Role of Technology in the Book 1984

Role of Technology in the Book 1984

It is evident that even though the technology was not as advanced in the book 1984, there are several key things that technology was used to propagate. The technology was in the form of telescreens as well as hidden microphones. The telescreens had been mounted in every house. The microphones were placed across the city, respectively. These forms of technology were mainly used in ensuring that the Party was able to monitor all the members all the time. In this case, the technology was being used by the Party to advance totalitarianism on its people. It is through this technology that the people were denied the chance to think on their own as well as be in a position to make their own decisions based on the issue of the Party and whether they felt that the Party was doing things in their favor or not.

The Party, therefore, used technology to violate the privacy of the individuals. Even though there were no computers in 1984, the Party has advanced so much to the extent that it was able to come up with very advanced technology that was able to exert large scale control on economic production and sources of information. This means that the Party was able to control what the people read and see all in the name of consolidating the powers. Through the use of technology, the Party was also able to inflict some form of torture upon those that it believed were its enemies. In this case, even though many have always hard a perception that technology is good and it has been life-changing over the years, it is also evident that it can be used to perpetuate diabolical evil (Orwell, 1949).

The above analysis can easily be compared to today’s political landscape in the United States. The Party, in this case, the ruling Republican Party, has been able to use all the different forms of technology it has to discredit any form of facts that exists that may have derailed their campaign. It has also been used to ensure the image of the President is maintained. There have been cases of technology being used to hack the presidential election as it is claimed that through the help of the Russians, the GOP leader, Trump managed to hack and influence the 2016 presidential election. Technology through artificial intelligence has been used to mine the thoughts of many Americans and be able to help the President’s Party to run a campaign based on populism. This is based on the fact that there have been confirmed facts that Facebook allowed some of the customers’ private data to be hacked.

Hence, the data was subsequently used as part of the campaign approach aimed at ensuring that the Party marketed Trump Presidency. It claimed that he was the only person that could transform the country and make it great again, even though he did not even a single plan of how he was planning to achieve that.

The social media platforms have been used in the monitoring of the things and activities of the citizens. Through social media platforms, the United States has been able to use the Patriot Act to further the idea of data mining as well as monitoring of the people. The use of technology has been a huge challenge in several jurisdictions. This has been backed by the case of China, where Xi Jinping’s government has used face recognition technology in ensuring totalitarianism. It is clear that over the time there have been cases of

On the issue of law enforcement, law enforcement in 1984 was mainly meant to force the people into submission to the Party. It is clear in the book 1984 when law enforcement officers tortured Winston Smith to force him to deny the women he loved. This is clear in that even though they were working for the Party, any form of dissenting voices.  Julia had equally worked for the Party, and she even stated that she had even gone to the extent of even having sex with several people key members of the Party (Orwell, 1949). Even though she had several differences with the Party, the differences were mainly anchored on the personal reasons in that her employment was certainly one of the key things that were affecting them.  In order words, the State has used law enforcement not to protect the lives of people as well as their property but rather to help those in power to lengthen their stay as well as their grip of power.

The use of law enforcement as an extension of the Party or government has certainly been the case in most Asian and African countries. This has been based on the fact that the leaders in these countries have certainly been so much about holding on power to an extent they have ended up using all means to achieve their objectives. These have been the case in some of the countries such as Zimbabwe in Southern Africa, as well as the case of Uganda in Eastern Africa. The same example can be given by Libya’s Mammary Gadhafi, who was the ruler of Libya for over three decades. In all these countries, law enforcement, specifically the police, have certainly played as an appendage of the executive and the ruling party. In the case of Zimbabwe, the government of the late former President Robert Mugabe managed to grab all state machinery and used them to his advantage. In the years between 1983 and 1987, Mugabe feared that he was going to lose his grip on leadership if the Ndebele community did not vote for him. Since he could not force the people to vote for him, yet it was a secret ballot voting, he opted to order a massacre that leftover 20,000 people dead. The massacre was known as Gukurahundi, and it was committed by the national police as well as the army. It was supervised by then minister of defense who was known as Emmerson Mnangagwa, who is now the current President of the same country.

On the issue of media, it is certainly evidence that there are cases where media is being used to brainwash the people. The media in forms of print, as well as mass media, have been captured by the Party. Instead of being objective and truthful, the media is being used as part of the propaganda to brainwash the people. It is clear that a huge number of people, if not all citizens, more so in the developed parts of the country Oceania and more especially in London, the capital of Airstrip One province (Orwell, 1949). The installation of telescreens in these homes was one of the main ways in which mainstream media played a key role in the spread of propaganda hence the ability of the Party to control and prevent any form of opposition. Through the ministry of the Truth, which in other jurisdictions would have been the ministry of information, the ministry alters the information that does not seem to align with the things wanted by the Party.

In order words, the masses are fed on lies in the name of the truth. This is indeed a limiting factor that played a key role in the perpetual control of society by those in power.  The altering of facts when it comes to written records, among other things, played a key role in ensuring that the Party remained in power. It is also the same case when it comes to the kind of media publicity given to the spy groups that have been the fashion to look as though they are against the government. This was the case with the Brotherhood group. Even though Winston Smith was against the Party based on the variation in philosophy, how the history issue is edited all in the name of trying to ensure that it fits what the Party believes in. Orwell believes that the facts and history in history have been subjective based on who is saying or giving the information (Orwell, 1949). It is not about facts, but instead, it is about the distortion of the meaning of the words as well as their meanings so that they can be able to fit the narrative that is being propagated by the Party.

