Naturally from aljazeera
What if Big Brother isn’t so bad after all?
11–20 of 20 posts
Re: What if Big Brother isn’t so bad after all?
#12Earlier quoted context omitted.
"He had won the victory over himself." Orwell—magical.
I didnt get that sentence, or the entire paragraph for that matter. Is there some story-dependent context that I'm missing here, or am I just too dense for Orwell?
The final paragraph of a novel is most times best understood in a story-dependent context.
Re: What if Big Brother isn’t so bad after all?
#13AlJazeera, I am disappointed.
Al Jazeera is likely supported by the government, so I really don't understand the surprise or disappointment.
Re: What if Big Brother isn’t so bad after all?
#14I don't get those who say that this is disappointing coming from Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera is run by a media group funded by the Qatari government. Qatar is not a democracy, it's an absolute monarchy. Non-democracies tend to like Big Brother-type scenarios because it keeps them in control.
Re: What if Big Brother isn’t so bad after all?
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
"He had won the victory over himself." Orwell—magical.
I didnt get that sentence, or the entire paragraph for that matter. Is there some story-dependent context that I'm missing here, or am I just too dense for Orwell?
First off, it's really more profound than any little statement like this can make it, and you're better off reading it for yourself. That said...
It's been years since I read it, but I'll put forth a few ways to read it, though I'm probably wrong, as I said it's been awhile.
One is a sort of Stockholm syndrome, in which you come to see and appreciate the others' point of view, but you're too close to see any of the drawbacks that were obvious and clear to outsiders (readers?).
More literally speaking, the protagonist with every reason to hate the system that even set up traps to catch its own "enemies," ends up convincing him that it's necessary, hence, "He had won the victory over himself."
(Cue "Mission Accomplished" photo-op? Heh.)
Re: What if Big Brother isn’t so bad after all?
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
"He had won the victory over himself." Orwell—magical.
I didnt get that sentence, or the entire paragraph for that matter. Is there some story-dependent context that I'm missing here, or am I just too dense for Orwell?
Oh shit. Sorry for the spoiler. It didn't occur to me that I'd be spoiling the ending for those who hadn't read it. Good one, me!
There's more context and events in the story which fit in with this ending, but I should leave them for the discovery of reading it.
Re: What if Big Brother isn’t so bad after all?
#17Is surveillance always bad? From the reactions here, you'd think it is. But that attitude will keep forcing surveillance underground. Any policy discussions are going to be:
"We need to watch people."
"They will hate that."
"Let's not tell them we're doing it then."
And although I'd rather not have my metadata collected by the NSA, I also don't want to be knifed while I walk home, and it sounds like that second scenario is what this surveillance system is trying to prevent.
*edit: formatting
Re: What if Big Brother isn’t so bad after all?
#18What if Al Jazeera is not so bad after all?
Wait, what did I just say?
Re: What if Big Brother isn’t so bad after all?
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
"He had won the victory over himself." Orwell—magical.
I didnt get that sentence, or the entire paragraph for that matter. Is there some story-dependent context that I'm missing here, or am I just too dense for Orwell?
The entire story is based on Winstons' struggle to resist the society he lived in. That struggle was constant, and he only 'won' the struggle at the end, when he indeed decided he loved Big Brother, and would no longer resist his authority.
Re: What if Big Brother isn’t so bad after all?
#20Is surveillance always bad? From the reactions here, you'd think it is. But that attitude will keep forcing surveillance underground. Any policy discussions are going to be: "We need to watch people." "They will hate that." "Let's not tell them we're doing it then." It would be far better to have it out in the open, transparent. That's only going to happen if we are willing to talk about it constructively. And althou…
Perhaps the first assertion isn't true. Perhaps we don't need to watch people as much as or in the ways we think we do.