no. two

I found this song.. it's pretty funny, directed at Bush. It's from this website called: BUSH WATCH..

"Watching a World Series crowd "erupt" after Bush threw out the first pitch and flashed a thumbs up, Rove thought (in Woodward's paraphrase), 'It's like being at a Nazi rally.'" --Patrick Beach, review of "Bush At War"


BIG BROTHER

Every breath you take
Every move you make
Every bond you break
Every step you take
I'll be watching you

Every single day
Every word you say
Every game you play
Every night you stay
I'll be watching you

O can't you see
You belong to me
How my poor heart aches with every law you break

Every move you make
Every vow you break
Every smile you fake
Every claim you stake
I'll be watching you

O can't you see
You belong to me
How your soul will ache, you'll always see my face

Every move you make
Every vow you break
Every smile you fake
Every claim you stake
I'll be watching you

--Politex, slight paraphrase of Sting, 11.22.02

tracy
p/s A big hello to P O Neil, thanks for the comments!!

symbols part 1

well it's saturday. and i'm bored. it's good to know dat we're doing 'handmaid's tale'...it'll be interesting to see a utopian society from a female perspective.

listening to 'Talk Shows on Mute'. and wat a coincidence...it seems to contain elements of 1984 and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep...or mention them aniwaes. quite interesting to see how much pop culture is influenced by utopian writings.

aniwaes...would like to tell my co-blogger, TRACY dearest...where's ur entry?? WOLS. haha. ok nvm...

(oh ok. 'The Simple Life' is on TV now. the girls are on their way to their very own dystopia. joy.)

hmm what shall my entry be about today? how about symbols in '1984'? yep...

let's see...first thing that comes to my mind is that paperweight or coral (pg 99). i feel it's important because it's a remnant of the past. a part of history. and it's something that can't be changed obviously because it has remained the same even though it was made over 100 years ago. (something that hasn't been altered, unlike most of the past) somehow i feel it represents winston and julia's relationship...or love. something that they both felt the Party could never change or altered...and that they couldn't do anything to make them betray each other.

however, when they are captured, the paperweight is shattered into pieces (pg 232). thrown to the floor...and thus unable to withstand the force. something unchanged now broken. same with julia and winston's love? in the end they both betray each other, truly wishing the other was being tortured. in the end, whatever they had was destroyed. their loyalty towards each other destroyed...because they were unable to withstand the torture, just like the paperweight which was unable to withstand the force of hitting the floor.

"How small, thought Winston, how small it always was." - though he's speaking of the coral, i feel it's representative of their love. maybe the element of love was truly insignificant...and it was just another act of rebellion. (shall expound on the theme of love in some other entry)

THE GOLDEN COUNTRY. Winston's idea of freedom. a place without telescreens, Big Brother...his own utopia. a utopia within a utopia...and they're the exact opposite of each other. aniwaes...the place where Julia and Winston first make love is somewhat like the Golden Country. this goes against all rules of the Party. and maybe, to rebel is to be free.

BIG BROTHER. an all-powerful being, the head of the Party. nobody really knows whether he exists but he is definitely EVERYWHERE. it's almost creepy and haunting...because he is seriously everywhere...at work, at home...on walls, in rooms. he invades every aspect of your life. a form of control? the Party's way of saying you can never escape their eyes...and that you will never be free.

he might represent a form of protection to the pple due to his name...big brother, a person to protect the younger ones? but because he sees all, he may instill a sense of fear in the people as well. also, i believe orwell created Big Brother with images of past dictators in mind. Hitler, Stalin...

he's almost Godlike...people may never truly know if God exists...but the point is we BELIEVE He exists. it's the same with Big Brother. the people of Oceania may never know if he exists...but they believe he does...so they fear him.

there's still other symbols....the telescreens, the prole woman...but let's leave it to the next entry. so....watch out for part 2. oh the suspense! *deadpans*



sUfi




"come one, come all, into nineteen-eighty-four." -Incubus

NOW. i can finally type something which can be sseeen.

Ok, actually i'm in school now. And i'm so glad that i can create a post here. i shall type it at home and then bring it to school and copy and paste and whatnot. Ok, so don't blame me if it doesn't appear yet.. tralalalallalala. Till then anyways.

Tracy

my 2nd post

first off, happy new year. well it's back to school for all, whether we like it or not. haha. and to mark the new year, or 5 days into it, let me post another entry.

well...so here's my 2nd entry. woohoo.

it's probably too late to hand it in and stuff but better late than never eh?

ok. i shall speak of themes today. i feel the more predominant themes are control, technology, love, and others. in this post, i will speak about technology...or more how technology is used for surveillance, or maybe, it could be even more than that, in the sense that technology is used to SPY on the people.

technology in '1984' is used to suppress the people, be it through surveillance or brainwashing techniques. it can even be said that technology is used to control the people and the Party relies on this to be successful.

it is strange however, that with all the advancements in technology, oceania seems to be in a state of arrested development, which popped up in my mind after remembering today's lecture. it seems the Party is using technology as a way of halting development so as to ensure total control over oceania and its people.

since we are on the topic of technology, we can probably relate our society to their society. and how technology is used as surveillance in our society as well.

of course the most obvious example is the ez-link card each of us have. the familiar beeping sound upon getting on the bus may sound harmless...but unknown to some, your location is now known by some higher power. yes, it might not be surveillance on a 24-hour basis, but it's a step towards it, eh?

another example is the development of the biometrics technology. now, it is only being used for entry in offices and schools, and such...but what if this technology were to be furthered? would a single fingerprint be enough to pinpoint the whereabouts of any citizen?

or what if governments decide to put tracking devices on the citizens? they've put it in cars already, why not just insert a chip into brains? of course with the developments in technology, it is possible...but highly unlikely the people would accept it. heh.

but hey...just imagine sitting in front of a huge computer screen, looking at blue dots scurrying about. would that be the life of a surveillance officer in the future?



hmm...


BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU.



sUfi

of first entries and slogans

don't have much to say at the moment except that this blog is probably way overdue. and dat dis a joint effort by sufi and tracy from 04A301. yah.

during my 1st 3 months course in SR, we watched the movie, '1984' and what struck me the most were the three slogans of the party.

WAR IS PEACE.
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY.
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.

the slogan i find most interesting is the first slogan...WAR IS PEACE.

it's interesting to see how it can be related to the present state of things. it seems now, it is indeed true that war is peace.

now....it seems that to have peace, war is necessary, for example, the war in iraq. or at least measures which may lead to war is necessary. but who can truly judge what peace and war is? to some it may mean two different things, but to others, they may be the same.

in 1984, war IS seen as peace. it has been drilled into their minds and to them, the absence of war would only cause disarray and chaos. to us however, it seems they do not realise that they are already in this state...but this is as i've said only a difference in opinion. to us, war may not be peace but to them it is.

thus, we have to question the meaning of war and peace. is there really any difference between the two words? or does the only difference lie in the spelling?

so, is war really peace?


sUfi.