Topic > Predicting the Future: 1984 Compared to Today

Imagine living in a world like 1984 where the government controls everything; It seems too harsh to be true but we already are. The very definition of dystopian is a fictional place where everything goes wrong, but the earth has become too much like 1984 to call it dystopian because it has become reality. The book, 1984, by George Orwell is an exaggerated version of the earth and when compared to the present it is too similar for comfort: history erased, food and energy rationing, dominant socialism and communism. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay History is important, and changing it could alter some things that happen in the present. Winston thinks lies can become truth if enough people believe them. Winston says, “and if everyone else accepted the lie imposed by the Party – if all the documents told the same story – then the lie would go down in history and become truth” (Orwell 34). People's thoughts can change because of history. Winston says: “day by day and almost minute by minute the past was updated. In this way every prediction made by the Party could be proven correct by documentary evidence” (Orwell 40). It's scary to think that something from so long ago could influence something now. And it's because people make decisions based on previous events. Big changes aren't always sudden. Even when you change something like the story itself, people might not notice. Alexander Ljungqvist states: "out of seven I/B/E/S downloads, obtained between 2000 and 2007, we find that between 6,580 (1.6%) and 97,582 (21.7%) of the matched observations are different from a download to the next one." This helps demonstrate that changes can go unnoticed. It might not seem that big when one or two words change, but when multiple people change one or two things, the document might end up differently. The researcher further states that “these changes are not random, clustered by analyst reputation, broker size and status, and recommendation boldness.” It doesn't always occur to people that what they are reading about a historical figure is wrong because of someone else's desires today. It's wrong to alter things for selfish reasons, but that happens in the real world, not just in fictional stories. Rationing in 1984 was normal. People knew what it meant and how it felt. People had to face it because they had no choice: “bad news is coming, thought Winston. And in fact, after a bloody description of the annihilation of a Eurasian army, with stupendous figures of dead and prisoners, the announcement came that, starting next week, the chocolate ration would be reduced from thirty to twenty grams" (Orwell 26). . It might seem absurd that the real world could end up in a situation like this. It's not impossible. It's easy to fall into it if people don't start thinking about how much they take for granted. Not everyone thinks about the resources they use. Food, water and electricity are some of the basic commodities and some people use them carelessly without thinking. Thomas Saaty and Luis Vargas state that “not long ago it was unthinkable and considered an academic exercise to talk about rationing. People thought there couldn’t be a crippling energy crisis because our energy czars and planners would supposedly incorporate our needs into their projections.” Rationing of resources is a real problem. Maybe not everyone really needs to worry about it. However, there are places that monitor how much they consume. According to Thomas Saaty and Luis Vargas, “the companies were also ready.