reading this book was just realising over and over again that something i have encountered before was a 1984 reference.

This was an up and down kind of read for me. There were parts that I really enjoyed and parts that I found extremely difficult to maneuver through. I'm glad that I decided to pick it up and give it a go, because it's one that I've been curious about for a long time. I can definitely see why so many people love this book. It explores a lot of things that we see happening in the world today. I can't say I'm leaving it as a massive fan, but I'm sure it's one that I'll continue to think about.

هذه الرواية لا يجب أن تصنف أدبا ورواية وفنا وحسب ..
كلا .. هي أكبر من ذلك,
يجب أن تدرس كحالة مستعصية في علم الاجتماع وعلم السياسة .. !

عندما كتب جورج أورويل في الـ1949 كان متشائما لدرجة بعيدة لما سيؤول له العالم بعد 1984
نعم، ربما لم يتحقق ما قاله أورويل تماما، لكنه قد حصل بصورة موازية وشبيهة في كثير من المجتمعات الشمولية
لنتحدث عن سوريا مثلا :

الأخ الكبير : القائد الملهم والرئيس الشاب الدكتور بشار الأسد ..
أعضاء الحزب الداخلي: بعض المكونات الرئيسية للنظام
أعضاء الحزب الخارجي: حزب البعث
العامة: 19 مليون ونصف المليون مواطن سوري
أوقيانوسيا: سوريا الأسد
الله هو السلطة: الله سوريا بشار وبس
التفكير المزدوج: "دولة ممانعة لم تطلق رصاصة واحدة على عدوها الذي وجدت لممانعته" مثلا
شاشات الرصد: الهواتف والتجسس على الإنترنت
اللغة الجديدة: الإصلاح، الممانعة، التقدم، القومية وغيرها
أوبراين: نموذج للمخبر السوري الذي تمنحه روحك وثقتك ليضربك ويهينك
غرفة 101: السجن الصحراوي
غرف وأقبية وزارة الحب: المقار الأمنية المنتشرة في كل مكان
حتى الجهاز ذا القرص موجود باسم بساط الريح
وغيرها ..

المقصود أن بإمكانك إسقاط الرواية على أي مجتمع شمولي لترى منظورا مشابها لذاك العالم المظلم.
لكن النتيجة المختلفة ..

هناك بعض الجمل التي يجب أن تحفظ حفظا، لا أن تسجل فقط :
الولاء يعني عدم التفكير، بل هو عدم الحاجة للتفكير. الولاء يعني عدم الوعي
وهذا ما نحفظه وندرسه في المدارس بنفس المصطلح، الولاء للأخ الكبير .. بغض النظر عن تصرفاته ونتائجها وأفكاره وما يقوم به، أي فعلا عدم الوعي ..

إن كان هناك من أمل فهو في العامة
تماما .. فقط أعطهم بعض الوعي وسيصنعون المعجزات ..
أي :
لكي يثوروا يجب أن يعوا، ولكي يعوا يجب أن يثورووا

أرجوك .. إن نسيت كل الرواية، فاخرج منها بهذه الثلاث كلمات فقط .. !
غاية السلطة هي السلطة
السلطة وحسب ..
ولا تصدقوا كل الخطابات الخالدة والوعود الاقتصادية والسياسية والعسكرية والتنموية ..
السلطة للسلطة، لا لخدمة أحد أو شعب أو إنسانية أو قيمة أو خلق أو أي شيء آخر ..
لذلك فالسلطة المطلقة دائما مفسدة مطلقة ..

مقاطع كتاب غولدشتاين وإن كانت طوباوية إلى حد ما، لكنها صحيحة وأكاديمية . !

الوضع الطبيعي يجب أن يسير كما تحدث عنه أورويل، ولو أن صاحب الحانوت - نسيت اسمه - وأوبراين ما كانا مخبرين لنجحت الثورة ..
وهذا ما حصل في مصر وتونس، وسيحصل في بقية المجتمعات الشمولية ..
بوعي العامة وثورتهم ثم وعيهم مرة أخرى ..

This was the book that started my love affair with the dystopian genre. And maybe indirectly influenced my decision to do a politics degree. I was only 12 years old when I first read it but I suddenly saw how politics could be taken and manipulated to tell one hell of a scary and convincing story. I'm a lot more well-read now but, back then, this was a game-changer. I started to think about things differently. I started to think about 2 + 2 = 5 and I wanted to read more books that explored the idea of control.

