In 1949, English writer George Orwell’s dystopian take on a futuristic, totalitarian, always-watching government in 1984 ushered the phrase Big Brother into the popular lexicon. Since then, Big Brother has come to mean any virtually unwanted snooping and surveillance via technology—especially when the government is involved.
Orwell’s vision of a grim totalitarian future has always served as a literary touchstone for those concerned with the erosion of civil rights, privacy and the possibility that governmental agencies are keeping tabs on us. And in the wake of news that our nation’s National Security Agency has been conducting extensive data collection operations—sifting through both phone records and Internet usage logs looking for links to terrorists activities—Orwell’s name has been invoked frequently.
It seems the watching and listening public has noticed those references, resulting in what could be seen as an ironic surge of interest in Orwell’s cautionary tale about governmental overreach. Sales of the 64-year-old novel surged more than 6,000% after the NSA story broke, pushing 1984 from a rank of No. 7,636 at online retailer Amazon to No. 123 in just 24 hours, with the story climbing as high as No. 4 on Amazon’s “Movers and Shakers” list in the process.
Here at Plugged In, we often talk about how what happens in the realm of entertainment can potentially influence the real-world choices people make. (For a more in-depth look at the connections between entertainment and culture, check out Steve Isaac’s blog “A ‘Plugged In’ Contagion Alert!?” and my article, “See the Show, Be the Show”).
Sometimes, though, these correlations actually work in reverse, with a real-world event inspiring interest in an a fictional story. That certainly seems to be case here. As Orwell’s name has been repeatedly linked to this sensational story, it seems more than a few folks have been inspired to revisit the English’s author’s take on a Big Brother.
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