George Orwell’s 1984, as it has been
discussed, is a dystopian novel that depicts the projection of totalitarianism
in a society after wartime. He shows Oceania as a panoptical society which is
ruled by four government ministries: The Ministries of Truth, Love, Peace and
Plenty. However, the purposes of these all reflect the irony of their true
function. Moreover, these ministries were a projection of Orwell’s view on how
human society would turn out to be if the totalitarian regime stayed in control,
thus it is not shocking at all to see these ministries somehow represented in
nowadays societies of a large variety of countries.
The Ministry of Truth or minitrue, as in Newspeak, was
in charge of releasing information to the public, however, all of it has to
correspond to Big Brother and the Inner Party’s beliefs as what it is considered
to be the truth. Nowadays, even though we are living in a world that is in progress of development, it is quite common to run into countries that still manipulate the information provided to their citizens, such is the case of North Korea which has established a strict media censorship where their former "Dear Leader" Kim Jong-il used to flattered himself and his decision making leaving out his flaws of course. Now his son Kim Jong-un has taken over the country following his father's footsteps as a dictator. (BBC News, 2011).
The Ministry of Peace or minipax was in charge of supporting a perpetual war that will keep people living in never-ending hardship as to prevent them from undestarding the truth about the society they are living in. Today a true representative of wanting to keep war going is the United States. It is a widespread belief that the U.S. often gets in the middle of other countries conflicts as to serve as a mediator, however, it has made it worst in the sense of increasing the problem by appling friction to very delicate issues, such as the Syrian nuclear weapons issue as well as the delayed withdrawal of U.S. Army troops from Iraqi territory as it has been promised. (Greenwald, 2011).
The Ministry of Plenty or miniplenty was in charge of managing food, goods and domestic production, so that it can be said that scarceness was not as terrible as it seemed. Sadly today it is evident that in Venezuela this has been taken to the extreme. People have to stand in lines that last kilometers in order to get one kilogram of rice to eat, and even have to be numbered (does this sound familiar to a period in Chilean history?). Supermarkets are presenting a shortage in every single product that is essential for daily life, all due to the Venezuelan government mismanagement of economy which has turned into this food scarcity crisis that has been overlooked despite its seriousness. (Semprún, 2014*).As you may see, Orwell's vision of theses Ministries is not as farfetched as some may think regarding contemporary societies. This proves that even though 1984 was a futuristic dytopian novel, our generation has fallen into what Orwell predicted society would turn out to be.
All in all, could you give some thought to what aspects of our Chilean society can be compared to Orwell's ministries?
References:
BBC News (2011). North Korea tighly controlled media. BBC News Asia-Pacific. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-16255126
Fierstein, H. (2013). Russia's Anti-Gay Crackdrown. New York Times: The Opinion Pages.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/22/opinion/russias-anti-gay-crackdown.html?_r=1&
George Orwell: A life in Picture Full Documentary. (2013) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuVYvkdTYWc
Great Books (2013). 1984 (George Orwell). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOJ-B94UvNY
Greenwald, G. (2011). About that Iraqui Withdrawal. Salon. http://www.salon.com/2011/10/21/about_that_iraq_withdrawal/
GurusBlog (2014). Y Venezuela va mejor. Ahora se quedan sin comida. Gurus Blog. http://www.gurusblog.com/archives/venezuela-se-quedan-sin-comida/23/01/2014/
Orwell, G. (1949). Nineteen eighty-four. A Project Gutenberg of Australia eBook.
Sieczkowski, C. (2013). Duth Tourist Jailed Under Russia's "Gay Propaganda" Law. The Huffington Post Gay Voices.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/22/dutch-tourists-jailed-russia-gay_n_3635803.html
Semprún, A. (retrieved* 2014). Venezuela se está quedando sin comida. La Razón. http://www.larazon.es/detalle_opinion/noticias/2238745/venezuela-se-esta-quedando-sin-comida#.VGqpKPmG-So
Very interesting relation between the book´s ministries and how they are reflected in our society. How sad it is to realize that what seemed as far-fetched is happening all around us. It is the essence of the ministries that we can clearly identify in other countries and luckily not all combined at the same time like in 1984. When I was reading the book, one of the first things I thought was: Thank god it is 2014 and that never happened. But after reading your post I got to the conclusion that 1984 is all around us and it has been for a long time now.
ResponderEliminarFirst of all, I really liked your post! Regarding your question, when I was reading about the Ministry of Truth and Big Brother I immediately thought about the media control. Here in Chile perhaps it is not as strong as in other countries, but there is always a degree of control in the content that the means of communication offer to their citizens. Moreover, the situation that is currently happening here with the teachers' strike appeared on my mind, since the news are only presenting partial information about it, neglecting the movement, which, personally, is one of the most important issues that should be broadcasted.
ResponderEliminarWhile I was reading the book, and read about the four Ministries in the first pages, I never thought of relating that to our society, but after reading your post, I definitely did. I will relate the Ministry of Truth to our national television channels, as they manage all the information that is transmitted in our country, along with radio stations, the thing here is that, as in the novel, national television channels select what is to be transmitted and what is not. The problem with this is that there have been many times when they fail to do what they are supposed to, and hide some important information from viewers.
ResponderEliminarWhen thinking about the Ministry of Love, what came to my mind immediately was the government in the times of dictatorship, as this Ministry was in charge of punishing and torturing whoever differed with the government’s ideology. I would also add to this the Ministry of Plenty, as the aim of this Ministry was also fulfilled by the Chilean government at the time.
As for the Ministry of Peace, I believe it is related to the army, the navy, as well as the air and police forces, although it is a hypothetical relation, as right now we are obviously not in a perpetual war.