LELE : Geogre Orwell, 1984

In 1949, George Orwell wrote a book called “1984”. The book and today’s society have a lot of resemblances. It has a first movie adaptation in 1956. In George Orwell’s Oceania, the government plays the role of feeding the citizens with propaganda, surveillance, and torture. Thus the book is 70 years old, today’s society can still relate Orwell’s dystopian fantasy.

During the first world war in 1914 until 1918, propaganda was spread all over the streets. As well as in Orwell’s “1984”, the news exaggerates the rate of production of chocolate has raised, and more people are literate. In today’s world, the censorship of the media is a crucial issue, for example, the situation in China, Iran, the Democratic People Republic of Korea and especially more countries in Asia and in Africa, the reality is hidden from the citizens. Some individuals decide to express their opinion on social media and if it attacks or criticizes the government, that person will be in trouble and will rot in jail if the government finds out, they most likely will. This type of censorship is extremely abundant in social media like facebook or the video platform of YouTube. This violates the freedom of speech, it is a very important human right which was granted in the international law by the international covenant on civil and political rights, the United Nations said “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers”, we are clearly not respecting this. More of today’s propaganda, for example, is visible, for instance, the name of North Korea: “The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea”, when this country has been a totalitarian regime for decades, in this context the word “Democratic” is a lie.

Today, for safety matters, CCTV cameras have been installed on the streets to keep us safe in case of a crime. Criminals would not dare to murder someone on tape because they will be caught by the police. CCTV cameras also record car accidents so the victim can use it to their advantage as proof. In George Orwell’s “1984”, the man was in his room writing his journal that he kept hidden behind a brick on his wall. Or when he and his girlfriend were caught by the police when they were eating stolen food. One of the privacy law consists of “Privacy in one’s home”, “communication privacy law”, those laws were violated in the book “1984” the moment the government placed cameras in the man’s room. The law also states “Information privacy laws” and “Online privacy law”, social media like Facebook, Instagram and websites contravene the use of advertisements for their profit. These social media tracks the activity of an individual, their age and interest with online cookies to show them the right advertisement