Quentin

//““1984”// [|//shot to No. 1//] //on Amazon’s best-seller list this week, after// [|//Kellyanne Conway//] //, an adviser to President Trump, described demonstrable falsehoods told by the White House press secretary Sean Spicer — regarding the size of inaugural crowds — as “alternative facts.” It was a phrase chillingly reminiscent, for many readers, of the Ministry of Truth’s efforts in “1984” at “reality control.” To Big Brother and the Party, Orwell wrote, “the very existence of external reality was tacitly denied by their philosophy. The heresy of heresies was common sense.” Regardless of the facts, “Big Brother is omnipotent” and “the Party is infallible.””// NY Times 1/26/17

**1. Consider (think about) the following quotes from the book:**

//Big Brother is watching you.// //Double-think means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.// //Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.// //There was truth and there was untruth, and if you clung to the truth even against the whole world, you were not mad.// //Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it.// //If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face// //—// //for ever.// //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.// //Until they became conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious.// //The choice for mankind lies between freedom and happiness and for the great bulk of mankind, happiness is better.// //For, after all, how do we know that two and two make four? Or that the force of gravity works? Or that the past is unchangeable? If both the past and the external world exist only in the mind, and if the mind itself is controllable — what then?//

__**//Post your responses (one paragraph minimum, try to reference the quotes above) to the following questions to your wiki page://**__

**2. Identify the ways the media is used in Oceania and discuss its role. Can you think of any cases where mass media have been used in similar ways in your country, past or present? Discuss when, where and how.** //“// //Oceania// //is a region made up of thousands of// //island// //s throughout the Central and South Pacific Ocean. It includes Australia, the smallest continent in terms of total land area.”// **3.What is power, and how is it gained and used?** **-Power is when something or someone can perform and dominate. Its gained by brainwashing and doing stuff that shows that they can rule.** **4.What constitutes an abuse of power by the government?** **They can do cure stuff if the people don’t abay by there rules. They will do anything to make you do what they want.** **5.Can individuals change a society?** **Yes an individual can because that one person can rule over everyone else therefore they can change. The people under that curtain person has t go by there rules or they will have Consequences.** **6.What are the dangers of government-controlled media?** **They can see your everyday move. They can see what you're doing every day. I mean thats not really a bad thing but people don’t want to be watched everyday. Then it would seem as they had no rights to do anything.** **7.What can citizens do if power is abused by a ruling group or government?** **They could start a protest and try to take out the government leader. They could all just get together and do what there not supposed to because if there a bunch of people they they Arn going to punches everyone and they might just bypass that rule nd stop doing what there’re doing.** **8.How is technology changing our understanding of privacy?** **The government can track our phones and see where we are. I don’t think they do it all the time but one when they need to in certain situations.** **9.Can changing language change thought?** **Yes because it will make people think about what there saying and try t make it out to make a decision to help or do what ever they need to do.** <span style="color: #333333; font-family: &#39;American Typewriter&#39;; font-size: 17px;">**10.How do governments balance the rights of individuals with the common good?** <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #444444; font-family: &#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;; font-size: 16px;">“Our collective emphasis on individual rights and the common good gives rise to the notion that legitimate government derives its authority only from the consent of the governed. While sovereignty remains with the people, we choose to establish government to both protect individual rights and advance the common good.” <span style="color: #333333; font-family: &#39;American Typewriter&#39;; font-size: 17px;">**11.Why do some individuals take a stand against oppression while others choose to participate in it?** <span style="color: #333333; font-family: &#39;American Typewriter&#39;; font-size: 17px;">**Because so people may be against it and others may be with it. All people don have the same option and don’t all think the same.**