Alrighty, first off, is anyone else getting mail/emails from colleges? I'm getting about three letters in the mail each day and it's annoying the heck out of me. Also, my Gmail inbox is flooded with 'em.
Secondly, I've realized how incredibly easy it'd be to become a V for Vendetta / 1984 society. All any corrupt ruler would need is fear, and lots of it. Hell, we almost lost some of our own precious freedoms in the months following 9/11. A catastrophe happens, and people are willing to give up virtually anything for safety. It's frightening, really, when you realize that our whole society, concieved in Liberty and dedicated to the purpose that all men are created equal, rests upon the edge of a knife. A shove, and we could easily plummet, and with corrupt rulers, we'd never be able to get back up.
Third, I've been thinking a lot about Newspeak. In class, Mr. Kinney offered this probing question, which the half dozen or so of us that were actually listening heard: "Which came first, the words, or the idea?" Newspeak's purpose is to remove one's intelligent thought, until all that pours from your lips are hollow emotions. I don't know presicely what to say, because it's only in the wee hours of the night that I'm capable of deeper thought, but when a society destroys words, it destorys ideas. And that is doubleplusungood.
Secondly, I've realized how incredibly easy it'd be to become a V for Vendetta / 1984 society. All any corrupt ruler would need is fear, and lots of it. Hell, we almost lost some of our own precious freedoms in the months following 9/11. A catastrophe happens, and people are willing to give up virtually anything for safety. It's frightening, really, when you realize that our whole society, concieved in Liberty and dedicated to the purpose that all men are created equal, rests upon the edge of a knife. A shove, and we could easily plummet, and with corrupt rulers, we'd never be able to get back up.
Third, I've been thinking a lot about Newspeak. In class, Mr. Kinney offered this probing question, which the half dozen or so of us that were actually listening heard: "Which came first, the words, or the idea?" Newspeak's purpose is to remove one's intelligent thought, until all that pours from your lips are hollow emotions. I don't know presicely what to say, because it's only in the wee hours of the night that I'm capable of deeper thought, but when a society destroys words, it destorys ideas. And that is doubleplusungood.
I liked 1984, but I don't think it's possible. Look at North Korea - they have a similar govt. and next to no allies. People are too informed to think that George Bush is the almighty one. Heh. I'd like to see that.
Anyway, no...I'm not good enough to get letters. Sniff....that's doubleplusungood as well...
Aww, plusunhappy...
*points to old blog post from this summer* ha, I said the same thing, only I didn't refer to 1984. Pretty scary, but like Christine said, there's no way George Bush is "the almighty one" lol he's not that smart, even with everyone thinking for him. And soon we're going to have either a half black guy or a chick in power, so I think we're going to be ok...at least for another 5 or 6 years....lol. Dude, the song 1985 came on, ha...I think I'm going to make new lyrics to it now because I just remembered that I wanted to do that like two weeks ago. I'm doubleplusforgetful. lol
No, for George Bush faltered, and Kim Jong-Il is an idiot. It could happen if there were any leader charismatic and intelligent enough to it. Hell, it almost did happen back in the Cold War, with McCarthyism, the Black List, and whatnot. Not to the extent of 1984, granted. That is the uber-extreme. A V for Vendetta-esque goverment, however, is more realistic. In fact, incredibly realistic. The people are given enough freedom to be mildly content, but the government still controls everything.
Step one, of course, would be to remove the internet. It allows others to communicate with the rest of the world, and provides a cornicopia of information at the drop of a hat. As long as the internet exists, no totalitarian dictatoriship could ever exist. That's why the internet fee Mr. Arend mentioned is so frightening. It's a large step in that dangerous direction.
*points to my post* Reply to Steen's post.
I knew about that before Arend talked about it. Sam, Ian and I were discussing it. Sam and Ian said that the internet was much too large to put a fee on websites. If you think about it, we're already paying for internet, DSL, Dial-up, whatever, we're all paying. Some pay Comcast, some pay AOL, some pay Quest, whatever, we're already paying for internet. And hey, if they give us slow internet, I'll be well adapted because AOL is way slow.
And there are way too many servers.
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