[Gilbo_3]

...which is exactly what the real scare in “1984” was: the problem wasn’t so much “Big Brother is watching”, the problem was that any historical record inconvenient to the gov’t was systematically eliminated & replaced.

I really ought to read that book... would I be merely reading history at this point ???

[papertyger]

would I be merely reading history at this point ???

Not at all. And quite frankly, it would help you recognize what a government official that needs to be shot looks like.

[ctdonath2]

Yes, you should read it. Pronto.
Others have, and are implementing it.
It will indeed sound awfully familiar.

As I noted, and as the book’s appendix (yes, a novel with an appendix) goes into great detail about, the real concern isn’t Big Brother watching everything, but that his minions are rewriting history and adjusting language precisely so that the would-be opposition is simply incapable of even _thinking_ offending thoughts.

To the subthread: that police turned to armed citizens (to wit: a store) for aid at North Hollywood is a fact inconvenient to our would-be tyrants, so they shut down the store involved and are writing it out of any history of the event. Now those arguing in favor of the 2nd Amendment have no hard history to point to.