Sophomores 2020
5/27/20 (Due 5/20/20)
Ethan Halevi Pd2 Blog#41
Aim: How and why does Winston manage to resist the manipulative power of language and mob mentality.
What is it like working from home?
It’s quite horrible, there is a lack of motivation and a surplus of distraction. I have very little drive to do anything school related (as seen by my late submission). I enjoy the class setting much more, in terms of my ability to learn and process information, as well as discussion.
What are you learning about your world, community based on the reactions?
I am learning that the world is able to largely come together and adapt to this new situation, as well as advocate for others to do the same. On the other hand I’m finding that leaders of many countries are not doing the same. In my opinion the people and local/state governments have been doing most of the work in keeping its people safe. In the US, quarantine is not a countrywide policy, and the policy was not even encouraged until the numbers of cases we had hit the thousands, even after our first deaths. It seems as though in the beginning people did not take it seriously, especially in the US where we had the time and the examples of what was happening in other countries to base our response off of. We have a president who does not believe in testing, and continues to say that he is handling this crisis at 10/10 or an “A+++” level, after we’ve hit over a million cases and 100,000 deaths. However the fact that my friends, and their families, are all practicing social distance comforts me greatly, because at least now many are taking it seriously.
Write about your thoughts regarding the reading.
Winston is obviously a very paranoid person, rightfully so. Big Brother has applied so much pressure to the world that the majority of the population most likely partakes in Thought crime to some extent, but would never vocalize, out of fear. If they all spoke out, there is nothing the Big Brother could do, but they hear about the “vocal minority” of those who speak out and get shut down, or the ones who only partake in mino thought crimes, making them feel alone and insignificant enough to force them into submission. What I would want to know is how the Big Brother was able to establish this powerful presence in the first place without resistance.
Student Reflection
In class I learned the power of doublespeak, and how Big Brother implemented it. This is important as it is both used in the text, but also has been used throughout history, whether it was anti-abolitionists during times of slavery, the soviet union, or any sort of of fascist regime. Winston is able to resist the manipulative power of the language and mob mentality employed by Big Brother largely due to his diary, where he records all his hatred to the government. Once you begin to acknowledge your anger towards something, it begins to spiral outward in a web of frustration, so much so that it becomes all you think about, as we see with Winston’s distraction during the Physical Jerks. I will use what I learned during this lesson to do the opposite of Winston, as I have been letting my frustration towards this crisis cloud my judgement, and make me lazy and moody, despite my relatively privileged situation. Fortunately we do not live in a fascist society, and the only thing listening to me is my Alexa, and frankly I don’t mind what Jeff Bezos thinks of me or my shopping habits.
No comments:
Post a Comment