Orwell predicted Pornography as a mass control mechanism in "1984"

I am rereading the novel "1984" by George Orwell to form comparisons and revisions of the novel with regard to the reality of our present.

For anyone who has just come out of the cryogenic deep freeze or the time pod hibernation Orwell's 1984 is:

en.wikipedia.org...

Nineteen Eighty-Four From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia This article is about the 1949 novel by George Orwell. For other uses, see 1984 (disambiguation). Nineteen Eighty-Four 1984first.jpg First edition cover Author George Orwell Cover artist Michael Kennard Country United Kingdom Language English Genre Dystopian, political fiction, social science fiction Published 8 June 1949, London Publisher Secker & Warburg Media type Print (hardback and paperback) OCLC 52187275 Nineteen Eighty-Four, often published as 1984, is a dystopian novel published in 1949 by English author George Orwell.[1][2] The novel is set in Airstrip One (formerly known as Great Britain), a province of the superstate Oceania in a world of perpetual war, omnipresent government surveillance, and public manipulation. The superstate and its residents are dictated to by a political regime euphemistically named English Socialism, shortened to "Ingsoc" in Newspeak, the government's invented language. The superstate is under the control of the privileged elite of the Inner Party, a party and government that persecutes individualism and independent thinking as "thoughtcrime", which is enforced by the "Thought Police".[3]

Now to our subject. From the novel:

There was a whole chain of separate departments dealing with proletarian literature, music drama and entertainment generally. Here were produced rubbishy newspapers containing almost nothing except sport, crime and astrology, sensational five cents novelettes, films oozing with sex and sentimental songs which were composed entirely by mechanical means on a special kind of kaleidoscope known as a versificator. There was even a whole sub-section - Pornosec, it was called in Newspeak - engaged in producing the lowest kind of pornography, which was sent out in sealed packets and which no Party member , other than those who worked on it, was permitted to look at".

I am only fifty pages into the book and already seeing so many crazily accurate predictions. Porn has never been so huge a part of women's and men's lives as it is today. There is beyond doubt encouragement of this as a taming of the masses. It serves well alongside same sex sexuality as population control, separates the human psychologically from relating to other humans so intimately ("becoming one flesh" as the Bible describes it) and ultimately separating sex from love. In Orwell's proletarian world they are little more than savages with no intellectual assets and sex is as sordid as the cheap gin and a similar slumber drug, deflecting the masses away from any thought of autonomy, raising of status and ideas of personal freedom and representational politics.

It is quite clear to me now that Orwell knew what was going to happen, but didn't know how. He knew pornography would feature as a control mechanism, that there would be telescreens (Smart TVs) that did not turn off and so many more observations that I hope to share with you very soon as I read the novel once more. Orwell did not see the internet as such. His imagination conjured up "kaleidoscopes", "telescreens", "versificator(s)", etc. However, it is almost as if he was given access to and information regarding a plan and a blue print for this post war "New Society" of ours. How do you think that he was able to make so many accurate predictions?

I will end my post with a little music from a very interesting album by John Cale, formerly of The Velvet Underground; "Music For A New Society". Thanks for reading:

"The Thoughtless Kind" by John Cale

a reply to: Revolution9

Brave New World also mentions how they use pornography to distract the populace.

originally posted by: starwarsisreal
a reply to: Revolution9

Brave New World also mentions how they use pornography to distract the populace.

Great! They both knew and both wrote those amazing books. They are far too great to be called novels. I think they are a lot more important than that.

I have that book, too. It came in the post today. I must admit that I have not read it before, but have gone all dotty over Aldous Huxley just recently. The more I am learning about him the more beauty and light I see about his being. I have "The Doors of Perception" by Aldous Huxley, too. I have read that, but will read it again.

