Korean Totalitarian Government of 1984 Essay

Everyone has always wondered if people were ever watching them. Our technology today is capable to eavesdrop in on anyone’s conversations even if their phones are turned off. In the novel, “1984”, the party INGSOC uses telescreens to watch over the people and always know what they are up to. This denies the people’s rights and privileges to go about their business as they please. The technology we have today is almost exact to what big brother uses in George Orwell’s novel by taking over the public and private parts of our lives.

Technology is apart of mostly everyone’s life and daily schedule, but often people fail to realize the fact that the government has the ability to monitor everything someone does through these devices. In George Orwell’s novel, 1984, a futuristic government spies on their citizens through technology found all throughout their homes. The government used secret microphones, telescreens, and the thought police, a group in charge of finding rebels against the party, in order to monitor what people say and think. There are many examples of this in today’s society: Amazon’s Alexa, Samsung Smart televisions, and social media apps. Amazon’s Alexa and Samsung Smart Televisions are voice recognition systems

Thought Police could be anyone, they can follow someone for months and arrest them without trial. They drive people to think dramatically, as in the case when Winston believes he is being followed by Julia. “He could keep on her track until till they were in some quiet place, and then smash her skull in with a piece of cobblestone” (Orwell 101). This quote represents Winston’s fear of Julia, who he suspects is a member of the Thought Police. On the other hand, the seemingly overactive thought process of a suspect may seem completely justified in relation to the punishment they will receive if arrested. After being tortured for days or even weeks, a criminal may find themselves in the desolate “Room 101”. Simply the mention of Room 101 is enough to strike fear in the heart of any criminal, but being summoned to it is enough to make a man sacrifice his family to avoid his fate. “‘Do anything to me!’ he yelled. ‘You 've been starving me for weeks. Finish it off and let me die. Shoot me. Hang me. Sentence me to twenty-five years. Is there somebody else you want me to give away?’” (Orwell 237). Room 101 is individually tailored to every person who crosses its threshold, using their greatest fear against them. In Winston’s case, he has a cage of rats placed on his head and is forced to betray Julia. He loses his ability to love and retain his own ideas, key aspects of what makes him a human. Not only do the

No one can be trusted in fear that they might report to the Thought Police. This held true for families as well. Children are sometimes known to turn in their own parents to the thought police for such simple things as hoarding spices for food. One has to watch his or her facial expressions at all times, because "the smallest thing could give you away. A nervous tic, an unconscious look of anxiety, a habit of muttering to yourself - anything that carried with it the suggestion of abnormality, of having something to hide." (Orwell, p.65) Those who think for themselves are arrested by the Thought Police and sent to the Ministry of Love, where they are re-educated or killed. Sometimes both.

George Orwell’s novel 1984 reflects on the society of dystopian city Airstrip 1 where main character Winston Smith lives. Along with the many other citizens, Winston is controlled by the Inner Party by constantly being monitored via telescreens that keep sight of everybody and their actions. Besides using telescreens the government also easily arrests people in any case of “thoughtcrime” which consists of any thoughts that regard disobedience towards the government. Thoughtcrime and telescreens are two of the several factors that reflect the extreme surveillance in 1984. Orwell uses surveillance as the central theme of the novel to spread his idea that the usage of more extreme surveillance could eventually lead to a totalitarian society. On a less extreme scale, today’s society also has a significant amount of surveillance but many question whether or not more surveillance is necessary. With the many current text sources, it is certain that we need less surveillance in order to keep a stable society that does not take away the individualism of people.

The thought police uses mind control as a way to scare people into behaving. People in the dystopia don’t necessarily want to behave, but in the end they are forced to, out of fear of death/vaporization. The party pressures the people of Oceania to act the way they want by the threat of the thought police. Just the idea of Big Brother (a concept created to intimidate the citizens of Oceania) is enough to persuade the people to behave the way they do. A figurehead to look up to and obey makes the people abide by the peculiar rules and guidelines of the dystopia. The book states “A few agents of the Thought police moved always among them, spreading false rumors and marking down and eliminating the few individuals who were judged capable of becoming dangerous; but no attempt was made to indoctrinate them with the ideology of the party. (Orwell, 71)” This shows the control of the Thought Police because it displays how the party scares the people into believing, by making up wars and

While the government of 1984 takes complete control over the thoughts and actions of each individual in Oceania, the US government only records information and extracts them only for a legitimate cause. In 1984, the Party keeps everyone under its examination at every moment, accusing citizens of thoughtcrime - unacceptable thinking of the Party - for even the slightest hint of suspicion. Winston purposely turns his back towards the telescreen whenever he sits near one, for “anything that carried with it the suggestion of abnormality,… [such as] to wear an improper expression on your face,… was itself a punishable offense,” (Orwell 69). By restraining citizens and removing those from society who are accused even inappropriately, the government builds fear upon its citizens so that everyone would believe the government’s claims to be true regardless of reasoning. Meanwhile, in the United States, privacy is still recognized, and government searches are not allowed without proper reason. Under the Fourth Amendment, people are protected from “arbitrary governmental intrusions... [for] warrantless searches of private premises are mostly prohibited unless there are justifiable exceptions,” (Cornell University Law School). As seen today, social media allows individuals to think freely, and yet there are no

