"It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen"
Imagine a society where you are stripped off your individuality, your reasoning and every basic human right. Even the voice inside your head is silenced. There are no opinions. Only the facts laid down by the omnipotent 'Big Brother' remain. All this in the name of a collective greater good. Fair trade ??
This forms the central theme of classic novel 'Nineteen Eighty-Four'. Written by George Orwell, the novel talks about a dystopian society ruled by the dictatorship of the reigning party.
The novel makes us feel blessed to be living in a democracy. It forces you to value the rights which we take for granted. Many terms and concepts used in this novel have become vernacular, such as, Big Brother, Newspeak.
Imagine a society where you are stripped off your individuality, your reasoning and every basic human right. Even the voice inside your head is silenced. There are no opinions. Only the facts laid down by the omnipotent 'Big Brother' remain. All this in the name of a collective greater good. Fair trade ??
This forms the central theme of classic novel 'Nineteen Eighty-Four'. Written by George Orwell, the novel talks about a dystopian society ruled by the dictatorship of the reigning party.
Image Source: http://knowledgefiles.com/authors/george-orwell/19eightyfour/
Nineteen Eighty Four by George Orwell
The novel makes us feel blessed to be living in a democracy. It forces you to value the rights which we take for granted. Many terms and concepts used in this novel have become vernacular, such as, Big Brother, Newspeak.
The most popular reference to this novel is in the very famous Apple Macintosh commercial.
In this commercial, Apple positions the Macintosh as the next big thing which would end the tyranny and dictatorship of IBM at that time. The darkness, the blank faces, the herd behavior represent the loss of individuality for the sake of a perceived common good.
Many noted authors have touched upon the topic of collectivism and individualism in their own manner. Ayn Rand, the famous author of Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, strongly believed that the progress of society lay in the hands of the "Individual Man". She believed that the greatest threat for mankind was the subjugation of an individual to a group.
Collectivism is not the ``New Order of Tomorrow.´´ It is the order of a very dark yesterday. But there is a New Order of Tomorrow. It belongs to Individual Man — the only creator of any tomorrows humanity has ever been granted.
- Ayn Rand
The complete article: The Only Path To Tomorrow http://fare.tunes.org/liberty/library/toptt.html
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