In 1949, George Orwell wrote a book entitled and set in 1984. This story was, and still is a fictional creation, but rings more true now than ever before. My friends, we are living in the era of Big Brother and the Thought Police. Most can't see it. Some don't know it. Others deny it.

We know this to be true by recent events in the last decades since this book was written. Big Brother has always been there, watching over us, stealing from us, making life hard for us, and telling us it's getting better by the day. Big Brother is present in everyone's lives. He is the not only the elected officials of the governments in power, but the system itself. Remember, Uncle Sam wants YOU.

Big Brother could not do all this by himself though. Quite the contrary. Things couldn't be the way they were without a helping hand. In the book, the controlling force of the people was the Thought Police. A law enforcement agency with its hands so deep into the soilwork of society, that one only needed to look suspicious, or say something inappropriate at the wrong time to be taken to the Ministry of Love. With a two-way telescreen in every home, shop and school, Big Brother had everything under control. These means of control translate well into today's world. The Thought Police are real, always have been. Only recently, with the introduction of Homeland Security and the Patriot Act, have people started to realize this fictional story written 60 years ago, might be more than fiction.

Sept. 11, 2001 marked a great tragedy for the people of the United States, and the world. On that day, planes collided with the Twin Towers in New York City, killing thousands. This will also mark the day that Big Brother scored his biggest victory. It is written, "...He who controls the present, controls the future." Now there are many conspiracies surrounding what happened that day. Nothing has been proven. What can be proven, is that event single-handedly allowed the U.S. government to instate the Homeland Security (Thought Police) and effectively move one step closer to a telescreen in every home in the form of the Patriot Act. Now for those who don't know, the Patriot Act is a law that allows the government to listen in on ALL communications in public sectors "for the purpose of discovering threats to national security. What that means is, your telephone, internet, fax, you name it, any form of communication can and is being watched. Freaked out yet?

Why stop at the general ideas of oppression? There are many underlying thoughts in this story that, if we look a little closer, help subdue the masses. In the book there are three main divisions of government. The Ministry of Love, concerned with all things war and law enforcement. The Ministry of Truth, which deals with the falsification of facts and literature, and the Ministry of Plenty, which is in charge of production and ration of goods.

The Ministry of Truth is the one I find the most interesting in current times. In the story, this department is not only responsible for producing literature and film that complies with the teachings and orders of Big Brother, but ridding the world of all that opposes him or anything he has said. Effectively keeping the people ignorant to any idea that Big Brother is not who he seems. Today, we have the Liberal media. The job of the media has always been to capture our attention, even before it's job was to distract it. We turn on the news and we hear about the war overseas, (was it East Asia or Eurasia this time?...) we here about the crashing economy, but mostly, we here about nonsense. Celebrity gossip is everywhere. People are so caught up in celebrity business, it helps dull their real life problems of poverty and abuse.

As for the characters in 1984, they to can reveal alot about our society today. Winston, the protagonist, the common man. A man who has been effected by the restraints placed upon him by the world around him, unable to do anything about it. He survives by day to day, doing exactly as told, for fear of persecution. Sound familiar?

The world is controlled by two things. Want and fear. The exploitation of both is the reason we are where we are today. Next time you turn on the news, or the radio, or MTV, think about the information you're taking in. Question the decisions made and the tactics used by those in charge. We still live in a society that allows us to form free thought and opinion, don't let anyone take that away from you.

"To an age when thought is free. From the Age of Big Brother, from the Age of the Thought Police, from a dead man... greetings."