These writers are so within the ATS realm and sphere of interest. I must admit I am desperate to share ideas and knowledge with people. It is kind of "Major Tom" lonely these days. So many people now thinking on a very low level. Raise the old consciousness if we can.

originally posted by: Revolution9

originally posted by: starwarsisreal
a reply to: Revolution9

Brave New World also mentions how they use pornography to distract the populace.

Great! They both knew and both wrote those amazing books. They are far too great to be called novels. I think they are a lot more important than that.

I have that book, too. It came in the post today. I must admit that I have not read it before, but have gone all dotty over Aldous Huxley just recently. The more I am learning about him the more beauty and light I see about his being. I have "The Doors of Perception" by Aldous Huxley, too. I have read that, but will read it again.

These writers are so within the ATS realm and sphere of interest. I must admit I am desperate to share ideas and knowledge with people. It is kind of "Major Tom" lonely these days. So many people now thinking on a very low level. Raise the old consciousness if we can.

Huxley was arguably closer, take a look at this, it's a dumbed down comic strip of the what both predicted.

highexistence.com...

I think it's pretty accurate.

Orwell was another means of controlling the people. And apparently its been very successfull.

Good book first time I read it was back in the 90's and have read it a few times since.

I feel that some of the elements like spying are right on and things like newspeak but we are not really the dismal dystopia featured in the book.
Its good to read dystopian scifi novels to get a feel for what type of society we might be becoming.

I think it would be more accurate to say we live in a world that is a mix of 1984 and brave new world.

This video is full of spoilers so if you have not finished the book come back and view it when you have done so.

It gives a great overview of the world of 1984.

originally posted by: yuppa
Orwell was another means of controlling the people. And apparently its been very successfull.

What do you mean by this? Orwell's literature is meant to dishearten and discourage us "citizens of the future"? To make us believe that there is no hope for a better world?

Can you please explain what you mean?

a reply to: Taggart

Right on.
That comic is a great summery.
" In 1984 people are controlled by inflicting pain.
in Brave new world people are controlled by inflicting pleasure."

originally posted by: yuppa
Orwell was another means of controlling the people. And apparently its been very successfull.

I know that is a dig at me for what I show allegiance to.

Orwell and Huxley are operating on the wider fringes of human experience and imagination. If you can demonstrate to me you are their superior I will read your novels, too. That's how it has to be my friend: No amazing work of literature, no kudos. I am in the same boat. All I have is a few amateur electro tunes as my art. I will not let my deficit turn me into a beast of ignorance out of jealousy though. It is like biting off our hand to feed our face. Notice how we are all turning off to celebrities and anyone we might think is better than us or whom we consider elite (this is well proletarian behavior). This is a dumbing down process, too. I will continue to adore rich ass Bob Dylan and Johnny Depp, not because I am told to, but because they both have been very useful to me. Many of you will not know about Depp's "The Brave" movie and his other strange projects that have a lot of artistic integrity.

Wisdom is wisdom wherever it can be found. I will take wisdom from a rich woman or a poor black man or an ATS member. Humility is a good life skill to have in that regard. What more can I say about my own integrity?

originally posted by: FamCore

originally posted by: yuppa
Orwell was another means of controlling the people. And apparently its been very successfull.

What do you mean by this? Orwell's literature is meant to dishearten and discourage us "citizens of the future"? To make us believe that there is no hope for a better world?

Can you please explain what you mean?

No Orwells part was to seperate the thinkers from the useless sheep in blunt terms to out the ones who would fight for their freedom.

a reply to: Revolution9

No dig implied though. Orwell also didnt like pornography because he was a old fuddy duddy. And one mans porn is another mans art.

a reply to: yuppa

Oh, that's ok then. I understand where you are coming from.

You mean kind of like he was a tool to "out" the troublemakers like you and I? It does that, too, I guess.

It is a great reference point. I expect it will begin to look more and more archaic as time goes by, but in our time we can see clearly the apparatus of state and some rather scary and clandestine accurate comparisons with an imagined control freak dystopian nightmare authoritarian prison WORLD (that should raise a few eyebrows at least), not just one state. They are all in on it in "1984". There is no escape and individuality, privacy, autonomy, freedom, sentient sexuality, are abolished from reality forever.

