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Disobedience In 1984

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Societies subject to totalitarian reign experience a complete degradation of both civil and natural born rights. Entire populations are forced to follow a strict regimen, often against their free will and good judgement. In 1984, George Orwell warns of such corrupted power of a totalitarian regime. Big Brother instills a looming fear that agitates the people of Oceania, which, in the hearts of some, ignites a cry of rebellion. Those trying to peacefully challenge the system, much like Winston and Julia, are met with a cruel fate of reassimilation. Under totalitarian rule of Big Brother, such actions of civil disobedience are not effective because of the government's disinterest of citizen acceptance, unrelenting power, and a complete control …show more content…

As a prime example of civil disobedience, the conflict in Vietnam helped the American population cast their concerns on a national level. During the Amherst College protest, those who participated managed to successfully evoke a cry for change. “A variety of activities during the strike were proposed: fasting, campaigning for peace candidates, going to the rally that would take place in New York City on the 22nd, boycotting companies that manufactured war weapons…” (Townsend 706). Thriving national economies rely on the people to support them financially. By threatening to withhold from interacting with business, citizens interrupt the flow of funds to the national government. Meanwhile, in the totalitarian reign of Big Brother, the citizens cannot achieve the same effectiveness. In an economy based upon government dealt rations, the people are unable to stress the market. The economy is further protected by the arbitrary value of their currency, promoting a civilian run black market bartering system. Boycotting the meager amount of goods they are provided, or even demonstrating against such an atrocity, would be unproductive under totalitarian might of Big …show more content…

Eliminating the knowledge of past protests and resources pertaining to them from the history books, allows the population to remain ignorant on the subject. This control over the media is censorship at its worst. In a very similar instance, the Russian population is also currently experiencing this restriction of knowledge. “All Russian media is now controlled by the government — just like in Soviet times… In March, the Kremlin put Chinese government-like restrictions on the Internet, and cracked down on the few remaining independent news outlets and bloggers left in Russia” (McIntosh 300). As the state unites under one media source, the people are forced to accept the Putin’s government sanctioned propaganda outlet. This systematic withdrawal of all news sources denies the Russian people exposure to anything else. The same could be said for the censorship of the internet in North Korea. “The contents of the web site consist mostly of political propaganda such as the superiority of the North Korean regime, the North Korean leader’s greatness, North Korean people’s happiness, and attacks on the US and the South Korean” (Cheng et al. 659). Riddled with deceit, nothing but a positive view on the North Korean regime is permitted to be posted. This limitation of speech is a hazard to not only the views of the people, but any hope for progression. With the fear of

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