FOOTAGE
Monday, October 6, 2014
Wednesday, October 1, 2014
BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU (act 5)
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| These are the words that stood out to me most at the end of the first two paragraphs of 1984 by George Orwell. |
So far, judging from the first two paragraphs alone, the world in 1984 seems strange and a tad bleak. First there are harsh winds, next the elevator doesn't work and Winston has an ulcer in his right ankle so the stairs are a challenge for him, and lastly there are posters that scale the walls of every single floor of the building that look much like the one above reading, "BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU." From this I can predict that Winston, and anyone else living in this kind of world, must hold a fear in their gut that nothing in their lives goes unnoticed by "big brother."
Under Cover (act4)
The cover is the iris and pupil of an eye concentrated straight ahead as if staring directly at whomever holds the book in their hands. The question is...
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What does this cover mean?
obviously it means you are being watched.
Directly inside the cover on the first page lies a brief description of the author and the man who wrote the afterword on the back cover.
An afterword left on the back cover by Erich Fromm briefly explains the atmosphere of the novel. Fromm describes the vibe saying, "George Orwell's prophetic, nightmarish vision in 1949 of the world we were becoming is timelier than ever." I probably should have waited to read the afterword after I read the novel (which i usually do), but this time i found no major spoilers that were not already obvious from discussion in class, so no harm done.
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| The novel is divided into smaller sections. |
One 2 Many (Act 3)
Vocabulary Words:
Authoritarian—The government is the authority. The individual obeys. This is the opposite of a libertarian philosophy, in which the government leaves the individual alone as much as possible.
Totalitarian—In totalitarian rule, the government tries to control every aspect of the lives of its citizens, including their thoughts and beliefs, by any means possible.
Oligarchical Collectivism—Aristotle defines three types of government, each with a good form in which the ruler or rulers have the good of the state in mind and a bad form in which the rulers govern by self-interest.
Utopia—A perfect, happy society in which all of humanities problems have been solved.
Anti-Utopia or Dystopia—A nightmare society in which life is as difficult and unhappy as it could be; often the result of trying to create a utopia.
What we thought:
These political concepts all relate to different types of government. The countries in the world today utilize different forms of government. Some countries rely on monarchies, or one wise ruler that controls all aspects of civilian life. Other countries rely on Aristocracies, or rule by a few wise individuals. And finally, the remaining countries rely on mass rule. There are also negative versions of these same governments such as: Tyranny (one cruel ruler), Oligarchy (few cruel rulers), or Democracies (elitist control).
The United States of America uses a constitutional government represented by the people for the better of the whole nation.
The types:
nce upon a time there was one ruler over all the land....
Now this story can go two different ways. There are Kings and Queens and there are Dictators. While you may think that Kings and Queens may be the better option, they can become just as corrupt as a dictator when they realize their power over the people.
here once was land ruled by a small few......
once again this is a story of two tales. Under aristocracy and oligarchy there are a few individuals working together to rule; however, those ruling in an aristocracy do better to monitor each other and make sure the power is equally divided, whereas, those ruling by oligarchy tend to become more selfish and cause uprising amongst themselves and their people.
any know of tale where many decided the fate of their land....
which was good and was kept fair through voting, checks and balances, and separate houses and branches that made the decisions except for when the wealthy minority takes charge over the poor majority and all benefits go toward the rich. This is bad.
Sources:
Authoritarian—The government is the authority. The individual obeys. This is the opposite of a libertarian philosophy, in which the government leaves the individual alone as much as possible.
Totalitarian—In totalitarian rule, the government tries to control every aspect of the lives of its citizens, including their thoughts and beliefs, by any means possible.
Oligarchical Collectivism—Aristotle defines three types of government, each with a good form in which the ruler or rulers have the good of the state in mind and a bad form in which the rulers govern by self-interest.
Utopia—A perfect, happy society in which all of humanities problems have been solved.
Anti-Utopia or Dystopia—A nightmare society in which life is as difficult and unhappy as it could be; often the result of trying to create a utopia.
What we thought:
These political concepts all relate to different types of government. The countries in the world today utilize different forms of government. Some countries rely on monarchies, or one wise ruler that controls all aspects of civilian life. Other countries rely on Aristocracies, or rule by a few wise individuals. And finally, the remaining countries rely on mass rule. There are also negative versions of these same governments such as: Tyranny (one cruel ruler), Oligarchy (few cruel rulers), or Democracies (elitist control).
The United States of America uses a constitutional government represented by the people for the better of the whole nation.
The types:
nce upon a time there was one ruler over all the land....Now this story can go two different ways. There are Kings and Queens and there are Dictators. While you may think that Kings and Queens may be the better option, they can become just as corrupt as a dictator when they realize their power over the people.
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| Checkmate |
here once was land ruled by a small few......once again this is a story of two tales. Under aristocracy and oligarchy there are a few individuals working together to rule; however, those ruling in an aristocracy do better to monitor each other and make sure the power is equally divided, whereas, those ruling by oligarchy tend to become more selfish and cause uprising amongst themselves and their people.
any know of tale where many decided the fate of their land....which was good and was kept fair through voting, checks and balances, and separate houses and branches that made the decisions except for when the wealthy minority takes charge over the poor majority and all benefits go toward the rich. This is bad.
I am a Dirtbag (act 2)
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| The pledge of allegiance states, "with liberty and justice for all." This statement is what America stands for, and so monitoring our private messages would become a direct violation of this promise made to all U.S. citizens; therefore, I predict that if a situation where the government fears an act of violence from the people, then they would not hack our phones and social media to track who is involved. |
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| If, however, this situation came to life for me, then i would indeed change all habits of communication. I would withdraw all personal information, such as my locations or whom i am with, from my textual conversations as to keep my privacy more intact. |
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| If a team of FBI agents came knocking on my door then I would have nothing to be scared of as i have nothing to hide, but I would still be filled with a fear due to the uncertainty of why they are there. why did they come to my house? I can only assume they had a reason and that the reason had to do with me, so yes, without known cause to be scared, i would still be fearful. By having this new fear of knowing that they know me and are watching me, my persona would become a more cautious, innocent character. |
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| This situation would of course be SCREAMING orwellian because of the government knowledge and action toward my private decisions. |
my partner also believes that this is too much of an invasion of privacy and goes against our constitutional rights as United States Citizens. We agreed on a situation such as this to be considered "Orwellian" but also agreed that we would hardly change our communication habits any more than being more conscious of our words.
Thursday, September 25, 2014
Society: Orwellian or Nah? (Act 1)
Activity 1
Does the FBI spy on us through our technology? has the world of tech become an Orwellian world??
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| The door and keyhole represent our privacy locked away from preying eyes, and the girl peeping through represents the government invading that privacy from the door that's supposed to be protecting it. |
No, no the FBI does not. they mostly do not care about what the average individual does; however, they can and they will in the name of justice for use to track down and observe criminals, spy. Although, this ability to read our emails and track us down by our wifi and whenever we use google poses a threat to our privacy because there are shady government practices going on in the FBI as its been proven that agents have abused their power and spied on uncriminal civilians in today's society. Spying and keeping track of criminals through invasion of their privacy may at times be necessary, but tracking someone like little ole' me? not okay. I believe that the word "Orwellian", by my definition, refers to when this kind of abuse of power occurs. And besides, who wants to know that I'm youtubing Adventure Time episodes and doing my homework and even that I'm writing this blog(aside from Brahmst of course)?
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