Geogre orwell's 1984 is not only a interesting but also very compelling read. Each finished page puts you in hours of thinking. Somewhere it says a good book is one which tells you things which you already know but in more systematic way so that you can collaborate your thoughts around it.1984 does not state any unobvious or unknown fact. But, instigate your thought process on patterns which have existed forever in our society.
Some books have their own life; they live through centuries, through vast geographic diversities, making sense for people living in Mathura to Manhattan equally. You don't have to read these books but instead they talk to you as you turn pages. I know few of them Fountainhead, The class and 1984, this list will surely grow as I get to read more books.
"1984" posses a fundamental question of power and its existence. Why war and enmity between nations exist and why it will exist forever. Book repeatedly states three unique rules of power, 1) Ignorance is strength 2) Freedom is slavery 3) War is peace. They are more like oxymoron but when you read through context its all start making all sense.
I will start with my favorite one "Freedom is slavery", As we live in society we follow rules and regulations and become part of the system. In other words we are slaves to norms instituted by society & government and in return government promises our freedom. Any individual not confirming to social rules can not ask for same guarantee to his freedom. By being part of society we loose our identity as individual and any crime against us is considered as crime against society thus inviting appropriate punishment by system or government. Or in other words, in any disintegrated society each individual is responsible for his own safety, by not confirming to any rule though free, but responsible to keep his freedom intent. Slavery to system is key to keep personal freedom.
"War is peace" is an oxymoron but again equally relevant in current context, war with external forces is always used by governments around the globe to maintain peace inside the country. War provide required strong emotions to suppress all other issues of importance, when country is at war no one questions tax hikes, ration cuts or delay in otherwise development projects. Anyway what is greater than national pride to citizens. Over the years governments and rulers have used this to best of their interest, Correlating this with current situations around start making sense immediately. Billions getting spent in defeating external enemies while internal enemies like poverty, illiteracy and epidemics always stay undefeated due to unavailability of required funds. Governments are eager to put billions into weapons and bombs but funds always fall short for giving food to everyone. A good war is useful to everyone but poor. Rulers & government gets full hand on funds usage which would be questioned otherwise, middle class gets something to watch on TV in evening and feel proud about. Frankly speaking, all money spent on wars around is more than enough to eradicate all other vices like poverty, hunger, infant mortality. But again who really cares.
Last one is "ignorance is strength", this one is even more appropriate in context of our country. In addition to all other benefits education enable us to ask questions. It opens window of mind, it develops a sense reasoning behind all actions. We start asking questions to people in responsible positions. We expect accountability from other leaders while Ignorant masses provide unquestioned absolute power to rulers. For years, rulers denied right to education to all section of society to suppress this reasoning, accountability and transparency. Ignorance is surely an strength for rulers who want to avoid accountability and transparency .
This novel was written sometime in 1947 but equally contemporary to today's situation. History repeats itself and in social context it repeats more often. Years passed, centuries passed but society always remained divided in three sections High, middle and low. Rulers changed, name changed and way of ruling changed but even societies and countries created in the name of human equality could not remove these sections. Few from middle moved to high, few from high fallen to middle but low remained low, in darkness. Interesting, middle always took support of low pretending to fight for their cause, to reach higher but once they reached there they pushed low back to where they always were. Every time after bit of imbalance everything settled back in same format which existed forever.
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