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by Viktoria Kamuf

„War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength.”

You are looking at the three slogans of Oceania’s one and only party in George Orwell’s famous book “Nineteen Eighty-Four”. The novel tells the story of a dystopian future, where there is no right to privacy and the state machinery observes, oppresses and controls its citizens. It is commonly appointed one of the most important books of the last century and received some kind of cult status. Even people who have not read it often refer to the ominous Big Brother. Till today, Orwell’s fictional world appears everywhere, whether in newspaper articles on the NSA affair, as graffiti or in an artist’s works (the list of songs inspired by “Nineteen Eighty-Four” is incredibly long).

Yet, the year 1984 already passed and the dictatorships of Hitler, Stalin and Franco, which mainly inspired Orwell to write “Nineteen Eighty-Four”, ended several decades ago. Although there is still a lot which has to be improved, it seems like the world is becoming a less violent and a more democratic place, as there are always people who stand up for their rights instead of blindly following their leaders. Thanks to media and internet, news can spread much faster than 50 years ago and are able to reach people all over the world. Thus, it became more difficult for governments to hide information, so their citizens and other countries can hardly ignore what is going on out there. Gladly, an Orwellian world seems to be far away from our everyday life.

This optimistic view was recently proven wrong by a man named Dave Eggers. He wrote a book which is called “The Circle”, which outlines a dystopian future, where the internet, but also political and social life are controlled by the company which gave the book its name. Some people might say, that Eggers’ book is an update of Orwell’s “Nineteen Eighty-Four”, but this would underestimate its quality and distinctiveness. However, it is nearly as alarming as Orwell’s dystopia. Eggers tells the story of Mae, a young woman who starts her new job at the Circle. Frequently there are new solutions introduced to make every part of people’s lives easier – to observe. Mae experiences a new and exciting world, where one has access to every piece of information one wants. Through omnipresent cameras, smartphones and screens privacy has become alien and is seen as a drawback for a world which could be free of wars, crime and human rights violations. You might find this thought disturbing and disagree with it. Of course, in our today’s world observance has still a very negative connotation and is mostly associated with totalitarian regimes. But what if everyone is observing everyone? When crime is not persecuted by the police but by the neighbours who saw the burglar on a live cam from your living room? What if you immediately knew when your boyfriend or girlfriend is betraying you or that your grandma did not have a heart attack but is just napping on her couch – through live cams?  “The Circle” builds a world which seems to be perfect, complete. With every innovation comes a wide range of advantages which seem to be undeniable. And what is most important: the people contribute voluntarily to the system. They like to be watched and to watch others, they do not even have the incentive to commit a crime anymore, because all their friends would see the embarrassing act on screen. “Secrets are Lies. Sharing is Caring. Privacy is Theft.” are the slogans of the future.

Does this sound strange to you? Just rethink your own actions. When you meet someone at a party, you search him on Facebook. When you eat something delicious you post it on Instagram. When you want to be recognized by someone, you click the “Like”-button. We do not admit it, but we already are part of a system of observance. Eggers’ utopian world is not that utopian at all. By joining social networks we contribute to it voluntarily and we are still ignoring the dangers of this development. A totalitarian regime would be tangible for us, the internet is not. Whereas wars and torture lead to huge protests, social pressure and the control of our privacy rarely does. Therefore we drift towards a new society of control, where Big Brother does not have one, but many faces. There might be no crime – but there will be also no freedom. Maybe, our world should always stay a little bit incomplete, perfectly imperfect, to ensure, that people keep their minds and eyes open and engage in social and political processes.

Bildquelle: Jiaren Lau über Wikimedia Commons