“The hate continued exactly as before, except that the target had been changed.” – Orwell

Fun is fast becoming an extreme sport. It seems that although it’s not illegal just yet, if you are suspected of being in conspicuously good humour, you are going to be closely watched and at the slightest sidestep you’ll be taken into custody and thrown in a prison camp. Like my dad used to say, “You’re unnaturally exuberant. The hell is wrong with you, kid? Just be normal.” I never understood what normal is, but what I understood is I have to interiorize my mood when I’m out in the open, because it might trigger resentment in my fellow man. It’s safer to write. F*** the sadness. It’s almost summer outside, no time to be sad. Have fun now, apologize later, via e-mail. Get out and do some sun gazing or ride a motorcycle or something. We are still alive and kicking, thank you. Time to turn the voices low and see what’s out there; it sure has an appealing scent to it. Hmm…

The root of all evil, and humanity’s most significant trait is ignorance, the only thing us professionals truly fear. Word around the online campfire is that the FBI will increasingly shift focus from cracking down on religious extremist terrorism to online security threats – hackers. In FBI language that means the internet is the new homeland and they will arrest and throw in prison anybody who’s a hacker, a hacker sympathiser or harbouring anti American feelings on forums and blogs. That kinda widens the scope of potential threats. From confused arabs who want to go to heaven and f*** the brains out of the hundreds of virgins to basically everyone with an internet connection, that is a big leap, even for the FBI. Do they do it for funding? Do they enjoy sucking up to the fratboys that lead them on? FBI agents must really be dedicated people with their jobs. I bet most of them are decent, family people, too. They somehow believe what they’re doing is right, and that’s what I can’t figure out. How the f*** can you be a bright, educated person and not see the travesty of your actions? What do you think the freedom you allegedly fight for is about? One day I will make a friend in a government body just to prove to all the haters they are human too. So, the FBI will officially keep an eye open for online crime. Good news if you’re a software developer, guess what, there are going to be fantastic new job opportunities with the bureau in the near future, so get your CV ready.

The thoughtpolice is rapidly becoming a reality, seeing as the internet is the place where people freely express their thoughts on everything in the world. Maybe that’s why the Royal Mail has been withholding the contents of my parcels repeatedly and sending me empty envelopes wrapped in apologetic plastic bags that said my stuff had been somehow damaged on the way. I’ve been flagged as a threat for expressing stupid opinions and I am now considered an enemy who shouldn’t get away with whatever he’s doing, regardless of where he’s doing it or why. Whoop whoop. My name appears in red now on their computer screen. Paranoia doesn’t exist. Whenever there’s any doubt, there is no doubt – a simple sentence with profound implications. All the more reason to obey the law and be a good boy.

We are rabidly climbing a phony social ladder that ends in bitter emptiness, while the good ol’ jocks at the top are skimming the cream off what’s left of God’s ex planet – on the solid gold phone from the comfort of their indoor Jacuzzi filled with caviar and naked young boys. Indeed a sick prank we are playing on ourselves, no wonder those who catch a glimpse of the truth either get locked up or marginalised or hired as clowns or join the 27 club. Another less appealing alternative would be the one, all-healing bullet – and remember the note asking aunt Jess to keep your ashes and save you as a fern or a ficus in a pot in her living room. Appropriate.

Being humane is easy, teaching others how to do it always ends up in tears. Like the Bible, “1984” was gravely misinterpreted by many, leaving out exactly the juicy essence of it and possibly the reason the author ever bothered to write it for posterity.

Orwell’s “1984” is a great novel, revelatory to human nature and to the instinctual need to fit in and be accepted by society, however twisted and cruel might it be. Julia and Winston are both tragic figures who never really knew how to act outside the Machine and their destiny across the novel is nothing more than the natural outcome of their initial surrender. They simply grew tired of their lives and themselves and committed spiritual suicide without realising it, or only partially realising it. Not for a moment did they truly intend to change anything in Oceania, on the contrary, they intended to change themselves according to the environment. Their minor rebellion against Big Brother is an act of covert repentance for their inadequate thoughts and feelings, and the denouement of the book seems to confirm it. Winston ended up loving Big Brother, which is what he truly wanted from the get go, only that his inner spirit, the essence of his humanity was too strong and needed crushing. Never did he have the courage to to actually stand up to what he saw as wrong, he just wanted to correct his vision, and that’s why he was unconsciously drawn to O’Brian, the big, tough fellow who turned out to be the torturer archetype. Julia, the self-centred female, saw it all as a game and had no problem with political activism and propaganda. She was only bored and she started playing another game on the side, for the rush of it. She wanted to be both a party member and a real woman, for as long as it lasted. Both of them proved willing to sacrifice their humanity in exchange for integration and in all honesty, they never valued it anyway, but felt it to be frivolous and trivial, and enjoyed it so. Orwell very politely underlines how the protagonists really haven’t got a clue.

1984 is not political, but subtly psychological – a picture of what the system looks like from inside the skull of a subject, showing both the feminine and masculine POV, which in this culture are often directly opposed. Of course, the sinister metaphors regarding telescreens and doublethink have been discussed before, so it’s pointless to once again go over them.actually stand up to what he saw as wrong, he just wanted to correct his vision, and that’s why he was unconsciously drawn to O’Brian, the big, tough fellow who turned out to be the torturer archetype. Julia, the self-centred female, saw it all as a game and had no problem with political activism and propaganda. She was only bored and she started playing another game on the side, for the rush of it. She wanted to be both a party member and a real woman, for as long as it lasted. Both of them proved willing to sacrifice their humanity in exchange for integration and inall honesty, they never valued it anyway, but felt it to be frivolous and trivial, and enjoyed it so. Orwell very politely underlines how the protagonists really haven’t got a clue.

The Machine’s entire mystique is artificially given to it by us. There’s nothing occult, or supernatural, or omniscient about it. The only things it’s got going in its favour are tradition, misunderstood loyalty and the misguided sense of purpose of people who are very capable in their practice but lack emotional intelligence. There’s a great tendence to see monsters behind every pulled curtain, when in fact the monster is the curtain itself.

N.B.: Yours truly reserves the right to change his opinions on what “the juicy essence” of life really is at any time it might hit him, therefore any readers are urged to not take the piece as more than a subjective view on a situation and a book, subject to momentary feelings and moods.