"The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it,"

"The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it,", a photo by Teacher Dude's BBQ on Flickr.

"Behind Winston's back the voice from the telescreen was still babbling away about pig-iron and the overfulfilment of the Ninth Three-Year Plan. The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it, moreover, so long as he remained within the field of vision which the metal plaque commanded, he could be seen as well as heard. There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system, the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time. But at any rate they could plug in your wire whenever they wanted to. You had to live -- did live, from habit that became instinct -- in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized."

1984 - George Orwell

Greece and the Neo - Orwellians

 

"And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed—if all records told the same tale—then the lie passed into history and became truth."

Unlike the pontiffs of old Greek prime minister Giorgos Papandreou seems able to be an unlikely follower of the dogma of papal infallibility in which a move from one theological/ideological position to its exact opposite can be achieved without having erred in either case. On 23rd May Papandreou stated categorically to El Pais that Athens would not ask for its mountain of debt to be restructured, a position he repeated in a BBC interview in September and on 16th November to El Figaro, going so far as to say such a move would be a "disaster for Greeks".

Yet just last week the IMF/EU/ECB decided to extend the payment schedule for Greece's bailout out package from five to 11 years and this is now being hailed by the government and much of the media as a kiss of life for the country. It's interesting to see how the state run channels and pro-government TV stations such as MEGA, Skai and Antenna have promoted this latest change of heart without the slightest reference to previous government statements which held that such policies were not in the nation's interest.

In a repelling way it is fascinating to see how the ideas George Orwell espoused in 1984 are still revelent is a seemingly democratic regime with a free press. The truth, however, is the press in Greece is neither free nor independent but rather beholden to powerful political and economic interests which limit the parameters of what is acceptable in terms of political discussion. One only has to compare the rough ride given Ireland's ruling politicians following their bailout with the servile treatment of their Greek counterparts by local media. In many repects its hard to tell the difference between the official government line and that taken by the reporters who are covering domestic political matters.

The reality of the matter is that the press have sided with those in power in the hope of persuading ordinary Greeks that the massive social and economic dislocation they are suffering is inevitable and that any possible protests against PASOK's austerity measures are futile and anti-productive. This may, indeed by the case, but the stiffling of free and open debate about the options Greece has in the face of the current economic crisis is both dangerous and short sighted as it is steadily undermining respect for the government and democratic institutions in general.

Ministry of Love Needs You

Ministry of Love Needs You, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

"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. What pure power means you will understand presently.

We are different from all the oligarchies of the past, in that we know what we are doing. All the others, even those who resembled ourselves, were cowards and hypocrites. The German Nazis and the Russian Communists came very close to us in their methods, but they never had the courage to recognize their own motives.

They pretended, perhaps they even believed, that they had seized power unwillingly and for a limited time, and that just round the corner there lay a paradise where human beings would be free and equal.

We are not like that. We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means, it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?’"

George Orwell's 1984

War is peace - new strategic approach to the Afghan conflict

War is peace - new strategic approach to Afghan conflict, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

George Orwell - 1984

Books aren't dead - Just brains: Kindle and 1984

"Good fame is like fire; when you have kindled you may easily preserve it; but if you extinguish it, you will not easily kindle it again."

Francis Bacon

Obviously the good people at Amazon.com follow the golden rule of drug dealing, "don't sample the product", otherwise someone might have come across Bacon's word of wisdom and so would have avoided the Great Kindle Debacle. For those of you who have no idea what I am talking about (believe me, I don't blame you) Amazon recently decided that it would retroactively reverse purchase decisions concerning the electronic version of George Orwell's 1984 on its Kindle e-book reader.

On finding out that the version they were selling was in fact not licensed for the North American market they decided to wipe it off everyone's Kindle (which connects to the internet via Wi- Fi) without actually asking permission. So people who had bought the book through Amazon woke up to find that there edition had suddenly vanished (click here for more details from New York Times).

Although I do not own a Kindle (Call me dumb but shelling out 300 dollars to read a book seems a mite stoopid) the story caught my attention as it does concern the idea of copyright and DRM (digital rights management). The first point that struck me was why is a book written over 50 years ago is still covered by copyright, you'd have thought that half a century was more than enough time to make your money on any piece of writing.

Second and perhaps more importantly the whole Kindle furor has raised issues about who gets to decide what you see, read and listen to. Apparently, people can wipe stuff off your hardware without your permission and it is all perfectly legal. At least that is Amazon's argument according to company spokesman, Drew Herdener,

"When we were notified of this by the rights holder, we removed the illegal copies from our systems and from customers' devices, and refunded customers,"

Yes, but without asking them first, Drew. So what's next? Spyware from itunes to check you have only legitimate downloads on your ipod? Or perhaps a DVD that silently contacts the authorities should you try to feed it an illegally obtained copy of Desperate Housewives? Why stop there? Perhaps we should allow the police to get serious about such copyright abuses and since 95% of all music downloads are illegal they shouldn't need to bother with such nit-picking details as a warrant since it is obvious, virtually everyone is guilty.

Actually, the whole Kindle story smacks of the kind of stupidity that comes from studying too much for that law degree/MBA instead of getting an education. You can be sure that whoever made this call spent four years demanding that the campus library stay open 24/7 and that Saturdays should be considered a normal working day for staff. How else can you explain a decision that has cost millions in bad publicity and made a laughing stock of the product Amazon is trying so hard to launch. This is stupid gone to college, dumb with a degree, morons with MBAs.


