Main Area and Open Discussion > Living Room

Top 10 Most Depressing Quotes from Orwell's 1984

<< < (3/6) > >>

tinjaw:
I'm a libertarian so I don't like either side preaching.

But we have strayed OT too far, my friend.  :(

Cpilot:
But we have strayed OT too far, my friend.  :(
-tinjaw (March 17, 2008, 11:36 AM)
--- End quote ---
I don't see how.
The title of the thread suggests that the fictional novel "1984" has some sort of relevance to reality.
I'm pointing out that it doesn't, except in the fevered mind of the ultra paranoid.
You made some absurd statements about the current administrations "evils" and in some way this is supposed to convince us that we are on the march to "big brother" while ignoring the policies of past administrations and their ineptitude and bad behaviour.
I call BS.
If you're really worried about freedom consider this.
Internment camps for Japanese-Americans during WWII was a policy instituted by Roosevelt, a democrat.
The Korean and Vietnam wars were democrat wars, involuntary forced conscription (the draft) was a democratic policy.
The draft was the greatest governmental seizure and deprivation of freedom of all time, and it and those wars were overseen by increasingly liberal democrats.
If you think "big brother" has you now, wait until after the elections and you have to report to an induction center.
Reading "1984" don't mean you know squat about "big brother", hearing someone call out your birth date in the high tens during a draft lottery does.

f0dder:
Humm, the US intelligence Echelon / Carnivore system, the huge amount of spying surveillance cameras (and automated tracking / face recognition software) in the UK, and the general population growing fat & complacent, watching stupid gameshows... I do see a lot of parallels to 1984.

What about the current democratic candidates that want to dictate how I pay for my health insurance and the government monitoring the BMI of school children?
--- End quote ---
Both of those sound like good ideas to me... the .us health system is basically fail, compared to how it works in non-privatized countries. And fatness is becoming a serious health problem. Imho snacks and soft drinks have no place in schools, the sugar intake makes you dull & tired & bad at learning.

Cpilot:
Both of those sound like good ideas to me... the .us health system is basically fail, compared to how it works in non-privatized countries. And fatness is becoming a serious health problem. Imho snacks and soft drinks have no place in schools, the sugar intake makes you dull & tired & bad at learning.
--- End quote ---
So it's all right for the government to tell you what to eat and how much to weigh?
How about where to spend your money and how much, who to give it to and so on?
Who the hell are you to determine how much someone is entitled to use legal substances?
What your saying is it's alright for the government to monitor you if you approve of it but bad if you don't.

And you got the unmitigated gall to whine about surveillance cameras and automated tracking / face recognition software?
what a hypocritical boob.

Where you at Europe?
The continent that gave us communism, Nazism and industrial scale genocide?
Like they know anything about self determination and responsibility.

Clean up your own totalitarian mess before you start criticizing anyone else.

f0dder:
So it's all right for the government to tell you what to eat and how much to weigh?
--- End quote ---
No, but it's alright to have some rules & regulations. Like not allowing candy & sodas in schools (or at least not selling it in the school cafeteria), limiting the substances companies are allowed to add to your food, and not putting some restrictions on advertisements (like, disallowing blatant advertisements masquerading as children's shows).

Who the hell are you to determine how much someone is entitled to use legal substances?
--- End quote ---
It's more about limiting what the big evil corporations can do to the unweary consumers. Like, adding extra chemicals to tobacco with the sole purpose of making it more addictive.

What your saying is it's alright for the government to monitor you if you approve of it but bad if you don't.
--- End quote ---
No, that's not what I'm saying. But the government does need to enforce some limits and regulations to protect the population against corporate greed. I'm not advocating for socialism or any other form of totalitarian state, but an entirely free and unregulated market is not the solution either. Overuse of pesticides, hormones, antibiotics, unnecessary additives in food, monopolies, ... you name it.

As for the rest of your post: Denmark, part of scandinavia, Europe. And keep it civil.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page