Illusionment

In Orwell’s 1984, Big Brother is no big brother. The oppressive government seen in the novel maintains mass control with a series of methods. Of course, there’s the Thought Police. They are the enforcers of government, punishing and vaporizing government dissenters. However, as seen in the book, Big Brother only needs the Thought Police for certain people. For the most part, Big Brother’s most effective method of mass control is illusion. Through control over history, numbing substances such as Victory Gin, control over language (newspeak), and frequent patriotic displays such as the Two Minutes Hate, Big Brother easily dominates the minds of his subjects without an overwhelming need for force.

Because the book was published in 1949—towards the end of the second world war—many people see Germany’s Third Reich as the basis of Big Brother. However, Germany is no longer fascist. In fact, it’s one of the European Union’s strongest economies. Hence, North Korea and Russia (to a lesser extent) can be seen as the modern “Big Brother” governments.

In Russia, Putin is back in power. Over the past few years, the Russian government has been remarkably obnoxious. Although it’s seen as a civilized world power, it invaded and annexed Crimea relatively recently. As a result economic sanctions were put on the country and the government used its propoganda machine to maintain a state of content in its citizens.

When it comes to countries, North Korea is one of the greatest anomolies when it comes to foreign powers. However, we do know that it is a largely oppressive government. It has the most similarities of Big Brothers Regime—control of history, youth indoctrination, and frequent patriotic displays.

1984 was written by Orwell as a warning. Although some of the world’s governments do have control similar to that of Big Brother’s regime, the world is widely free. Thankfully, we have yet to see the world of Big Brother come to fruition.

Life Path Dissatisfaction

Everybody has fears, especially fears about the future. The enigmatic future can give people a sense of uncertainty when thought about. These fears include a multitude of things that can range from sickness, like cancer or heart disease to financial loss, perhaps in a stock market crash. However, there is an especially great fear that many people have. Whether or not one has gone down the right path in life is and will continue to be one of the greatest fears of many people in our world.

Arguably, this the largest fear out there. On the top of many “life’s greatest regrets” lists are words along the lines of “I should have quit my unpromising job and pursued my dream job. People, teenagers especially, always wonder whether they will choose or have chosen the right path in life, and if they could have done something better or more fulfilling.

In the short film “SloMo,” a man named John Kitchin decides to depart from his career as a neurologist to pursue absolutely nothing. He talked about how he felt that his career had changed from “90 percent spiritual and 10 percent financial” to 10 percent spiritual and 90 percent financial.” As a result, he choose to spend the rest of his days at the beach, skating down the beach walk for miles upon miles every day. Surpisingly, it was extremely fulfilling to him, and he continues to do so to this day.

Mr. SloMo In action

Kitchin shows us that it is absolutely never too late to change one’s path in life. When he decided to change his life path, his vision had been deteriorating and he was growing older. This gives others little room for an exuse to not change their life path.

SloMo made a drastic change past the latter half of his life. There’s no reason others can’t do the same