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Essay / Predicting the Future: 1984 Versus 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 dystopia is an imaginary place where everything is wrong, but Earth is too much like 1984 to call it dystopian because it has become reality. George Orwell's book, 1984, is an exaggerated version of Earth and, compared to the present, it is too similar to be comforting: history is erased, food and energy rationing, socialism and communism dominates. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay History is important, and changing it might change some things that happen in the present. Winston believes that lies can become truths if enough people believe them. Winston says, “what if everyone else accepted the lie imposed by the Party – if all the documents told the same story – then the lie would pass into 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 brought up to date. In this way, every prediction made by the Party could be demonstrated by documentary evidence to be accurate” (Orwell 40). It's scary to think that something from so long ago could affect something from today. And that's because people make decisions based on previous events. Big changes are not always sudden. Even changing something like the story itself, people may not notice. According to Alexander Ljungqvist, “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 paired observations are different from 'one download to another'. This helps prove that changes can go unnoticed. It may not seem like such a big deal when one or two words change, but when multiple people change one or two elements, the document may end up differently. The researcher also states: “These changes are not random, grouped based on the reputation of analysts, the size and status of brokers, and the boldness of recommendations.” It doesn't always occur to people that what they read about a historical figure is wrong because of someone else's desires today. Changing things for selfish reasons is wrong, but it happens in the real world, not just in fictional stories. Rationing in 1984 was normal. People knew what it meant and what it meant. People had to face it because they had no choice: Bad news is coming, Winston thought. And of course, after a bloody description of the annihilation of a Eurasian army, with prodigious figures of killed and prisoners, came the announcement that from next week the chocolate ration would be reduced by thirty grams to twenty grams” (Orwell 26). . It may seem crazy that the real world could find itself in a situation like this. It's not impossible. It's easy to fall into this situation if people don't start thinking about everything they take for granted. Not everyone thinks about the resources they use. Food, water and electricity are some of the basics and some people use them carelessly without thinking about it. Thomas Saaty and Luis Vargas say: “Not long ago, it was unthinkable and considered an academic exercise to talk about rationing. People thought there couldn't be a crisis.