(Blog #39, MingXi Chau, Period 3, 5/18)
Aim: How and why does Winston manage to resist the manipulative power of language and mob mentality?
We began our online google meet with a “Do Now” titled “ROOM 102”.
I personally thought this activity was interesting as it was much different compared to our normal starting activities. After observing, we shared out what our observations were. Most of the class agreed that the “citizens” we were observing were looking blankly into the video camera because they were doing the activity.
We moved on to the topic of Big Brother in the book 1984. In 1984, we learn that Big Brother is a manipulative system that watches and listens over the citizens. It goes to the point where Big Brother has a thought-police that can understand what each citizen is thinking about. I thought that when the government used Junior Spies to spy on adults, it was a smart move since they wanted to know what everyone was thinking and doing to a larger extent. Adults can tell kids anything and the Junior Spies are naive and easily manipulated enough that they can report everything back to Big Brother. Even Mrs. Parsons was scared of her own children, which I thought was funny. In chapter 3 of 1984, the book reveals that there is also something called “Physical Jerks” where they forced citizens to exercise. This shows how the government and Big Brother controlled almost every aspect of their citizens’ lives that I, myself, wonder what else they control -- their diets, even?
Regarding the pandemic that is happening right now, working from home is really different compared to working in school. One example is that instead of having to cross the Verrazano Bridge to get to school, classes are now right in my bedroom. Instead of waking up early in the morning, I now wake up at 9 o'clock, ready for my first class of the day. It’s nice to have breakfast during class and sit in my bed while my teachers instruct us on whatever they are teaching on that day. My community thinks negatively of this pandemic. While many around the US, at least that’s what I think, are persuading people to stay at home, others are protesting for this quarantine to end. Even though I personally don't agree with what the latter are fighting for, many people don't understand the idea of quarantine is to just stay home or stay at least 6 ft away from others. There are pictures circulating around social media, like Instagram, where people posted pictures of parks, like the ones in Manhattan. Instead of seeing it empty or even half empty, the pictures taken show a lot of people sitting together, either hanging out or just doing whatever they are doing. It’s scary that they are in such close distances from each other (definitely not 6 ft apart) and still don't care that this is a quarantine.
REFLECTION:
In this lesson, I learned that you could be watched anywhere, even though we are not in 1984. We may not be aware of it but cameras, even our own mobile devices, can watch us and anyone could observe us, just like that activity we did in the “Do Now”. I guess this starting activity really stuck with me. We can definitely learn to control our actions and keep our actions in check because anyone can watch us. This can cause people who want to do bad things, like robbing a store or a person, to not do it since anyone could be watching.
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