Utopia Reversed

Human history first begins with Socialism? This, one of the last things stated in the article 1984-Utopia Reversed, a commentary to 1984. But how can history begin under a controlled society? This last statement made meant in part that with Socialism men and women were free to choose their own destiny; the only catch was that they had to choose a destiny (ergo controlled society). In 1984 everything about the society in Winston’s world was controlled and the argument made was that this controlled way of living was no way of living at all. In fact George Orwell died pleading to the human race to not end up as “ultra-modern slaves,” which, in fact are what people in his 1984 novel, ended up being, consisting of people waking up and going to sleep under the eye of a telescreen.

Now Orwell also mentions, “that it need not be if there is a sufficiently high level of human consciousness, that the experiment rests finally on that high level of human consciousness,” in response to ultra-modern slavery. In Orwell’s mind the “ultra-modern slave,” is basically one who has no mind of his own, a sexless drone, who speaks in new language. Now, while it is true that language changes over time, sex and sexism will never go out of style. By this I mean, that sex is everywhere and is always a controversial subject. And sexism walking hand in hand with controversy always (as well sex) seems to spark a debate between the sexes ending in the speaking up of the mind. In a controlled society human nature and human instinct are numbed to the point of non-existence. No. That can never be the case in human society, the people in his book may have been non-sexual drones but in the real world sex is yet another way to identify one’s self.

In our class the question was brought up, “who do you know who you are?” In today’s world (for some) it is about what we have that identify who we are, from the third generation Ipod, to the Mac laptop versus the PC laptop. So some could say that we are already ultra-modern slaves to our own need, but even then we see our instinct shine through. That personal need to outshine everyone, that need to be above everyone else even if it is by sporting the latest accessory. That need to overpower socially, is yet another why the modern slave can never exist. Because unless (unlike in 1984) a powerful government can find a way to control people from the inside and out, slavery modern (if ever existence) will only be able to go so far. But in my opinion will most likely never happen.