The discoveries and ad- Inces of science and tech- logy of the 20th century lve in many ways improv- the quality of life for the pn, but they have also ven governments the eans to control and mani- late their citizens. Whe- fer Orwell intended it or 1984 is a social pro- , and as such it is an tremely valuable book. ‘The underlying theme of b84 is that our society’s ass system is unjust, and Il eventually result in the ital state, a ruthless politi- | system which Orwell led ‘‘Ingsoc’’, short for nglish Socialism’’. What | particularly frightening bout this society is that its lembers must believe and D exactly what it says. Any pviation from what the fate considers ‘‘normal be- avior’’ could lead to arrest the dreaded Thought Dlice. -This is precisely hat happens to Winston ith, the protagonist of the pvel, and the process of reintegration’’ he is put rough involves _ torture; rainwashing; and_ finally, sceptance of Party: princi- les. It is terrifying, but not Lite so terrifying when we aim the atrocities that are riminals’’ in some parts our world. The following a quote from the Amnesty nternational Report of 1981: orture and ill-treatment are Sed extensively to gain formation, force confes- ions, and to punish, intimi- ate, and terrorize. Torture umiliates the victim and ehumanizes the torturer. mong the techniques re- Enging people upside down nd pouring water down heir nostrils; electric ocks; beating the soles of he feet; smashing toes and gers with a~ hammer; ppe; forcing prisoners to at live frogs and beetles; ishing people’s heads into bathtub filled with water, ood, vomit, excrement and bod; deprivation of sleep; hock ~=—— executions; and hreats against relatives, in- maaing children. In some ries certain methods, uch as flogging and ampu- ation were carried out in ublic. ; Of course, we all know vat these things only occur h other countries. The west- rn world is free, if we onsider freedom to be the bility to choose one’s be- efs, whether they be politi- al, ethical, or religious, and Db formulate a_ lifestyle erage North American cit- | o reform and punish. ported during the year were: based upon those beliefs, provided that your actions do not conflict with the law. Note that | say we are free to choose our own beliefs. We are not always able to formulate them. We are cer- tainly free, in fact we are encouraged, to choose be- tween the existing popular ideologies, and never before have we been more recep- tive and ignorant of the realities behind these con- cepts. In 1984, the television is transformed into the tele- screen, a nightmarish in- strument which is used to keep people under surveil- Any deviation from what the State considers ‘normal behavior’ could lead to the arrest by the dreaded Thought Police. political ideologies (conser- vatism, liberalism, democra- tic socialism), and in theory we are free to formulate other political © ideologies. However, what is true in theory is not always true in actuality. How can we have the ability to formulate un- orthodox opinions if we are not permitted to see the hidden realities of our world? We cannot fight evil if we cannot see it; we cannot solve a problem if we do.not know it exists. There- fore, in theory we are free to formulate our own beliefs. - in actuality we can only choose them. Our definition of freedom, then, may be considered to be this: free- dom is the freedom to choose between A and B. C is almost always carefully concealed, by not giving it media coverage. The media is a controlling force which bends our per- spectives and limits our per- ceptions. Through the med- ia, governments and the multi-national © corporations which support them (or vice versa, depending on your point of view) are able to twist truths and hide reali- ties so that the myths and fallacies they present appear to be true. And without a doubt, the television is the most popular instument used to distribute this kind - of information. Every time we watch that little electron- ic box, we are bombarded with corporate messages and government ideologies, and never before have we been more ‘receptive and ignorant of the realities be- hind these concepts. In 1984, the television is transformed into the tele- screen, a nightmarish in- strument used to distribute this kind of information. Every time we watch that ‘little electronic box, we are bombarded with corporate messages and government lance. Another use of the telescreen is to sell the Party’s lies and propaganda, and in this sense it is no different from the the televi- sion. The concepts the tele- vision gives us, such as buying a certain automobile or .brand of toothpaste to improve your sex life, are almost always fallacious. Of-— ten it gives us an outright and blatant lie, and = un- doubtedly many people are convinced that it is true. Always, the message rein- forces the corporate struc- ture, and the public is led to believe that this is the only reality. To put it bluntly, the television, which is only one part of the mass media, is an object of mind control. The most _ frightening thing about the media is that it manipulates us with- out our realizjng it. It is very easy to convince people that illusions. are real, simply because we often resign ourselves to the fact that our world is too big complex for us to understand, or even Wednesday, February 1, 1984. and what goes on _ in_ it through the media. Whoev- er controls the media has, then, not only a means of infuencing public opinion but also an instument for comprehensive ‘control of the sphere of human experi- ence. ‘1984: Decade of the Ex- perts?’’ can be found in 1984 Revisited, an excellent collection of essays on total- itarianism in the twentieth century, edited by Irving Howe. : Perhaps it is time now to shift attention to our current master of manipulation through the _media, that great hero of democracy, peace, and freedom, Mr. Ronald Reagan. The west- ern world must indeed be fortunate. to have such a fearless and venerated lea- der, who rescued the great island of Grenada from the clutches of communism. Of course, we should not doubt for a minute that it was a rescue mission. After all, our own candidate for con- servatism, Mr. Brian Mul- roney said after hearing about the invasion, “‘if Pres- ident Reagan said it was a rescue mission, that’s good enough for me.’’ Of course, we cannot be too hard on Mr. Mulroney. At the time, he did not really know what was happening in Grenada, thanks to Presiden Reagan’s decision to not allow the press to act as an objective witness to reality. Media coverage of the ‘‘rescue mission’, he said, would endanger its success, but he forgot to mention that it might also threaten his pop- ularity. If we ignore this little fact, we are practicing doublethink. What is truly frightening about the press ban_ in The Western world is fortunate in that it has anews service which is not controlled and tagilated by the State. ea recognize, all its realities.’ And as Johanno Strasser states in his essay, ‘’1984: Decade of the Experts?’’, this problem can only grow worse in the future: The more complicated the technical world becomes, less information the citizen can glean from his experi- ence and perceptions. For the most part he experien- ces what his world looks like Grenada is that it received American public support. Letters to the editor of Time magazine were'running 8 to 1 in favour of the exclusion of the press in Grenada. It seems that the press as a whole is declining in popu- larity. William Henry re- ports in his story ‘’Journa- lism Under Fire’’ (Time, December 12, 1983) that only 13.7 per. cent of the paged American Population have “a great deal of confidence in the press’’, as compared with 29 per cent in 1976. People are tired of the pessimistic approach of the press, and its coverage of the gruesome and depres- sing events of our world. And now we arrive at the moral of this story. If we are to prevent Orwell’s prophe- ~ cy from becoming reality, and this is not a laughable concept, we must place our trust in the press. Granted, it is not perfect. It is, in fact, part of the mass media which | have so far been criticizing. Sometimes, the biases of individual repor-— ters appear in their stories (such as in this one), and all too often only one side of an issue is reported. But gener- ally, the press tries to be objective. Its primary goal is to inform, not indoctrinate. Despite its faults, it is a necessary part of our socie- ty. As William Henry says, ‘without a strong and trus- ted press, people would have almost no way to keep their government and other big insitutions honest. Gov- ernment, paricularly the Federal Establishment, has vast powers to mislead the people» and manage the news.”’ The western world is for- tunate in that it has a news service which is not control- led and regulated by the state. In fact, to perform its role, the western press is often forced to criticize its governments. Sometimes, people feel this is too often the case. But as Orwell said, “If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.’’ Journalists. have a moral obligation to expose corrup- tion at all levels; but until people learn to become in- volved in the issues that concern them, governments will always have the power to exploit their citizens. The press can inform the public about the dangers that exist in society; it can even ad- monish citizens to act to prevent corruption and so- cial injustice. But only gov- ernments, throught - their legislative powers, and through their police forces. and militaries, can force citizens to do anything. If we continue to support gov- ernment press bans and official coverups for the sake of ‘‘national security’’, it might be just a matter of time before the press has no power to expose and harrass governments, and the only authority will be that of the state.