Dystopia Essay Part 1

1984 was a warning sign to many things in the world today. Since this book was written in 1948 they weren’t true at the time. George Orwell was trying to warn us of what will happen if we keep acting the way we do. The warnings that he gave us were simple to understand but almost too hard to stop. Orwell was trying to tell us how if we give too much power to the government that they’ll use it all, and never give it back. We live in a country where we have the power to vote for our officials in the government, but do we really have this power? The Electoral College has then final say in all of this. They “represent” the people, but only the majority. If everyone had a say in the elections like the government really says then we should not have to rely on a system like we have. Another major thing that Orwell predicted was the loss of privacy. Recently in our nations history we passed a bill called the Patriot Act. Just by the name it seems to be something good and patriotic, but it’s far from it. This bill allows the government to tap your phone lines without you ever knowing. It allows them to take away your privacy if they suspect that you’re involved in any kind of criminal activity. In 1984 the society they live in has no privacy also. They went as far to create “thought police” which could arrest you for thinking. They are also constantly reminded by a poster which says “Big Brother is Watching”. The government in this book is all about fear tactics and how to try and scare their people into doing what everyone they want, and so far it’s working. A select few people in the book realize what’s going on but they are faced by a giant power which is almost impossible to fight even in today’s times, the government.