The government in 1984 is also known as “Big Brother”, he is always watching. If Big Brother does approve your intelligence he will send you to the Ministry of Love where they get tortured, they will suffer, and usually results in death. In 1984, execution is common for citizens, in North Korea if people are caught in a major crime it will also result to a public execution. Children that love the “enemy” will be hung in the story. Telescreens are a major help to the government, the telescreen can never be turned off. Only the people in the inner party have the right to shut off their telescreens. The people have no freedom or privacy, these telescreens monitor their every move. In every home of North Korea they have speakers and pictures of their leaders, the speakers remind them what to do every day, every day they had to clean those pictures.

Within the dystopian society of Oceania, the Party, also known as the leaders, convince their citizens that they are well cared for by the government. With their overruling power, they “watch” their citizens on a daily basis. Big Brother’s

Throughout 1984, there is always the mention of the Thought Police. The title of ‘Thought Police’ refers to a group of individuals that monitors society's thoughts and actions throughout their everyday lives. The civilians of Oceania never know when they are being watched, considering the Thought Police are able to connect into any network and see what the citizens are doing at any given point. Even though there is heavy mention of the Thought Police, one would not be able to describe what they look like; however, one would be able to describe the consequences caused by the Thought Police. For example, a negative consequence caused by the Thought Police could be considered the event of Winston talking about seeing Jones, Aaronson, and Rutherford,

The Secret State of North Korea offered a great look into what basic things North Koreans are lacking. Even within the realm of Communism. Lack of freedoms, lack of food, lack of community, lack of trust, lack of a social society, lack of programs for children, lack of equality, and a lack of information. When Kim Il-Sung created North Korea, the government was based on Marxism and Leninism, called “Juche.” Just as the Soviets, the North Koreans followed suite with massive inequality between the government officials and the common people. The documentary showed its viewers what the government is omnipresent in the everyday lives of its people, so much so that recordings of daily life are illegal, and “random” searches take place commonly.

Most people probably think 1984 is completely fiction, but there are many drastic similarities between 1984 and North Korean Society. These societies have forced labor camps, powerful dictators or government parties, and the use of propaganda. Both of these societies slowly gained power over many years and took full control of their country or territory. On the other hand, they differ when it comes to they way they designed their governments. Both 1984’s and North Korea's societies are similar in the ways they control, torture, and deprive their people, but differ when it comes to government organization.

With the modernization of technology in 1984 takes the form, it was used for controlling means. By placing telescreens and all across Oceania in every household and room, the Party monitors it constantly. At work, in the comforts of their own home, even in giant plazas and marketplaces, Oceanians cannot expect privacy. The Party’s use of surveillance technology is only one of the methods it employs to ensure and ascertain control. “Smith! Screamed

This state of constant surveillance demands complete conformity among the population. In Oceania, there are no laws, but non-conformity is punished by death. The thought police are an omnipresent force of the government, weeding out non-conformists and making them disappear on a regular basis. Even a slight inflection in the voice or a look of the eye can be construed as thoughtcrime. Propaganda, terror, and technology are the tools of the state, used to coerce and control the thoughts and actions of the populace. Reality is denied on a regular basis if it is non-consistent with party doctrine. The main character of the novel, Winston Smith, said that "freedom is the freedom to say that 2+2=4."(Orwell,69)In fact, if the party said that 2+2=5, the population would believe this to be truth. History is actually rewritten on a daily basis so as to appear consistent with party doctrine. The enemy of today becomes the enemy of yesterday, poverty becomes progress, war becomes peace, and slavery becomes freedom. This concept of denying reality in the face of obvious contradiction is known as doublespeak. It is central to the philosophy of Ingsoc, and is the greatest tool of the government's mind-control agenda.

Individuals claim that the states throughout our country are always being watched by the Government; our every move, our every purchase, and even our every commute to and from work are being monitored. Welsh and Farrington(2004) both agree in explaining that the closed-circuit television(CCTV) is doing the exact same thing. "America is on the verge of becoming a 'surveillance society' (Stanley and Steinhardt, 2003:1)" (Welsh, 2004: 2). George Orwell discusses that “Every single technical device that has been invented, restored, or refurbished in the last ten years is becoming an increasing negative towards individuals freedom of interference”, but Welsh and Farrington seem to disagree. "Fact is, there are no longer any barriers to the Big Brother regime portrayed by George Orwell" (Welsh, 2004:2).