In Today’s world, there have been cases where the governments have relied on media to sell narratives that are comfortable and in line with their position and views. The Fox News in the United States has been seen by many as being pro-Trump. On the Fox and Friends Show, there has been much praising of the President regardless of the facts. On the issue of impeachment, which has been a huge issue and of national importance which would have been necessary for the media regardless of their political inclination to state the facts and inform the people objectively, Fox News has certainly downplayed its importance. The discrediting of the constitutional processes such as Mueller Report as well as the impeachment trial at the Senate. There is a need to inform the public based on the facts and not a case of creating a narrative that divides the people.

There are countries where state media is turned into a charade that supports the government. This is to means they cannot advertise anything else that is contrary to those at the helm of the Party or government. It is the same case with the Chinese government as well as some authoritarian African leaders. These lot of people have been able to convert the national media of the country to make them appear as though they are personal properties that are meant to praise those in power and demean those who criticize the government. The North Korean Government has also influenced media in that it has managed to make it look as so President Kim Jong Yun is the most vital thing in the country. There has been a disregard for the problems that are affecting the people of North Korea, where poverty is so high, and the mortality rate is also unimaginable. The fact that some of the information such as access to the information on the developed world more so the America and the European nation has certainly been difficult because the media in the country has opted not report anything positive in line with such information.

The relationships in the book are certainly based on one key dimension, fear. The people are afraid that the State may have issues with them have relations or being able to work closely together due to the fear that they may be seen as being opposed to the Party. This is the case when Winston meets with Julia. At first, there is tension and mistrust whereby even though the lady in love with him, all that Winston was able to see was a lady that seemed to be a spy. This means to mean relationship and trust (Orwell, 1949). The relationship that exists between Julia and Winston is one that signals the fears of the people when it comes to dealing with the Party and the leadership. This is anchored on the understanding that the people were living in fear. It is clear that the Party honchos were so concerned with the need to control, and fear was one of the main ways of achieving the objectives. The relationships between the coworkers are indeed had to establish because there is a lot of mistrust among the workers. The people feared that they could be victimized, which was indeed a huge challenge hence the reason many worked in a manner that ensured that people were not free to work together.

In several countries, there have been cases of people fearing to work together due to the political mistrust that is brewed by those in power. One of the perfect cases of this will be the case of US congress and the Senate. This is based on the fact that the Senate whereby there has been mistrust among the senators whereby people have been thinking and working along party lines regardless of the key issues that the nation faces. Even though the Democrats believe that the President has done several impeachable misdeeds, the Republicans who have the majority in the Senate have already taken a position on the impeachment issue. They hold the opinion that regardless of the accusations, the Impeachment process will not be successful, as suggested by the Senate majority leader, Mitch Mcconnell. In some of the developing countries such as Rwanda, the mistrust perpetuated by the parties was arguably one of the reasons why people ended up killing their neighbors all in the name of Parties since the parties in the countries were along the tribal lines. It was because of the mistrust that there was a genocide in the country that led to the loss of lives of people.

In the current societies, the proles are certainly the majority. Most of them are working on more than two or even three jobs for them to survive. This is based on the fact that the nature of jobs they are engaging in is not good enough to an extent where one job would be enough to sort the bills. It is clear that a huge number of people are affected by day to day running of things, but they are too preoccupied with their challenges to an extent they are not concerned with what is happening in the country. In the case of the United States, even though the President has been claiming that there are so many jobs that have been created, there are still several people who do not have stable and sustainable jobs. Several people are even employed formerly but cannot even afford insurers in the whole country. Over 30 million people in the country do not have stable jobs in the United States hence the reason they are not having any form of insurance at all. There are also over 20 million people who are underinsured in the country. This is interesting based on the fact that the political class has more than enough insurers.

The billionaires in the country are also able to get them what they need regardless of the cost. It is said that the country that has a president who claims that the country is in the best position ever still has over 300,000 people living on the streets and homeless across the country. This is indeed worrying and should not be addressed. Still, instead, the leadership is more concerned about winning the next election and embarking on the campaign trails as opposed to addressing the issues and the needs of the people. The situation is certainly worse in the developing countries where the people are living in abject poverty and unable to afford it when the leaders dine, and merry make daily. This is very common in African countries such as Angola as well as the Central Africa Republic. The families of the presidents of the respective countries live in total wastage when the people who elected them are unable to afford even the basic meals.

Conclusion

The book has been able to address several key issues that affect society. The things that were happening in this fiction based country are certainly happening today. Even though the technology may have changed over the years but the role it is being used to accomplish is indeed the same as those that were being used in the book. The writing skills, as well as the key thematic issues that are raised in the book by Orwell, are indeed the very issues that are still bedeviling the societies today.  It is also clear that people hardly care about the proles. The needs of these sets of the category of people have been downplayed, and it has certainly been the same case in most countries globally. The poor hardworking Americans who are juggling three jobs to be able to survive are hardly addressed.

Reference

Orwell. G. (1949). Nineteen Eighty-Four.