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This is one of the scariest things about Google, and indicative of its public face, too. People in the US often compare the government to Big Brother in 1984, b
by pron 9y ago
This is one of the scariest things about Google, and indicative of its public face, too. People in the US often compare the government to Big Brother in 1984, but the government can't be Big Brother if people think that, as one of the most important qualities of Big Brother was that people actually loved him. The entire system rested on the idea that people believe in it out of love, not out of fear. Google seems to be the same. Only when you insist on having both power and the love of those you have power over can you truly be Big Brother.
- metiscus 9y agoWhile I risk being pedantic, I question the notion that the people in 1984 "love" big brother with the usual denotation. I believe that "love" in context implies more of a unity of being / complete submission to rather than any sort of romance. A key point in the book is the control over truth effected through the control of knowledge and history. A government in a totalitarian state like North Korea effectively is, for its own people, the government from 1984. Complete power over information will inevitably lead to the kind of "love" expressed by Winston in room 101. If the power of the US government to monitor and censor information grows, it is unlikely but not completely impossible for a similar situation to eventually arise.
- pron 9y agoBut this is already happening with Google, and as recent events show, Google, Facebook and Twitter have more control over information than the US government.