Written by: m.wilson
Some Notes on “1984…” – Part 1 of 3
It is possible that pre-millennial students required to read 1984 during primary or secondary school didn’t discuss the artificial intelligence in the book and how it must have impacted the politics of its world. And the same might be said regarding an apparent racial element – as when someone says “brother” in the ethnic sense. This article will examine these two topics and compare some of the concepts to current society.
RECAP – ORWELL
The author, George Orwell, was Caucasian, having a British father and a French mother – though he may have been regarded as slightly mixed in some circles during the Nazi era. His real name was Eric Arthur Blaire, and was born and raised outside of the UK in Eastern India, a culture that must have been somewhat alien to his parents. 1984 published in 1948 – 1949, shortly after the end of WW2, and was almost titled “The Last Man in Europe.”
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NOTES:
‘No color except for the posters – towering white pyramids
Mrs. parsons a colorless crushed looking woman with wispy hair
Beetle-types in the ministry with small eyes
stepping out into pools of gold ground misty with blue bells – the air seemed to kiss ones skin – blue bells thick under foot
The black instant of panic.’
RECAP – INGSOC
During the 1950’s – instead of the Cold War, WW3 occurs. It started when the Soviet Union began attacking Europe with nuclear weapons, bombing all the major cities except London – which resulted in global destruction. In the aftermath of the war – the world is arranged into a more racially or culturally matching geography. The Soviet, perhaps the most culturally mixed, claims massive territories, uniting into a new country called Eurasia. The majority white or white-culture dominant territories, England, United States, South Africa, Australia, UK, Canada, and New Zealand – become Oceania. The third new superpower, China, merges and becomes East Asia. Still in dispute is the Equatorial Front, the black and black-Asian lands, including North Africa, India, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. Latin America is later annexed by Oceania – (note that during this time Latinos and groups like LULAC were protesting Hispanic classification and the exclusion from “whiteness.” Due to extensive political pressures, Latin nationality was not classified by the Census until 1980).
INGSOC – A short time after the creation of Oceania The Revolution occurs, and there is a civil war between capitalism and a group of radicals called INGSOC. Capitalism falls, and INGSOC takes over. It’s an extreme-totalitarian regime that controls and sees all. Later in the book, we learn that INGSOC is run by a computer, and so perhaps it also behaves like one, as the party re-writes history and facts like programs.
NOTES:
‘War was avoided to preserve cultural integrity – it would be necessary to exterminate all of the inhabitants or to assimilate them / No foreign languages Dark suspicion – Oceania would never attack what used to be France and Germany – war prisoners and colored slaves OK‘
Many reviews and 1984 study notes, refer to Emmanuel Goldstein, who is denounced by INGSOC at a large hate-rally event, as an INGSOC creation invented for effect. But on the other hand, it seems as though the party would not be at a loss for enemies. They announce to the hate-rally crowd that Goldstein, a former high-ranking member of the party, defected and formed a new party called the Brotherhood and that he is enemy number 1, which gets everyone agitated and excited. But could it be that Goldstein may have been one of INGSOC’s early founders, like Steve Jobs, for example, or even perhaps one of the inventors of the INGSOC AI?
Einstein, a German-Jew who is said to have ‘unlocked the secrets of the atom,’ wrote an urgent letter to then President Roosevelt, warning him of the state of science and the creation of an atom bomb – which led to the Manhattan Project and the bombings in Japan. Fritz Haber, another German-Jew is said to have saved the entire world from famine – creating ‘bread from air’ with his nitrogen-based fertilizer components and chemical feedstocks. But is also called the ‘father of chemical warfare’ – and which evolved into the Zyklon gasses used at Nazi concentration camps. Goldstein could be a character similar to Einstein and Haber. An inventor who wanted to protect Jews from the (‘inevitable’) fascist dictatorships emerging from capitalist societies – eventually using ever greater force to subdue its labor – and then seeking to exterminate the Jew…