Update: 1984=2024. FULL DYSTOPIAN PARADIGM FULL STEAM AHEAD


Is Orwell turning in his grave? Does his epitaph read. "I fucking warned you! Don't say I never told you so! "

Did he have a crystal fucking ball?

***
If you want truth, go out and see

Not like in 1984, Richard Burton on TV

Orwell must have been psychic, or was he in the know

Cos' what's going on in the world clearly shows

That humanity is programmed through a TV screen

Since its conception, its all its ever been

News, films, dramas, sports, soaps and cartoons

Leaving the masses wide eyed, like Buffoons

All the rhetoric and propaganda, oozing about us, every place we look, and go

It is everywhere, embedded, enveloping, as people to and fro

Screens on buildings, bus stops, train stations, all over the place, fuelling our vices

PC's, laptops, google glass, tablets and mobile devices

Its in the ether, the air and the subconscious brain

Whether one is aware or not, the information leaves its stain

Orwell must have been psychic, or was he in the know

Perpetual war, a bogeyman, terrorists, must be real, its all a TV show

Censored press, hacking phones, spying on the masses

Every email, phone call, text message, and google eye glasses

Technocratic Dystopia, hunger games, people put into factions

Not allowed to speak, monitoring our actions

In the name of security, no person is free

Unless your blood is Royal, or have connections to the family

Or a valued member in Vatican State, purple robes, velvet glove, and iron fist

A Freemason, a congressman, senator, president, PM, you get the gist

Social engineering, eugenics, deep state, cabals and satanic cults

Lodges, temples, hail, thunder and lightening bolts

Rapture, ragnarok, jihad, ends of days TV

In dramas, films, cartoons, its all we ever see

Monsters and bogeymen, cold war, terrorism, and disease, and destruction

People trafficking, drug smuggling, arms deals, and child abduction

All entertainment, to keep the masses distracted

No freedom of information, cos the juicy bits are redacted

In the name of security, or for the security of a famous name

The whole thing is inverted, its all a game

Cos' rules are lures, and laws are walls

And all of the people are silly fools

Glued to a PC, Mob Phone or TV screen

Since its conception, its all its ever been

Was Orwell a psychic, or was he in the know

One things for certain, it won't be on a TV show

By Leo.

3/8/2025 addendum: Fuck it, I'm just gonna say it: We told you so...

I hate to be the type to say "We told you so", but those of us who didn't vote for Trump and, in fact, warned people that Trump would be disastrous for the country, are now seeing the inevitable endgame of Trumpism. As more arrests are being made and more horrifying news is being revealed about the violence that actually happened at the U.S. Capitol building that day, many of us are simply shaking our heads in sad resignation. I am neither shocked nor surprised by what happened. I am simply disgusted and ashamed. Unfortunately, the person who should be the most ashamed, isn't.


“The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power. Not wealth or luxury or long life or happiness; only power, pure power.”


Of all the horrific things to find in George Orwell’s classic dystopic novel “1984”---the two minutes hate, the continuous wars, the government propaganda, Newspeak, the torture scene, the pessimism---the one that disturbs me the most is a future in which bookshelves are completely empty due to the banning of all books.

Orwell, an obvious book-lover himself, most likely found this aspect of his future totalitarian London a horrific, albeit inevitable, result of the anti-intellectual fervor that accompanies most, if not all, totalitarian dictatorships.

Images of book-burning by Nazis were most likely at the forefront of Orwell’s consciousness when he wrote “1984” in 1948.

Sadly, today, such images are being recalled under the dangerously anti-intellectual presidency of Donald Trump, a man who admits to having never read a single book and admits that his favorite books are the ones that he supposedly wrote himself. (Publishers, editors, and his ghostwriters beg to differ on the actual authorship of these books, but that's neither here nor there.)

His antagonism towards the mainstream media and the free press, his removal of information from certain government websites, his blockage of new information, his total disregard for intelligence reports: all of these are red flags indicative of a fledgling dictator.

Not to mention the ridiculous rhetoric of Trump’s lackeys, Kellyanne Conway and Sean Spicer, whose “alternative facts” are virtually textbook Newspeak examples of Orwell’s word “doublethink”, a word that entered the contemporary political lexicon upon publication of “1984”.

Defined as “the simultaneous acceptance of two contradictory ideas or beliefs”, Trump’s doublethink is what allows him to view his inauguration attendance as “yuge” (it wasn’t), his executive orders as constitutional (they aren’t), and his role in the Russian interference in our electoral process as “no big deal” (it’s a huge deal, potentially treasonous, by nearly all accounts). It is a perfect word to describe a most frightening and cognitively dissonant concept: the person running our country is a fucking idiot and, quite possibly, insane.

