Everyone is treated as if they are a likely criminal. This has a negative psychological affect on the general population who are not criminals. For those who are not criminals, they feel as if their privacy is being invaded for no reason. They are reduced to being under suspicion and scrutinized even though they are upstanding citizens. They feel as if they are being treated as a criminal and that their freedoms are being slowly eaten away one by one. More and more the general population expresses concerns about the trend toward and Orwellian world. The telescreens in Orwell's world broadcast propaganda and continually exaggerated positive production numbers and lied about the failing state of the economy. The telescreens made the economy sound like a growth economy, when it was slowly slipping away, sound familiar?

In Orwell's novel, Winston reached a tipping point where he began to rebel in his journal writing. One day before Thanksgiving, passengers on many airlines also reached a tipping point and rebelled against the newest invasion of their privacy, x-ray imaging and pat downs. Orwell noted that it was the middle class that always starts rebellions, even though it is the lower class that often suffers the most. Airline passengers represent the middle class, and true to an Orwellian world, the revolt against the greatest intrusion of privacy yet began with them.

Censorship is the main theme of 1984, and it can be argued that our own television presents the type of skewed information that was seen on Orwell's telescreen. However, our loss of privacy due to surveillance procedures is the most astounding parallel to the world in which we live. The psychological effect of all of this surveillance would make an excellent topic for future research.

We have already seen the beginning of mass revolt against the increasing invasion of privacy that we must endure, largely because of a few individuals who chose to commit heinous acts. Now surveillance has become an accepted part of our...

The most widely debated issue regarding this loss of privacy and the continual electronic signature that documents our days is when it has gone too far. Many feel that is has already gone too far. The day before Thanksgiving revolt among airline passengers is evidence that we are near a tipping point concerning the invasions upon our lives.
No one knows where the issue of surveillance will go in the future, but it is not likely to decrease. In the future, we will be watched even more than we are now. The pre-Thanksgiving airport tells us volumes about how the public feels about increasing surveillance measures and increasing invasion of their privacy. Our world now resembles the Oceania more than we realize, and we are beginning to see a little of Winston in all of us. How far it will go is anyone's guess, but it will continue unless the people are wiling to stand up for their rights.

Works Cited

Froomkin, D. Obama Hasn't Entirely Abandoned the Bush Playbook. February 18, 2009. the

Washington Post. < http://voices.washingtonpost.com/white-house-watch/bush-rollback/obama-hasnt-entirely-abandoned.html >. Accessed December 6, 2010.

London Evening Standard. George Orwell, Big Brother is watching your house. March 31, 2007.

< http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23391081-george-orwell-big-brother-is-watching-your-house.do > . Accessed December 5, 2010.

Orwell, George. 1984. Massachusetts: Penguin Putnam. 1950.

Rappotuer, B. Changing perceptions of terrorism in public opinion and the media. European Security and Defence Assembly. Document a/1949. Resolution 130. December 20, 2006.

< http://www.assembly-weu.org/en/documents/sessions_ordinaires/rpt/2006/1949.php >.

Accessed December 6, 2010.

United States Senate. H.R. 3162. Patriot Act. 107th Congress. 1st Session. Washington, GPO.

October 24, 2001. < http://epic.org/privacy/terrorism/hr3162.html >. Accessed December