I am not against pornography. I did not say that. I am guilty of conforming, too. In the novel Winston is, too. I even regard my marijuana consumption as the cheap gin slumber drug in "1984". We are all in that Matrix to some degree now except Grizzly Adams if he still exists, lol.

a reply to: Revolution9

"If you want to destroy any nation without war, make adultery or nudity common in the young generation." - Saladin (Liberator of Jerusalem - 12 th century)


Remember the movie The Kingdom of Heaven?

The surveillance of people was a good prediction by Orwell.
the tele screens sound like today's smart tvs especially with the vault 7 revelation about samsung tvs having the capability to spy.

But Orwell painted a very bleak picture of society. He did not predict robots, automation, AI ,nanotechnology, and genetic engineering.

This is why I feel genre of cyberpunk gives a more accurate indication to where society is heading.
I give Orwell credit where credit is due as a cautionary tale but we could be headed toward a completely different sort of dystopia.

a reply to: SolAquarius

That is like "Blade Runner" world.

Yes, Orwell's novel is very bleak. That bleakness I find in life though. It doesn't look like Orwell's Airstrip 1, but it FEELS like it. It will look like "Blade Runner", but it will function on "Brave New World" and "1984" blue prints in many ways.

Smart TVs will only get smarter; what other direction can any invention go in, but forward?

I like much that the digital age is offering and yet I am glad I have experience of the world before; so much of which I do miss.

I do feel the bleakness. There is no doubt about that. There is a void in life that seems to permeate the days. We are trading some very precious commodities for this "Brave New World". I hope LOVE and SENSUALITY are not included with those.

I've always seen 1984 as about the control of information. What is news and what is fake news...and what just appears not to exist at all as methods of control.

The way that the enemies and allies change in the book made me cringe when Libya was brewing up, all those people calling for help for these rebels, who, a very short time ago were busy trying to kill our troops...I digress.

BNW was more about people buying into a state sponsored hallucination of contentment really, people messed with so much that they fit perfectly into the hole that the government has made for them. I am sure that some of Huxley's ideas helped create the wold of Palmer Eldritch in the Three Stigmata book.

As for cyberpunk, I think books like Neuromancer have very real reflections of society, the closed off super rich, the porr, living a day at a time, gig economy types. The gap between those who have a life enhanced by tech and others who are downtrodden by it.

I guess, in the end, our society is an aggregation of the darker works of literature

a reply to: SprocketUK

Hey, you mention FAKE NEWS in your post. It has only just become the latest "issue". Again, Orwell predicted it in "1984".

Only read some of the book long ago, but I remember watching the movie. Guy was arrested and tortured for having sex out of wedlock.

WOW...and I wonder if the movie was parodying the US of A, because they basically do just this. Free countries are not supposed to tell others how to live their lives, and are supposed to serve it citizens.
And that's to the interests of all groups, and not just a few.

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion

its as simple as that

take it or leave it

Sex is to love what food is to survival in a way

You need food to survive, yes, but that doesn't mean every meal is the only goal of not to die.
In love, you (usually) have sex also as a byproduct, but this doesn't mean the two are interlinked with no variation. its a pleasure. eating is a pleasure. All pleasures will grow in a peaceful society to become fixated.

Is this a bad thing?
Well, all things taken to extremes can be damaging. food to extremes will lead to obesity, sexual gratification to extremes will lead to increasingly more deviant behavior due to overexposure numbing your typical senses.

The solution is pretty similar though to eating. go on a diet now and then, dont go overboard, and maintain a reasonable controlled level of exposure that doesn't saturate your day.

Everything in moderation as the saying goes.

I dont think porn will destroy the world, nor placate the citizens. A stronger argument can be made for the television, or video games.