The Life of Truman Burbank, 1984-1998

If you're good at math, you may notice that mine doesn't seem to make a lot of sense! Because from my math, that would make Truman 14 years old when he "died" from television which can't be right at all!

That's actually not totally my point... I see the movie of "The Truman Show" being a very chilling compassion to the novel of 1984 (hence when he was "born", dying after the movie itself was out in theaters. I was one year old at the time, can you imagine! My how time flies.)! I want to break my argument into several different categories, just in case if you're not convinced that these two have anything in common (I didn't either at first).....

<SURVEILLANCE>
I think that it's important to understand that the examples used with Truman are going to seem far more humane, wether it's because Jim Carrey did a wonderful job with his role, or that the rules are not that strict for Truman. Yes, both members follow the rules of their society, it's just that if Truman happens to break some laws, it probably won't be the worst thing in the world. But yes. Both are being watching at a fairly close level and more people tune in as the story continues!! We see examples of the many different types of cameras that Truman has around him and we know how personal the government (Party) can get in 1984. Check out my previous blog post to get a little more insight on this article!

<NO ESCAPE>
This one feels like there's no need to explain....

<(a streetcar named)DESIRE TO LEAVE>
Both characters seem like they are unhappy with the ives that they have and want to leave! We see throughout the course of each story them try to do that. Sure, the Party breaks Winston (open to interoperation) and it's only Truman who truly leaves, but both express this passion to want to go somewhere else; and a common theme could connect back to the fact of a journey and that they both WANT to leave, but don't know how and when to do so. They always feel like their (false) life gets in the way sometimes

<LOVE>
Doesn't everyone love a great love story? And I must say that the only thing more unique than watching it come together is actually sometimes how it falls apart (I know, I know, I'm a monster. But those things don't happen over night and in order to create that sense of hate, it must take time and an adequate story line and persuading roles by good actors). But both Truman and Winston find women that they should not be with (wither by control or rule) but yet find a way to sneak around with. It's obvious that Winston did more with his feelings that Truman did but I appreciate the irony of it because it would feel like Truman would have more liberty to do things like that, yet we see Winston break the rules to a further extent. I think it also has something to do with the fact that he KNOWS the rules that he's breaking are wrong. Poor Truman has no idea.

Talking to her about computer hardware, I made my mother board

If you're still reading this article after the ridiculous title (that I spent way too much time laughing at), congrats! Welcome to what is technically called Blog Post 4, though let's not look at it like that! There is a reason I want to mention the blog itself and that's because we're going to talk about technology! Well, more or less. Let's see if you get it! Let me explain.

In 1984, there are very common themes and motifs of the government watching its civilians weither they approve or not, as well as the different types of technology that people have the government uses as portals to access information about people's lives. It's funny because in a book, this idea may seem crazy with the reader going back to the whole "yeah, but that's never going to happen in today's society because we would know better" routine. Well wake up! It's happened.

(Just in case if you missed it, click the link provided on the last sentence of the previous paragraph. It kind of sets up what I'm about to talk about)....

The government is lying to us. And there's a chance you don't even know it!

Look I know that we can read a book like 1984 and agree such a society would never be tolerated in a place like the United States, but these things don't happen overnight and ignorance cannot be to blame anymore. We all know that the government takes information from our computers, like what they did to 1984, and are collecting it for "research and protection". How would it be possible to know that something is not right? However, as citizens we must make sure that this does not go too far. The fact is that now that we know the things that Edward has shown us (and others, he just happens to be the most famous at the moment) and we simply cannot ignore them anymore.

I don't think George Orwell saw the future QUITE like how it is today, though I must say, he did a pretty good job for taking a shot in the dark. This issue has followed us since the time he wrote the book and will continue to haunt us! Now try and imagine what things might look like if you couldn't see the black boxes at all! And it feels like there is nothing that we can do. Sure, things like the Patriot Act have fallen through, but the key thing we need is proof. A lot of this can be solved by TRYING to do something. I have had the discussion in this class as well as others, and a lot of people don't seem to mind if the government takes their information because they are doing nothing wrong, but you give these people and inch and they will take a mile! We cannot become like the people in 1984 and not able to question our government! But if we continue on this path, we may not have a choice.


This is the first blog post in which I did not change the font or anything about the style of writing and I have a reason for it! And no. It's not laziness. Mostly. More as a unique point of contention, who is to say that the government isn't altering files? Just because they can view them and SAY they do not have direct access to them, how are we suppose to believe that????

Who's the greater good?

With the exciting events of the presidential race now underway (that may have sounded sarcastic, but I do mean it! This is an interesting time for all parties involved), there are so many stories going around about each of the candidates and this seems to be the freshest time to present an argument or a change to something. 

Yet again, we find ourselves talking about civil rights today! This isn't a bad thing at all, I just don't want to find myself falling into certain traps that I see people take with civil rights. We've been asked if we should ever give up our civil rights for the greater good. I enjoy the openness of this question, because we first must ask ourselves WHAT rights that would be and for WHAT is the greater good.

So let's talk terms (turkey?) before we go to out article. I looked under the book that we used for our A.P. Government and Law class and it says that civil rights are "the rights of citizens to political and social freedom and equality." which means a few things right off the bat. If we are to give away these things, that means there must be something SERIOUSLY wrong. If you think about it, it makes sense. Should someone ever sacrifice their rights to freedom for the greater good? What would that greater good look like? Think about it. We're talking about your freedom, what our armed solders around the world fight for. And in order to give that up, there must be something important going on. 

Here's the article I mentioned would be here before!: http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2016/02/bernie-sanders-core-university-chicago

What I find interesting is that we seem to compare the ideas of someone's beliefs on the issue of civil rights to what they were doing during the civil rights movement or what they believe from it. While i think that era is VERY important to the rights that many minorities have today, it's not everything. Because if you do think about it, that era of the 1960s was a long time ago (sorry Dad). 

So why do I bring up the past to talk about the future? Good question! If you're still reading... Well I looked back at the question that we are suppose to answer and I see that it asks if it is ever NECESSARY to give up your civil rights, not SHOULD you ever give them up. That to me makes all the difference because while I myself would be alright with handing over my rights to help say my country or the people I care about it, I can't actually think of one time it would be NECESSARY to do such a thing. You could take the patriot act as an example, though people argue the merits of that program and if it was truly necessary.

The only time that we ever change things seems to be too late. Airports are the saddest example of this after 9/11, but there are so many more examples that we could list. And I don't think it's ever necessary to cash in your rights, but I don't think people should be on the forefront of trying to save them because if times change (and they do ever so quickly), you may need to hand them over. It's that kind of sacrifice that may be hard to come by, but will help the greater good in itself.