Big Brother Is Watching You

The show "Big Brother" has been airing since 1999, first shown in the Netherlands. The premise of the show centers on a group of people or "housemates" that are thrown in a house together in a home, isolated from an outside world and aren't aware or notified of outside events. The housemates are monitored by in-house television cameras and personal microphones throughout their stay. 

Big Brother must be closer than we think.

This isn't to say that our society is quickly taking a route towards one of the Party. There aren't telescreens attached to every wall and microphones hidden in every nook and cranny, but there might as well be some. Many devices have taken the "telescreen" initiative and are notified when we are in their midst, such the Kinect or Wii, many home uses such as a garage. There are even air fresheners that give off the smell when they sense a person in their presence. 

As consumers of entertainment, we are drawn to the "Big Brother" TV show. We are interested in the lives of others and how they act when they are aware of cameras watching them and microphones recording their conversations. As a reality TV show, it takes the fiction of Big Brother into reality. What if this became a reality? Would we really be subject to act like the housemates in the show? We'd be cautious of our every move and every action. We'd be afraid to talk a certain way to certain people. Are we ready for this kind of transition?

The actual book doesn't offer too much background knowledge of the emergence of Ocean, Eurasia, and Eastasia or even the Party itself. We know that the book was written around the time of Hitler's rule and the world they live in may be a product of the world war. A war could be happening in our midst, with the acts of ISIS and nuclear threats from North Korea. Under dangerous situations and terrorism, we may blindly follow a leader just because we need to be told what to do. Is Big Brother closer than we think? Are we prepared for sudden transition?