Orwell’s concept of Newspeak is something that, as a writer and book-lover, I’m sure he found both intriguing and terrifying. It is a language founded on the totalitarian belief that simplistic and limited knowledge among the majority of proletariat (“proles”) will mitigate attempts at uprising and subversive behavior. A person can’t know that he is a slave if he doesn’t even have the words “freedom” or “liberty” in his vocabulary. Or, rather, he may feel like a slave but he will never be able to articulate his feelings.

Newspeak is an attempt by the higher Party officials to ensure that they remain in power forever. Power, after all, is the ultimate aim of a totalitarian system.

Orwell, himself, liked the idea of an economy of language. It is evident in his writing style. His prose is straightforward, succinct, and powerful without being grandiose. Not one to overuse or abuse adjectives and adverbs, Orwell believed in a philosophy of “less is more” in his writing. This is, it should be noted, distinctly opposite the purpose of Newspeak, which adheres to a “less is less” philosophy.

“1984” is an unbelievably good novel, assuming one enjoys stories of dystopian futures and political diatribes masquerading as tragic love stories. One must probably already have a fatalistic worldview going into “1984” in order to truly enjoy it, because one thing that Orwell provides very little of within the novel is hope.

n  “War is peace.
Freedom is slavery.
Ignorance is strength.”n

In a world of constant war between three all-controlling superpowers, every single human being in Oceania is being ruled by the Party. All freedom is gone, all pleasures are forbidden, all information is propaganda, rebellion is unthinkable, and your relatives will not hesitate to betray you. Even thinking rebellious thoughts is a crime, bound to get the attention of the Thought Police and a harsh punishment. And the masses live in constant fear. For they know that Big Brother is watching them...

Just like The Lord of the Rings is the mother of all fantasy stories, 1984 is the mother of all dystopian stories. Neither of these books were the first in their respective genres, far from it, but both of them changed their genres into something more, and in many ways became the greatest works ever written.

This is as far as I can see an important book more than a good one. George Orwell is a much greater thinker than he is a writer. 1984 is not a spectacular book in any way. It’s not particularly well-written. It’s not particularly complex. But the ideas behind it are greater than any book.

Personally, I’ve always considered Orwell to be one of the most important thinkers of the modern era. He’s revolutionised the way we see the world. And while his is the way of the journalist, the political commentator and the social critic, his books are still enjoyable to read for what they are.

The thing I find the most interesting about this book is that it’s basically a critique of radical left-wing thought. Yes, you’ll find attacks on capitalism and different forms of authoritarianism. But Orwell’s main attacks are focused towards the dangers of revolution, communism and left-wing thought in general. As the man himself once stated, "So much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot."

Now that, however, is not interesting in itself, or special in any way. The interesting thing is that Orwell himself was a left-wing thinker. You might accuse him of hypocrisy, but that would miss the point entirely. The thing that fascinates me the most about Orwell is that he’s a left-wing thinker who manages to see the flaws and dangers of left-wing thought, and subsequently tries to develop his own views from that insight.

Since political terms mean different things to different people (although there are right and wrong definitions of most of them), I won’t showcase my own views in a public review. Ask me privately if you’re interested; I love discussing politics. Here and now, suffice it to say that Orwell and I agree on a great many things.

So much for the political analysis. For further reading I'd recommend having a look at Isaac Asimov's very critical review, which I found almost as interesting and important as the book itself.

“If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—for ever.”

More than anything, 1984 is the core of dystopia. It shows us everything that is wrong with our world, everything that has been wrong with it, and most importantly, everything that could go wrong in the future.

In addition to presenting the reader with a possible future that to most of us would seem like our worst nightmare, it has a philosophical core bound to enlighten just about anyone on a thing or two. Orwell teaches you the true meaning of power and fear, and of the most stable pillars of human society.

This is one of the most important books of our time. It inspired every single dystopian writer after it. It inspired V for Vendetta, one of my favourite movies. It inspired generations of political thinkers. And it’s a book everyone should read at least once.

“We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness.”

When I was a high school freshman, I picked up 1984 off the shelf at the school library. Older kid I didn't know came up to me--Hispanic guy from some big city in a maybe 90% white, small-town Montana school, always dressed like a gangster, ran with a rough crowd--I'll admit I felt a little threatened. He said, "Hey man, you gotta read that. My dad told me when he first read that book, he'd take two hits of acid, read a chapter, and then take two more hits of acid. He didn't leave the house for a week."
It's still the most memorable pitch for a book I've ever heard.
Turned out, that kid was a huge reader. Gave me lots of great book recommendations.

n  “The best books... are those that tell you what you know already.” n

Just about everything Orwell says in 1984 is a maniacal truism. In some twisted form, everything reflects the truth of reality.

