1984 Shared Inquiry Padma Lim

Tension between Security & Liberty

- People favor security over liberty at times of war.
- Surveillance techniques used in 1984: Telescreens (at work, home, public holidays), thought crime, microphones,
community involvement --- no room to express emotion, thought etc.
- Reality Control – “Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four.” “The Party told you to reject the
evidence of your eyes and ears.”
- USA Patriot Act (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct
Terrorism) of 2001. Surveillance and National Security: Court orders police to SPY and EAVEDROP on suspected cyber
criminals and terrorists (intercepting phone calls, emails, sneak and peak searches (searches where officials or police
can break into someone’s home or office and snoop around without their permission), added banking card numbers
to a government database that could be accessed with court permission.) Is gov supposed to protect the
Constitution? 4th amendment?
Pros: Cooperation between gov agencies, easier to catch criminals; violates free speech, infringes on bill of rights,
unclear results.
- Short film documentary: A Night at the Garden in 1939: Symbols (Nazis, violence Jew)
How fear control people’s beliefs
- Fear without (Eurasia and Eastasia) – By directing the fear and hatred towards outside Oceania, the Party gains power
by reassuring them peace and order in the society Trump and the Caravans
- Fear of challenging the Party /committing crimes (e.g. thoughtcrime and ownlife) stops people from having individual
thoughts
- Fear of colleagues – not allowed to trust and bond with people around them (Evidence: “comrades” vs “friend”)
- Sex/Love – The Party cuts the sex instinct and stops people from loving each other as they should only be loyal to Big
Brother and nobody else. They view sex as an act of loyalty to the Party and not something to take pleasure/indulge in.
"All this marching up and down and cheering and waving flags is simply sex gone sour. If you're happy inside yourself,
why should you get excited about BIG BROTHER and the Three-Year Plans and the Two Minutes Hate and all the rest of
their bloody rot?"
- Fear of themselves – In order for the people to have total obedience to the Party, they hope to cleanse unorthodoxy
thoughts to ensure they do not betray the party through unconscious means.
- Hollywood Blacklist prevented screenwriters, actors, directors from being employed because they were accused of
having Communist ties or sympathies. Misery, suicides happened.
- The Red scare happened in two periods in the US and they involve promotion of widespread fear by a society or state
about a potential rise of communism, anarchism, or radical leftism. People suspected of supporting Communism “Saw
their lives disrupted. They were hounded by law enforcement, alienated from friends and family and fired from their
jobs. Most of the accused were victims of false allegations”. Dramatic effect of fear – people lose rights and freedoms of
speech. QUITE SERIOUS
-
Role of Media has been a powerful force in garnering support or criticisms for politicians and politics
- Media includes poster with the caption “BB is watching”, telescreen, Hate week Films, Newspeak dictionary
(Doublespeak “Alternative Facts”)
- Winston and his fellow employees in the Records Department are given tasks of rewriting articles in order to bring the
written record according to the Party’s version of Truth
- “Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.” Shows that by keeping people innocent,
the Party is able to distort history and falsify truth, thus garnering support from Party members.
- “Enhanced interrogation”/ “Extraordinary rendition” = program of a systematic torture of detainees , authorized by
George W. Bush, in Guantanamo Bay and Bagram etc. Include beating, sexual humiliation, subjection to extreme heat or
cold, confinement in small coffin-like box. Role of media’s role as to expose truth: A seven-year-old girl who US officials
say tried to cross the Mexico-US border illegally with her family has died hours after being taken into custody Dec
2018.
- The Atomic Cafe exposes how underestimation of atomic bombs (President Truman calls the atomic bomb a gift from
God) and how the government used films such as “Duck and Cover” shown in schools to shape public opinion
- Bill Clinton: denied sexual affair with Lewinsky, speech posted everywhere in television etc which leads to bad rep(the
more transparent you are with the public, the more trust you hold)
- Barack Obama: Ref Songs and clips shared in class -- emotional impact of reassurance/hope
Fiction allows us to more fully understand the emotional impact of historical events and gives us a fuller picture of actual
truth
- We see progress. Change in character. Torture in cells and room 101 etc, senses and imagery.
- 1/ Totalitariansim can occur. Don’t deny it. 2/ Don’t act? we’re doomed.
- Arthur Miller reflects the mass cultural and political hysteria produced when the U.S. government sought to suppress
Communism. McCarthy’s oppressive tactic.
The Press and Presidency

A brief history of contentious POTUS press conferences

All presidents have different styles

Brief History of Press Conference

Trump National Emergency Facts
A Night at the Garden (7min video)
1939 – wwii
Symbols (George washington and the Nazis)
Americans doing Nazis pose
The little boy
Refusal of “Gential” meaning jewish
Trump threats of violence at rallies- image with Sanders quotes
If you think totalitarianism won’t appear in US, be careful
Comparing Trump against Hitler

In wartimes, people favor security over liberty.