How Orwellian are we?

Winston cannot buy into what The Party says because he knows that they openly lie. Working in the ministry of truth, and being aware, he notices the countless times they lie to suppress the people. In my opinion, his acts are not protests. While he rebels, and wants to protest, he does nothing to influence many other people's opinions. However, he was rebelling against The Party. Similar rebellion today is frowned upon. People often look down on people who don't follow social norms or rebel by being different. The difference is that in our society, it is social pressure compared to government legal force in 1984. While rebelling isn't common or easy in our society, we are not restricted against it by penalty of death. Because of this, we not very Orwellian at all. In reality, we can do nearly anything that we want, and comparing us to 1984 society is a radical overstatement.

1984 pt 1

In Oceania, the totalitarian dictatorship “The Party” headed by Big Brother controls all aspects of life. People are under constant surveillance, and there is no free thought. The Party controls the people with fear and power. The regime is so strong and controlling, that the population will accept even blatantly false statements as true. As Winston thought, “In the end the party would announce that two and two make five.” They also control 85% of the population by keeping them in such poverty that they do not pose a threat to the party. To be in the top 15%, you almost always had to work for the party. Although 15% of people work for the party, they do not live lavish lives either. Most of the party officials still had low rations of food and were controlled in every aspect of life, including thought. The party also controlled the people by changing history. Where Winston works, he changes history books so that they match with the party and its “history”. Not only do they restrict free thought, they also restrict the right to truth. Under their rule, whatever they say is true. If anyone denies it, they will be killed. This creates mental equality, but doesn’t create real equality. The top 15% is equal in what they receive and how they think, but the bottom 85% are much poorer and also are less regulated in how they think and act. This society is definitely a dystopia, because while the people are equal in some regard, all people are repressed and without any freedom.

Utopia

A utopia is a perfect world. It is a concept of a world where everything is perfect
My perfect utopia would be where I own the earth and all things on it. This is because there is no perfect utopia for everyone. The only way to live in a utopia is where you own the utopia.

Chuck Baird

-Baird enjoys painting the mouth and hands.
In all of the paintings, mouths and hands are emphasized.
-He may be deaf.
He emphasizes lips(lip reading) and hands(sign language).
-He paints because other artistic media aren't available to him.

If he is deaf, other media of art would be hard for him to produce.

You were right

One of the main lines of the song is "you were wrong when you said everything is gonna be alright." Throughout the song, the lyrics say you were right multiple times, only on this line do they say "you were wrong".
The song was passionate. It had a higher tempo than was expected and that created a happier more passionate sound/mood.

This song was effective at sending a message because I immediately could see the allusions and pick out which lines were important.

Children vs Adults

This painting shows the gap between children and young adults. The young adult has a gun, a car, and a girl, while the child only has a walking stick.
The family is not very wealthy.
They have a very old car.
The young boy is the focus of the painting. He is wearing red, which is very bright and contrasts the other colors.
In this painting, Bartlett is attempting to distinguish the lifestyles of the boy and the adult. The man has a car, a gun, and a girl, but the child, who is facing away, is content with a walking stick.