In 1943 George Orwell came to see the corruption of his vision of socialism and started writing his seminal novel, Nineteen Eighty-four, that would shake the world when it was published in 1949. I took a course in college titled: Ethical and Political Theory three years after that book came out -- it, along with Emile Zola's Germinal and Arthur Koestler's Darkness At Noon, were the assigned texts for the term. Digression: The miners in Germinal who brought the coal to the surface were "landers."
Orwell saw the future America 35 years later as being a dark autocracy led by Big Brother, who maintained control with formulated lying and camera installations that recorded the activities of all citizens 24/7.
What's left of my memory of the actual 1984 tells me George was off a little on his timing; like 70 years. Of course, "Two Thousand Nineteen" just doesn't have the punch of Nineteen Eighty-four and is irrelevant to the theme of the narrative. Count the cameras mounted on buildings in our cities and camouflaged as telephones in the hands of our citizens. Or in the trains and busses of public transportation. Let me tell you about that.
Last Saturday I went to Sellwood to get a haircut from my stylist, Lo-Lo. Everything above my shoulders that sticks out, Lo-Lo mows with a #1 guide slapped on her electric clippers. Whatever Lo-Lo sees, Lo-Lo clips. It's a two train, one bus journey to get to Lo-Lo and the second train I transferred to was lightly peopled as I took a single window seat right next to the train driver's compartment. We're rolling along when suddenly the train stops and the door to the driver's compartment flies open. The lady driver leans out (about 12" from my face) and pointing at some rider behind me, screams, "Hey, you, get your hands out of your pants or I'm going to call the police." WHOA! The miscreant apparently complied with her wishes because she slammed the door shut and we were soon moving down the rails. I didn't look behind me.
But here's the thing: Some people read to pass the time on their commute and most people focus on their iPhones. But some, apparently, find other ways to pass the time. If we could somehow contact George Orwell to ask him his thoughts on this incident it is likely he would say, "Didn't you read my book?"
