Control

"Whoever controls the past, controls the future: Who controls the present, controls the past."

This quote has a strong significance in 1984. It pretty much lets us, the readers, know how the Party has so much power and control. The Party figured out how to control the past, somehow, by changing history. If something changes in the world, the party prints it out in the newspapers and such as if it has always been like that. During Hate Week, the target of their hate changed right in the middle of a rally, and no one even blinked an eye. Now everyone knew that they target had changed, and the changed target had been their target all along. Winston knows that this goes on, because it is his job in the Ministry of Truth to change things in articles of newspapers and magazines that are now "wrong."

The quote perfectly explains that if you can get control of the past, then you also have control of the future. And the way to get control of the past, is to control the present. It is saying that if you get control of the present and everything in it, you have the power to change things that happened in the past and plan out what will happen in the future. Pretty much, if you have power now, you have had power always and you will have power always...

Unless someone tries to stop you. Which is what Winston and Julia tried to do. Sadly, it didn't work. Everyone who they thought they could trust (O'brien and Mr. Charrington) revealed themselves to be against them and turned them in. It goes to show you that in their world, you really can not trust anyone. Your closest friend could turn against you. That is what the government has done with their control of the present, and in order to keep that control in the future, they make sure that everything goes as they like it. They brainwash everyone to turn anyone, including parent, children, brothers, sisters, best friends, lovers, etc. The government has complete control over everyone, and the worst part is is that most people don't even see it.

Agreeing With Kelsey

I agree with Kelsey's post about how the people don't know what is happening. She says "In 1984 they also erase people’s memories, so anyone who did know what freedom was they no longer do because their past was erased from there thoughts." It would be hard for the people to try to remeber their past when it seems that they don't have a memory. Kelsey mentions tha the public is completely blind to what is going on, and it's true. Only a few people, including Winston and Julia, seem to realize that the government is bad. Winston seems to be able to recall a few things from the past, but they are really hazy for him. He tries to figure out things about the past by asking other people, but no one else seems to know either. Julia doesn't have memories about the past at all. All she knows is the Party and their ways. She does seem to know, however, that there is something wrong with it and she is against it.

What I don't understand is how the government did it. I don't understand how they could have erased the memories of every person. I also don't know how they brianwashed everyone so quickly. London was normal just shy of 30 years ago it seems, when Winstonw as a little boy. I don't know how they changed everyones minds and memories that quickly. Everyone deeply believes what the Party says, no questions asked. I guess they don't ask questions, because if you do, you'll die. The Party has control over everything, including their thoughts. I still don't really undersand how they did it though.

Oh, They Know.

I believe that most people in 1984 know very well what is going on. Winston does, and I'm absolutely sure that there are more people like him, just too scared to say anything. The government has forced all of its people to become scared of it. From what Winston has said, he knows perfectly well that the government and the way of life didn't used to be like the way it is now. He can't remember the way it was when he was younger, which seems strange to me, but he does know that it was different. He is also not sure that the way things were when he was younger was better or worse. The government says that before the revolution things were worse, and they are making everything better, but Winston isn't sure he believes that. I'm curious about why he, or anyone else for that matter, can't remember his childhood. But for the most part, I think a lot of people know that something is up with the government and things shouldn't be the way they are. People just don't know how it really should be, so they don't say anything.

There are some people, however, who don't know that something is strange about the government. People like Winston's neighbor, Parsons, think that the government is great and everything is going good. I have absolutely no idea how people could think that everything with the government is okay. To them it might just be what they grew up with, and they don't know any better. They might actually believe that life was worse before the revolution. The people who are content with the government right now are people who are easily persuaded, and don't think for themselves at all. They take what the government says and eat it right up. I don't know if the government has done something to everyone or not to make them not remember the way things were before, but that is the only thing I can think of as to why some people aren't aware of what is going on with the government.

My Thoughts About the Thought Police

In 1984, I don't understand how the government got to be the way it is. Why would all of the people in London, and where ever else in the world this has happened to, allow the government to become so controlling. It amazes me the way people behave in the novel, especially Winston. Winston knows that the government is wrong, but he always knows that he can not do anything about it. The government has scared him into thinking that he can't do anything about it. But I think that if everyone got over their fear, they'd totally be able to change things and take over the government to take it back to the way it was.

The reason why the government still has control over the people is because it has grown them up to be scared. Everyone is scared of what will happen to them if they think bad things about the government, or do something against the government, so they don't do it. They threaten people with examples from the past, and the Thought Police. Personally, I don't think that the Thought Police truly exist. I think that the government says that they are out there to try and scare everyone into behaving and not thinking bad things about the government. Do people honestly believe that there are people out there that can read their thoughts? That is impossible. And besides, if the Thought Police truly were real, wouldn't Winston have been totally caught by now? He thinks bad things about the government all the time. It's practically his second job. There is no way that the Thought Police actually exists, and if the people figured that out, then they might be able to do something about the government.

DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER

Winston bought his diary at an antique shop. He wasn't quite sure what he was going to write in it, but he had to get his feelings out somehow. He didn't know if anyone was going to ever see it. In fact, he was pretty sure nobody ever would. When he first started writing, he went very quickly, talking about how he was at the movies. He said some strange things, like how when a fat man was getting killed everyone laughed. In the world today, when we see someone getting shot, we don't laugh. (Well, most of us anyways.) As he was writing, he started to sidetrack, thinking about the government and how he knew it was always like this. He was trying to remember what it was like to live in the past, when he was a little boy, but he couldn't remember. After he stopped thinking about the past, he looked at his diary to find that he had written "DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER" over and over again. Then he started writing things like "theyll shoot me i dont care theyll shoot me in the back of the neck..." He knew that he could get in a lot of trouble for thinking and writing things against the government. He figured sooner or later he was going to get caught and killed because he was always thinking bad things about the government, and now he was writing them, too. He knew inside of him that Big Brother and the government was wrong, and that it wasn't always like this. He wondered if there were people in the world who thought the same thing as he did. He was sure there were, but he didn't know how to find or contact them. He started talking about a dream he had had, where a man named O'brien told him that they would "meet in the place where there is no darkness." Because of this dream, he knows that O'brien is on his side. He knows there are people out there who think like him, all he has to do is find them and try and stop the government.

Blogging Responsibly

Some potential dangers of blogging are that everything someone posts is available for everyone and anyone to see. That can be extremely dangerous if someone posts their full name, email address, street address, phone number, etc. "The key thing is that young people appear to be totally oblivious to the fact that everything they post in these sites is public, permanent, accessible from throughout the world, and easily transmittable to anybody," says Nancy Willard. The worst part about those dangers is that the bloggers don't even know they're putting themselves in danger. That might be the most dangerous part...
Other dangers for bloggers is that things written could potentially hurt other peoples feelings. There have been occurrences of people putting nasty things about other people in their blogs. When people see mean stuff about them all over the Internet for everyone to see, it can be extremely discouraging. If I saw things about me on a blog, I'd be very hurt and I'm not sure what I'd do.
A serious danger could occur when people post personal information. There are crazy people out there who will take your information, track you down, and then only bad things could happen from there. In order to remain safe will blogging, make sure you don't put anything personal, such as your full name, address, or telephone number.