe a few times, but I have never seen a School called "*Insert name of town here* central Educational Knowledge-centre". TL;DR Version: Much of the "political correctness" we see is good, and extreme examples such as "Educational Knowledge-centres" are either nonexistent or so mind bogglingly rare that they may as well not happened.
Well, I was exaggerating this on purpose with the "educational centres" among other things... a proposal by the Norwegian Socialist Leftist party, to rename all schools to "knowledge centres", and it suited here to attract your attention.
Just Clarifying.
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Ah Flaser, How I love your posts.
More to the point, Welocme to the community, feel free to post more. Orwell is one of my top 100 authors, and Newspeak is very prevalent in todays society. We as a society seem destined to move into an age of corporations and companies in which governments and nations fade into futuristic fiefdoms of money and power. Times in which the latest and greatest technologies and monopolies on copyrights indudstries result in espionage wars amongst these robber barons. Indeed,the balance of power will not remain so, either more to the government or more to the "civilian" side of the spectrum.
More to the point, Welocme to the community, feel free to post more. Orwell is one of my top 100 authors, and Newspeak is very prevalent in todays society. We as a society seem destined to move into an age of corporations and companies in which governments and nations fade into futuristic fiefdoms of money and power. Times in which the latest and greatest technologies and monopolies on copyrights indudstries result in espionage wars amongst these robber barons. Indeed,the balance of power will not remain so, either more to the government or more to the "civilian" side of the spectrum.
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I love 1984 to bits, and I agree with Andoru-Kun above me. None of you are alone in noticing the amound of doublethink we are exposed to in today's world. Three cheers for Orwell and Three Cheers for Murakami (aka God)