Of course there are exaggerations, though nothing is far from plausibility. We are controlled by our governments, and often in ways we are not consciously aware of. Advertisements, marketing campaigns and political events are all designed for us to elicit a certain response and think in a desired way.

1984 takes this to the extreme. Cultural brainwashing becomes the chief goal. Assimilation into a passionless (and completely ignorant) mind-set becomes the most effective means of keeping the population down. If you can make a man forget (or deny) his past then he knows of no situation better than his current state: it’s all he knows, so why would he act to change it? Subjugation becomes normality.

n  “If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—for ever.”n

Big brother does this by harsh policing, excessive surveillance and language manipulation. The streets are claustrophobic and the people (the workers) can escape nothing. Every action, every word spoken, is recorded. The police are ready to grab anyone who steps remotely out of line. Controlling language is perhaps the most effective thought control method I’ve ever heard of. If language can be broken down into the absolute basics, the simplest and ordinary units, then people can only express themselves on a very minor level. They cannot think beyond their daily tasks because there are no words that connote dreams and fantasy.

Step out of line and you are killed, though not before being dragged to room 101 for torture and even stronger methods of thought control. As such through the plot the book depicts a stark transformation, a transformation of man who was once willing to fight and to think but falls into one of the ingenious traps big brother sets for him to expose his criminality. Orwell’s words are frightening because of their eerie parallels with reality. He shows us that we are not so far from big brother as we may think.

n  

“We do not merely destroy our enemies; we change them.”

n
Unlike Animal Farm this also leaves much to the imagination. It’s a much more successful book and one that once it has been read, it certainly cannot be unread.

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Must read.

أردت بشدة مفاجأة الأصدقاء هنا على الجودريدز بقولٍ مثل: هل تعتقدون أنني سأكتب مراجعة لهذا الكتاب المخيف ومن ثم لا أعلم ماذا يحدث لي بعدها في عالم منفتح ومع ما يزيد على ١٠٠٠ شخص لا أعرف منهم سوى عدد محدود من الأصدقاء الذين قابلتهم في الحياة الحقيقية وإن كان كل شخص تقريبا في دائرة تعاملاتي يعرف كل شيء عني؟؟ لا لن أكتب مراجعة فالتحدث عن مثل هذا الكتاب حدث مرعب في حد ذاته

إلا أنني لم استطع أن أحتفظ بهذه الفكرة ولم أتمسك بها ... لِمَ لا أكتب؟؟!! سأكتب !!! ماذا عساه قد يخيفني؟؟! في الحقيقة هناك ما يخيف بالفعل فالتشابه بين كثير من أحداث الرواية مع حياتنا التي نحياها مخيف بالفعل

قرأت لصديقة أجنبية هنا عالجودريدز مراجعتين للرواية - نسخ مختلفة- إحداهما مقتضبة للغاية تقول فيها أنها "رواية تنبؤية للغاية" وهذا ما يخيفني بالفعل

أنهيت قراءة آخر فصل ونصف على الشاطئ ... لدقائق كنت أشعر بانعزال تام عن المصطافين وصخبهم ومرحهم مسلمين ومسيحيين محجبات ومنتقبات وغير محجبات، عجائز وفي منتصف العمر وشباب وأطفال .... الكل سعيد والكل يُبهج نفسه ومن معه على طريقته ... لدقائق اتوحد مع بطل القصة في عذاباته وأحاول تخمين ما سيحدث لاحقا .... أنتظر معجزة تتماشى مع مزاجي الجيد بسبب كوني أقضي إجازة ممتعة ولله الحمد ... انتظر المعجزة بعد أن يأست من كون الفصول الأخيرة هي كوابيس تمر بالبطل ... وعلى الرغم من وقوعي مصادفة على مراجعة حرقت جزءا من حبكة الرواية إلا أن تسارع الأحداث وتغيرها جاء مفاجئا جدا بالنسبة لي

