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Chuck Palahniuk once said that, “[o]ld Orwell got it backward. Big Brother isn’t watching, Big

Brother’s busy holding your attention every moment you’re awake. With everyone’s attention

atrophied, no one will ever be a thread to the world”. While Palahniuk believes Orwell has it backwards,

George Orwell exhibits this point throughout 1984, where the party keeps all of Oceania preoccupied at

all times to distract them from thinking on their own. Firstly, the party forces all of their members to

constantly be doing something to be distracted. They work many hours a week, and are forced to

volunteer at many events, eliminating most, if not all free time. Second, the party keeps the proles

perpetually distracted by giving them something else to focus on. Porn is distributed greatly across the

prole regions, and they are infatuated with the lottery each week. Lastly, when Oceania is not distracted

by work or petty things, they are distracted by the telescreens distributed throughout every home, as

well as by the many demonstrations and parades that often occur in Oceania. Palahniuk is correct in his

belief about Big Brother, but he is wrong in saying Orwell got it backward, because Orwell illustrated

Palahniuk’s point clearly. In 1984, Orwell shows that if the government keeps its citizens perpetually

distracted, the people will not have time or care to think or rebel against it, securing the government’s

position in power.

To keep the citizens constantly occupied, the government in 1984 makes very long work weeks

for party members to ensure they have no free time. Doing this stops any attempt of a social gathering,

such as when Winston wanted to meet Julia in private, but, “Winston’s work week was sixty hours,

Julia’s was even longer, and their free days varied according to the pressure of work, and did not often

coincide” (Orwell 135). Because of the ridiculous work hours laid upon the party, they are always

distracted and cannot meet to talk with one another. Preventing these kinds of talks prevents any kind

of anti-government conspirators from forming a plot. If a party member ever has free time, they are
expected to do volunteering around Oceania. This means that whatever free time a party member has,

it has to be spent doing non-personal things. As for Winston, “[i]t was assumed that when he was not

working, eating, or sleeping he would be taking part in some kind of communal recreation: to do

anything that suggested a taste for solitude was dangerous” (Orwell 85). Winston never has personal

time, because the government finds any way possible to ensure there is never any solitude for those

who may want it. This stops any possible rendezvous amongst friends who may want to scheme

something against the government. Through many preoccupations, the government stops its own party

members from having the spare time to think freely, making nobody a threat.

In addition to the distractions doled out to the party, the government also ensures that the

proletariats are always absent-minded and preoccupied with things as well. Because the proles make up

such a large portion of the population of Oceania, the government ensures that the proles are always

concerned with petty things and not planning a revolution. One way they do this is through a lottery.

The proles’ main source of focus is on the lottery that the government creates. Winston sees the passion

the proles have regarding the lottery when he sees two men arguing:

“They were talking about the lottery…They were still arguing, with vivid, passionate faces. The

lottery, with its weekly pay-out of enormous prizes, was the one public event to which the

proles paid serious attention. It was probable that there were some millions of proles whom the

lottery was the principal, if not the only reason for remaining alive” (Orwell 89).

The proles are constantly engrossed with the lottery put forth by the government, which the party

knows is impossible to win. Giving them this distraction makes the proles linger in their false

imaginations rather than rallying the masses to overthrow the unfair government. The lottery is only a

weekly event, so the government also provides other forms of distraction such as pornography. The

ministry of truth has an entire section of which its only job is to produce any form of media to create a
diversion in the proletariat’s daily thinking. In this section, “[h]ere were produced rubbishy newspapers

containing almost nothing except sport, crime, and astrology, sensational five-cent novelettes, films

oozing with sex… There was even a whole sub-section – Pornosec it was called in Newspeak – engaged

in the providing the lowest kind of pornography” (Orwell 46). It is with these distractions that the

government creates a constant abstraction in the minds of the proles. Because the proles are fed so

much petty nonsense, they are too preoccupied and distracted to discuss other things with one another,

thus preventing any talks or plans against the government.

The government in 1984 not only distracts the proles and party members by separate means; it

also forces much broader and sweeping forms of distraction right across Oceania. One way they do this

is by placing a big screen in the homes of every individual of Oceania, called a telescreen. The screen is

always broadcasting something, holding the attention of every individual of Oceania. The telescreens

control the lives of the people watching them, because the telescreen is also used a surveillance tool by

the government. The telescreen controls many aspects of Winston’s life, such as his every day morning

routine: “The telescreen was giving an ear-splitting whistle… It was naught seven fifteen, getting-up time

for office workers” (Orwell 33). Every morning the screen controls when the world wakes up, and then

proceeds to broadcast a morning workout routine which everyone is expected to follow. The

government uses these screens to control and distract every individual at any given moment. There are

always broadcasts of military news, songs created by the government, and routines such as a two

minutes hate which all have to participate in. Being able to control their citizens at any given moment

gives the government a supreme control, because so long as the people are distracted by the screens,

they are not thinking. As well as the telescreens, the government also uses many demonstrations and

parades to hold the attention and minds of Oceania: “On the sixth day of Hate Week, after the

processions, the speeches, the shouting, the singing, the banners, the posters, the films, the waxworks,

the rolling of drums and squealing trumpets… The general hatred of Eurasia had boiled up” (Orwell 187).
When the government is not distracted Oceania with porn, work, or telescreens, they are distracting

everybody with demonstrations that fill the minds of the citizens with nothing but pure love for the

government for days on end. When parades and banners are strewn across the city, nobody pays

attention to other things such as the complete control the government has obtained over each

individual.

Overall, throughout 1984, Orwell does show that “Big Brother’s holding your attention every

moment you’re awake”, as Chuck Palahniuk said. Orwell gives a warning to everyone that if the

government keeps its people constantly distracted or preoccupied, the citizens will not have the time or

care to think or rebel, giving the government a firm hold of control without any threats. It can be seen

that the government in Oceania is very particular in the ways of distraction. They ensure that all party

members spend most of their time working or volunteering, giving them no free time to spend with

others, or free time alone. To distract the proletariats, a fake lottery is created which captures the full

attention of the proles every week. Then they are fed terrible and petty forms of media, which entirely

enthralls the proles to the point where they no longer care about anything but the lottery and porn.

Then as a whole, and on a very broad scale, the government creates telescreens in every home and

parades that occur very often to keep the minds of the citizens completely preoccupied from anything

that may involve thoughts against the government. Using so many forms of distraction keeps the hand

of the government in complete control. The government is free to do as they want, for every person is

too busy or absent-minded to think or care about what the government is doing with its power. As

Palahniuk said, “[w]ith everyone’s attention atrophied, no one will ever be a threat to the world”, and

Orwell describes this clearly throughout 1984.

Works Cited:

Orwell, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four. 3 ed. New York: Penguin Books, 2008. Print.