[107817] in Cypherpunks
_1984_ vs _This_Perfect_Day_
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jean-Francois Avon)
Sun Jan 24 19:29:45 1999
From: "Jean-Francois Avon" <jf_avon@citenet.net>
To: "Canadian Firearm Digest" <cdn-firearms-digest@broadway.sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca>,
"Cypherpunks" <cypherpunks@toad.com>,
"=?iso-8859-1?q?Le_Qu=E9becois_Libre?=" <libre@colba.net>,
"Sporting Shooters Association of Australia" <Sporting.Shooters.Association@adelaide.on.net>
Date: Sun, 24 Jan 1999 19:09:47 -0500
Reply-To: "Jean-Francois Avon" <jf_avon@citenet.net>
Hi.
This commentary is relevant to peoples with interests in (among other things):
freedom, politics, cryptography, survival technologies, offshore assets
protection schemes, right to defend yourself, psychiatry, etc.
It's been a long time I wanted to write a comparative commentary about the
differences between George Orwell's _1984_ and Ira Levin's _This_Perfect_Day_.
I've read the french version of Levin's book in 1978 and Orwell's book in
1980. Although my readings are not that recent, theses books leave a very
deep impression on you... Levin's one probably doesn't have the litterary
quality as Orwell's has, but it's message is probably of more importance.
Everybody knows George Orwell's story pretty well. In that story,
essentially, the main character revolts against the system but in the end
loses to it. It not only loses physically but also morally. The main
character ends up with a broken mind and will and is only a shadow of what he
used to be. The conclusion conveyed by this book is that there's no way you
can win against a big government.
There's another book as interesting as Orwell's that was written by Ira Levin,
Rosemary's Baby author. The title of this story is _This_Perfect_Day_. The
context into which the stories happen is quite similar to 1984, only with more
technology. In their world, the inhabitants have to pass checkpoints all over
the place, swipe their identification cards and report for medical treatment
on a regular basis. The medical treatment includes hormones and mood
regulating substances that prevent the population to revolt. The hero of the
story, a bit by chance and a bit owing to his nature, acts in a way that
prevent him from getting his medication dose. This starts his revolt against
the system.
Their whole world is managed by a powerful computer, itself controlled by an
elite of programmers and politicians. Our hero eventually decides to escape
that world after having discovered some places that are not under the rule of
the current system, only to realize that they are too... He thus plans an
attack on the system and in the end, after many discoveries on the nature of
the system, succeed at destroying it and frees his people.
The difference between the two stories is that Orwell's story lets you believe
that no matter how hard you try, there's no way to escape the system while
Levin's story makes you understand that if you have enough knowledge about a
given system, there's always a way to bust it. It is quite ironic that the
most positive novel is almost forgotten (actually, out of print) while the
other one that spells of doom, resignation and submition is considered a
"classic", a "must read". I thanks my french teacher to have us read it!
I strongly suggest reading your read Ira Levin's book. Apparently, you can get
it from www.amazon.com even if it is out of print.
Ciao
jfa
Jean-Francois Avon, Pierrefonds (Montreal), Canada
> Reality Is.
The Law of Cause and Effects operates, always.
It is _not_ optional or alterable by wishes.
> One of the biggest crime against humanity is to
propagate the virus-of-the-mind idea that say that
the Human Animal is born intrinsically corrupted
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