قرأت الصفحات الأخيرة من الرواية ونظرت نظرة طويلة على البحر وكأنني اسأله بنبرة عتاب فأقول له "ينفع كدة؟؟!!" ... أنظر للناس مشفقة عليهم وعلى نفسي وأسرتي من هول ما قرأت ... ولأننا كنا نجمع متعلقاتنا من الشاطئ فقد انتهيت مما وجب علي فعله بسرعة وبوجوم اعتقده زوجي بسبب اكتئاب قُرب العودة إلى القاهرة الذي يصيبني عندما أدرك أن سفرنا ورجوعنا بات وشيكا، وذلك الاكتئاب لا يصيبني عادة إلا حين الابتعاد عن الأماكن التي أحبها وانقضاء الإجازات التي أستمتع بها - وللعجب فأنا مستمتعة بإجازتي في مارينا، تلك الإجازة التي جاءت بشكل عفوي وغير مخطط لها وبعد انقطاع عن المكان دام سنتين كاملتين بعدد كبير من الفرص الضائعة التي قد يحرص عليها غيري - وهنا حقا اتساءل ... لماذا تقع روايات الديستوبيا في يدي وأقرأ أغلبها في مارينا سواء أثناء الرحلة إليها أو منها أو فيها؟؟!! لماذا ترتبط معي بالر��ايات الكابوسية أصلا ؟؟!!

نعم، انهيتها اليوم على الشاطيء وأعدت قراءة آخر فصل في السيارة في طريق العودة للشاليه واكتئبت إلى حد ما رغم توقعي النهاية

قد يظن من تابع تحديثات القراءة أنها رواية جافة والعكس صحيح، هي رواية حيوية جدا وفيها قصة وحبكة وأحداث مثيرة ... إلا أنها مرعبة

الأخ الأكبر !! البطل المخلص !! الفكرة التي يذعن الكل لها بواسطة الإعلام الموجه وليس ذلك فحسب بل والأدب الموجه والتعليم الموجه ... غسيل الأدمغة ... صناعة العدو وتوجيه الطاقات كلها نحو كراهية العدو المصطنع !! الثورات والثورات المضادة !! الوشاية، ومن يشي بآخرين مختلفين فكريا "جواسيس" - كما أسموهم- فهو بطل حتى وإن كان طفلا يشي بأهله ... مراقبة الأفكار وتحجيم الفكر وتزييف الحقائق ... انقطاع الكهرباء بغرض تخفيف الأحمال - هذا الكلام يعود لرواية كتبت في الأربعينات من القرن الماضي ... هل يدق ذلك أي ناقوس في أي عقل أم أنني أتوهم أشياء ؟؟ هل أحتاج لتوضيح أسباب رعبي؟؟

لمن يريد تفسيرا أقول لقد تخيل أورويل العالم بعد نجاح الشيوعية في السيطرة على العالم ... ولكن في الحقيقة كان أورويل ضد كل الأنظمة الشمولية
Totalitarian regimes
والتي تتمحور حول شخص الرئيس وحزبه ويكون فيها البطل الأسطوري والمخلص والصخرة التي تتكسر عليها الأخطار ولا يلعب فيها الشعب أي دور في تقريرالمصير

الرواية غريبة!! ولا أعلم لماذا تتناول معظم روايات الديستوبيا الكتب والقراءة من ضمن ما تستهدفه الأنظمة الديكتاتورية !! فكرة القضاء على القراءة والكتب كفيلة بأن تجعلني أسهر بجانب مكتبتي أو أن تقطع نومي لحظات فزع بسبب كوابيس عن ضياع كتبي أو حرقها أو قطعها ... ففي هذه الرواية هناك اعادة كتابة الأدب القديم بما يناسب العصر الأسود المذكور بالرواية، والكتاب المعاصرين الذين يناقضون أنفسهم، وفي فهرنهايت ٤٥١ الكتب تدمر وتحرق ويعاقب مقتنيها وفي يوتوبيا أحمد خالد توفيق القراءة تندثر ومن يقرأ يقرأ فقط للتسلية ولأنها نوع رخيص من المخدرات! ... كابوس وعذاب مقيم إن تحقق

ربما هناك المزيد من الأفكارالتي لا تسعني الكلمات للتعبير عنها وربما لا أملك البال الرائق الآن للكتابة عنها

وفي كل الأحوال ألف شكر للصديقات والأصدقاء الذين رشحوا لي الرواية بعد سؤالي إياهم : ماذا أقرأ؟ واختاروها لي من بين ٣ عناوين اقترحتها وألف شكر لمن قرأوا الرواية قبلي وشجعوني اثناء القراءة ... دمتم سالمين ودمتم قراء رائعين

The chilling themes in the book are timeless and more relevant than ever today.