When I grew up – way back when – we had as part of our curriculum in High School, the book “1984” by George Orwell. I had mentioned to my brother at that time that I was not going to read it but wait until the year 1984. This was in the 1960s. Then I proceeded to forget about this incident. My brother obviously did not, as Christmas 1983 he gave the book to me for a present. I did have to wait a week to read it but then went through it very quickly. I wanted to wait to read it to see if things would be as Orwell predicted.
Some parts of the world were pretty bad then – take the USSR for example – but not so much North America. Now though, I wouldn’t say the same especially since 9/11 and the advent of the Patriot Act. There has been such a slow attrition of rights in the Western World – a dulling of consciousness with drugs and degradation of education – that people are really not aware that life has changed all that much. Books like ‘1984’ by George Orwell and ‘Brave New World’ by Aldous Huxley predicted a police state and where one took a drug for every mood. These were then considered BAD things. Orwell’s book was written in the 1940s.
If you have every wondered where the phrase “Big Brother (is watching you)” came from then check out 1984 by George Orwell. I really think it should be mandatory reading for anyone wanting to understand better the world today. I’m pretty sure that you won’t find it on any school curriculum in North American anyway. It may be a bit dry reading for many but well worth it.
You can order copies on the web, new or used but if you want to have a look right away read it online at: