1984 and the invaders

I went to the reading circle meeting on Thursday night for a long discussion on 1984. A lot of people felt that things were moving ever nearer to George Orwell’s vision – at least in regard to the amount of secret – and overt - surveillance that takes place in our lives, the amount of data stored on us all, and of course the way that our language is sometimes translated into ‘Newspeak’. For example, on the first issues, the ubiquitous cameras that observe us; the suggestion (has it happened yet?) that chips will be in our dustbins to see if we put the wrong things into it; store cards that provide information on our shopping habits. Despite all this, I felt that members of the group were being somewhat oversensitive on this issue. No doubt when the first police force was introduced into the land, people felt their freedoms were being eroded – and probably they were. But shouldn’t we accept that there is a trade-off if we want to feel safe. We have to forgo some of our freedoms when we accept that some measures are introduced to protect us from criminal activities. To me, the ‘Big Brother’ scenario is not the worst thing about 1984. The worst thing is that Winston ends up completely crushed.

I can sympathise with Winston. I would be a complete coward and say anything required of me. But it would be nice to think that one did not mean it, and deep inside, one still retained an unquenched spirit.

Nothing to do with Room 101, but I heard a rodent scrabbling around in the roof as I dozed off on Thursday or Friday night. How I hate things entering my house uninvited. The warm weather has brought out (or in) the flies, a wasp into the bathroom, and ants in the larder. We have an invasion of ants every year, but they’re early this time round. They normally come up through the floor in our bathroom and stick around for about a month in various stages of death as a result of the spray directed at their lair. I am not normally violent, but ants and mice bring out the worst in me.

Last night, I spent some time trying to include a Paypal option onto my website, so that people who are interested in buying my book, The Fruit of the Tree, (now in fourth print run) are not put off by having to write a cheque. Paypal, I believe, offers a credit card option, if you don't have an account with them, and is obviously a better bet for anyone outside the UK interested in buying a copy.

The details can be found at my Order page at: http://freespace.virgin.net/jackie.luben/order.html