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In other words, Orwell's fictional government wanted the citizens to know what the government felt would be good for them to know, not what people really truly needed to know (i.e., the truth).
As to the Bush Administration's censoring science to spare the public from hearing the real facts, the Christian Science Monitor reported that the White House "has broadly attempted to control which climate scientists could speak with reporters, as well as editing scientists' congressional testimony on climate change..." (Clayton, 2007). The Bush Administration was "particularly active in stifling [scientists'] discussion of the link between increased hurricane intensity and global warming," the article reports.
In the novel, the Ministry of Truth tweaked photographs in order to present a false image to the public. And Winston...
That was a lie but it was designed to give the people information to make them feel good. In May, 2007, an official with the Bush Administration's Interior Department (Julie MacDonald) resigned after it became known that she "manipulated the work of federal scientists" and in fact took empirical science research and censored it. She (according to the Union of Concerned Scientists) changed a "positive" scientific finding (which showed favor toward protecting certain species) into a "negative" finding (that there was no need to protect certain species). The comparisons between the Bush Administration's deceptive, despicable executive behavior and Orwell's novel shows that powerful people do determine that it is their job to filter facts, even censor science, and let people know only what the government believes is good for them to know.
Works Cited
Clayton, Mark. "Study finds White House manipulation on climate science." The Christian Science Monitor 12 December, 2007.
Kurtz, Howard. "Education Department Used Williams to Promote 'No Child' Law."
The Washington Post 8 January 2005.
Orwell, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1949.
Union of Concerned Scientists. "Interior Official Who Censored Federal Scientists
Resigns but Political Interference Remains a Serious Problem, Scientist Group Says."
2007). Retrieved November 10, 2008, at http://www.ucsusa.org.
Works Cited
Clayton, Mark. "Study finds White House manipulation on climate science." The Christian Science Monitor 12 December, 2007.
Kurtz, Howard. "Education Department Used Williams to Promote 'No Child' Law."
The Washington Post 8 January 2005.
Orwell, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1949.
2007). Retrieved November 10, 2008, at http://www.ucsusa.org.
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