One not-so-bright day in Berlin, rain pouring down copiously, I decided to go visit some of the many relics that are keeping alive the memory of the extreme familiarity between History and the City during the past century.

In the morning it was the STASI headquarter near Normannenstrasse and after lunch it was the infamous Villa on the Wannsee.

In the former I expected to experience the essence of grayness, in the latter the sheer evil in one of its most pure manifestation.

I wasn't disappointed!

Then, after the visit, sitting at a bar table in front of a beer I was just trying to let the impressions and feelings fade away at least a little, it happened quite the contrary I must admit.

An Idea started to take shape and form, an idea fueled by the emotional afterglow of the day, both of those regimes, nazi Germany and exDDR, were indubitably totalitarian and they weren't that far removed from a real world implementation of the model described in 1984..

But then again both of them have been eventually outlived by a model of society that is way closer to ABNW than we'd like to consciously admit, even to ourselves.

In other words 1984 lost, ABNW won, that's it.

It turned out that a society where The System has been described in Orwell's words as 'a boot stumping on a face, forever' is way less appealing and also way more fragile than one where people are just programmed and conditioned into liking whatever they are supposed to, and as an additional safeguard are kept distracted and their critical thinking diverted by a massive amount of entertainment, sex and drugs, in John Lennon words: "Keep you doped with religion, and sex, and T.V." [Working class hero].

Schopenhauer said, more or less, that you can certainly want what you will, but you can't will what you will [Der Mensch kann tun was er will; er kann aber nicht wollen was er will], that is that the primary drives underneath the rational level of one's mind are mostly if not completely out of our control and are exactly those rumblings in the deep that are responsible for what surfaces in turn as a determination of want and/or like, what usually goes under the name of [free] will.

Out of the control of oneself mind but not completely out of reach for those who master the art of conveying meaning through a complex pattern of symbols and certainly it is formed and informed by the conditionings received along the way, especially those acting below the level of critical thinking and/or that of rational perception.

Pretty scary as a thought in principle, it seems it doesn't bother anybody in reality, the individual is unable even to assess the origin or provenience of what comes in his mind as genuine blossom of free will.

Incontrovertibility is the word, after all.

In the end Huxley was right, when commenting 1984 in his letter to Orwell, that such a system was less resilient and required way more resources to keep the people in check with fear and repression than one where everybody is just programmed, diverted, entertained and drugged to fit exactly the spot he's been assigned to.

With this idea in mind I almost forgot we live in the best of all possible worlds, as Candide would have said.

I have been playing on a minecraft server ( /r/TheRealmsMC ) and am trying to form a perfect Orwellian nation based more of the ideals of Eurasia of Neo Bolshevism and Communist ideals compared to a Socialist Dictatorship, I just need some help with possible architecture designs and how to mimic stuff like the Ministry of Truth, Ministry of Peace, and Ministry of Information, and the Ministry of Love. I also need people who are interested in helping me build such huge buildings and to make a newspeak like dialect for the region (Which is based off of latin) so anyone interested? Just PM me or comment on how to build!

I read this after Edward Snowden shocked us. Before that other book lovers said I should read this book. But I resisted, however reading it after those revelations really hit me right in the gut.

I've read 1984 and Animal Farm and see the compelling warnings in it. But I'm not sure where to start for his writings and direct thoughts on these kind of issues.

Are there any suggestions on what to begin with?

Just a warning for those who are pevvy and aware enough so at least perhaps some people can free their minds from the eventuality? I just think...will a Brave New World/1984 world, if it's not taken to the extremes presented in the novels, would it perhaps maybe be a good thing? I mean, I was thinking about the Matrix too and I actually thought maybe a scenario like that wouldn't be altogether bad, if perhaps it wasn't so nightmarish and freakish. I see video games, and all the frivolous electronic time wasters and I used to think people were starting to waste their lives on them and it's not good for us a species but then I thought, maybe overall if it keeps enough people placid and content enough not to be a burdensome nuisance, perhaps it's for the best.

Because I mean seriously I almost think a lot of the conflict that took place and happened in the past was sort of due to people just being bored, and then lowering themselves to all kinds of horrible acts to fill the void or something but now there's like endless entertainment and it's easier to waste your life in a blur. It's the same with marijuana. They should make it legal, everyone could sit around smoking weed and playing video games all day=instant peace.

Leave those who really value their lives, the world and who want or desire meaning to rightly do so, whilst making it completely mandatory for everyone else.

Hi everyone

I've read Animal Farm and 1984 a few times each over the last few years and I'd like to get into Orwell's non fiction. I've read a few essays (Why I Write, Politics and the English Language, Books v Cigarettes) and I'd like to pick up a meaty collection of them. What's a good place to start?

I see there are two collections edited by George Packer among others by Penguin etc. If I can only get collection, which should I go for?

I found a quote several years ago and had it translated into Chinese characters. I lost the original so I translated the quote back into English. I was reading a lot of Orwell and Huxley at the time. Does this look sort of familiar to anyone?

Though countries build stone walls to separate us from them, there is no stronger barrier than words. Through language, we can say this one is educated or illiterate, noble or humble. We give others labels. We are freedom fighters, they are terrorists. We are strong and they have no faith. Those who say there is absolute right or wrong refuse to see the gray zone where real truth is. Those blind people are the world’s most dangerous weapon.

Hi,I've read Homiage to Catalonia and it mentioned a New Statesman article which said that anarchist barricades were done using live kids. And other mentions that i would like to check

I am re-reading 1984 after taking a course on structural linguistics, and noticed something I did not see in my first reading. Do you think Orwell was familiar with Saussure's theory of langue and parole and used the term "proles" to suggest "parole"? Saussure died in 1913, when Orwell was a child. In the most watered down sense, parole is the physical use of language (speech in and of itself), it is the manifestation of langue which creates meaning through words.

Has anyone seen the 80's movie Brazil (Terry Gilliam)? There are a lot of similarities between it and 1984, including the sentence in the title of this post. The protagonist of B is similar to Winston in 1984- similar job, working in 'information retrieval' and he becomes disillusioned with everything. It is a futuristic setting, with machines/paperwork seeming to rule everyone's daily lives. there are other similarities as well, including the depressing ending. Let me know if any of you have watched the movie and, if so, what you think about it. cheers

Im building a graph based on social interactions in 1984 for a school project, would you guys change or add anything? Thank you

http://imgur.com/stzLtle

So I'm working on a project about how the media in different countries (USA, Norway, and UK/England) use Orwells classic dystopian future, Nineteen Eighty-Four, as a tool to discuss politics. I was wondering if anyone has come upon articles that could be relevant, specifically pertaining to the UK or England?

All articles would be greatly appreciated. =D Sorry if this seems weird or anything, this is the first time I've ever posted anything on Reddit...

"Granted industrialism, the idea of Socialism presents itself naturally, because private ownership is only tolerable when every individual (or family or other unit) is at least moderately self-supporting ; but the effect of industrialism is to make it impossible for anyone to be self-supporting even for a moment."

This is from Road to Wigan Pier. I'm having trouble understanding what this means exactly. I think I need some examples.