Once again I struggle to understand why somebody would buy a Kindle when there are a plethora of cheap laptops for the same price and less which can be used to download any number of books free of charge from the internet. What's more they even have a colour screen!!!!! How very 1984.

Mass surveillance: We spy because we care.

Mass surveillance: Because we can., originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

Working together for a safer Oceania

Orwellian dreams, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

Don't rely on others. If you supect it report it.

"We do not destroy the heretic because he resists us: so long as he resists us we never destroy him. We convert him, we capture his inner mind, we reshape him. We burn all evil and all illusion out of him; we bring him over to our side, not in appearance, but genuinely, heart and soul. We make him one of ourselves before we kill him. [...] we make the brain perfect before we blow it out."

1984 - George Orwell

Updating the classics. This week 1984

Updating the classics., originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

Counter Subversion Command

Oceania faces a terrorist threat which is truly global in nature.

Post-2000 the Ministry of Love's world renowned Anti-Terrorist Branch and the Office of Political Orthodoxy undertook an unprecedented number of counter-terrorist investigations in the Oceania and abroad.

These investigations, combined with the terrorist attacks in Airstrip One in July 2005 - which claimed 52 lives - starkly demonstrated the increasingly complex nature of the work carried out by the two specialist branches.

Even before the tragic events of 2005 the Ministry had started to review how these commands operated and interacted with one another to deliver a counter-terrorist response.

Following this work it was agreed to create a new bespoke, multi-faceted, single counter-terrorism command - not restricted in design or look by existing structures, with a better capability and capacity to meet ongoing and future threats.

As a result the new Counter Subversion Command was created. This has taken over the roles and responsibilities of the Anti-Terrorist Branch and the Office of Political Orthodoxy and was launched on October 2 2006.

The new command brings together intelligence analysis and development with investigations and operational support activity.

It builds on the world-wide renowned expertise and professionalism of the former Anti-Terrorist Branch and the office of Political Orthodoxy which for many years have been at the forefront of the Ministry's counter-terrorism effort.

And as always the overriding priority of the new command is to keep the public safe and do all it can to ensure that Oceania remains a hostile environment for terrorists and dissidents.

The Counter Subversion Command provides a full operational capability with teams of officers immediately available to respond to any type of incident or investigation.

It is also known as "SO15", an internal police service designation reflecting the fact that it is one of a number of Specialist Operations branches within the Ministry of Love.



Counter Subversion Command is responsible for:

* To bring to justice those engaged in terrorist, domestic extremist and related offences

* To provide a proactive and reactive response to terrorist, domestic dissidence and related offences, including the prevention and disruption of anti - Party activity

* Support the National Co-ordinator of Terrorist Investigations outside the Inner Party

* To gather and exploit intelligence on dissidence and protest in Oceania.

* To assess, analyse and develop intelligence to drive operational activity

* To engage in the covert monitoring of Oceania's communities in order to understand their concerns and to provide reassurance and support where needed

* To provide specialist security advice and services internally and externally

* To provide an explosive ordnance disposal and political purification capability in Oceania

* To assist the Party Security Service and Secret Intelligence Service in fulfilling their statutory roles

* Assisting in the protection of Ingsoc interests overseas and the investigation of attacks against those interests

For more details check out the Counter Subversion Command website.

Terrorism. If you suspect it, report it.

Terrorism. If you suspect it, report it., originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.


"DAC Peter Clarke, head of the The Ministry of Love's Anti-Terrorist Branch said, “Everyone who lives in Oceania, or visits the country for work or pleasure, has a role to play in making it as difficult as we can for terrorists to operate here. We can all help by being vigilant and aware of what is happening around us. If it seems suspicious to you, please make that call.

”This publicity campaign is not a response to any specific threat, but I would urge the public to continue to remain alert. We cannot afford to be complacent.”

The four week campaign is intended to encourage people to have the confidence to trust their instincts and report any suspicious bags, vehicles or behaviour to the police immediately by informing the nearest available member of the Party.

Posters will be displayed on bus shelters, roadside sites and at train stations across the nation, with press adverts to appear in the major Party newspapers. The campaign is reinforced by a thought-provoking radio advertisement on Minitrue 1.

The campaign has been developed in partnership with Oceania Transport Police, Airstrip One Police, The Ministry of Truth, The Ministry of Love and the Ingsoc Office."

To find out more details at the Ministry of Truth website click here.

War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength

War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

"There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system, the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time. But at any rate they could plug in your wire whenever they wanted to. You had to live—did live, from habit that became instinct—in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized."

George Orwell - 1984

To create your own billboard check out Jamesholden.net

Down and Out In Bristol and Who Knows Where?

Down and Out In Bristol and Who Knows Where?, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

"If one looks closely one sees that there is no essential difference between a beggar's livelihood and that of numberless respectable people. Beggars do not work, it is said; but then, what is work? A navvy works by swinging a pick. An accountant works by adding up figures. A beggar works by standing out of doors in all weathers and getting varicose veins, chronic bronchitis, etc. It is a trade like any other; quite useless, of course - but then, many reputable trades are quite useless."

(George Orwell, Down and Out in Paris and London)