OK, I re-read the book as an adult last year, having read it in my teens at school (in 1984)
A great many topics came to my mind in Orwell/Blair's masterpiece. Near the end, it was a tear-jerking catastrophic romance (comparable to my own love-life).
The structure of society was overwhelming. The level of control formidable, underlain by NEWSPEAK language.
"Freedom is Slavery" comes to the forefront. Everything we take as giving us freedom, is ultimately making us slaves. Computers with their ISP address, mobile phones capable of tracking our movements, CCTV everywhere. Democracy is an illusion. New Covid restrictions seeking to identify unvaccinated people. New police powers (to stop demonstrations) being mooted and magistrates (today) given additional sentencing powers.
And where do i get my information ? the usual news websites, BBC, Yahoo, etc. So shouldn't I be conformist ?
And with all the monitoring and CCTV, why are there so many 'successful' terrorist atrocities ?
"War is Peace" akin to 'freedom is slavery' in that the phrase seems contradictory. The doublespeak meaning is that a constant (threat of) war against the population keeps them subdued/jingoistic and keeps thoughts away from important issues of Governance.
Another extrapolated meaning, might yet mean that to acquire the monetary wealth to achieve personal ambitions, you must conform to the working environment and the 'mission statement' of your employer.

Ahh, too much time on my hands, with all this Covid and zero-hours contract I'm on.
Another no-response thread from Forest. Perhaps I should stick to lavatory photos and humour.

I disengage, I turn the page.

I go along with your thinking on this issue Hillbilly. My wife and I frequently comment about how spooky Orwell's book was. I've got a copy somewhere, but couldn't find it when I looked just now (reflects the state of my bookshelves I'm afraid).

So many of his ideas have come to fruition, or close to it, these days. And it was first published in 1949! We live in something like a Police State with so much surveillance and general awareness of almost everything we do.

The Covid restrictions, necessary as they were, seemed to exacerbate the feeling that we were put under government control. There's a film called Logan's Run about a place where an idyllic, hedonistic lifestyle ends when you reach the age of 30. If you're wise you make a run for it because the alternative is mysteriously unpleasant. Another example of lives being controlled by the State. Spooky.

Dad and I watched games standing on the muddy slope of the Holmesdale Road end. He cheered and I rattled.

Another facet is the theory of "time compression". Modern technology was meant to give humans more free time. What it has actually done is make working longer hours a routine thing, and thus reducing human contact time. You work longer, do more work, and have less time to yourself.

I disengage, I turn the page.

The upsides include internet pron and 'working from home' with alcohol on expenses

Alcohol, it's not just for Government, it's for all the workers

Edited by Forest Hillbilly (18 Jan 2022 3.22pm)

I disengage, I turn the page.

Nineteen Eighty-Four (to give it its correct title) wasn't at all prophetic. It was an allegory on totalitarian regimes that already existed.

Palace since 19 August 1972. Palace 1 (Tony Taylor) Liverpool 1 (Emlyn Hughes)

A poignant thread on a topic and theme that many have observed over the years but which we have been powerless to stop.

We are powerless precisely because those that hold real power are only really interested in expanding it. Their ability to do that has been significantly aided by technology and the growing better ability to shape mass communication to the exclusion of alternatives.

The Internet has been a challenge to that but is slowly being turned into the same tool of control.

Capital runs the west....the party runs China. Wouldn't it be great if we could have a system where people had more power over their own lives.

'Who are you and how did you get in here? I'm a locksmith. And, I'm a locksmith.' (Leslie Nielsen)