ORWELL’S VISION OF THE FUTURE COMES TO BRITAIN
By Dusty Loy
Iowa State Daily (Iowa State U.)

The Daily Athenaeum Interactive, WV
Iowa State University
April 26 2007

The European Union continues to inch closer to the dystopia foreseen
by George Orwell in his novel "1984." In Orwell’s novel the main
character is a party member in a socialist, totalitarian government
that perpetuates its power through omnipresent surveillance and
perpetually seeking out "thoughtcrime," such as holding views that
were contrary to what the party wishes individuals to think. In the
main character’s diary, he explains it thusly: "Thoughtcrime does
not entail death: thoughtcrime is death," and "Thoughtcrime is the
only crime that matters."

After six years of work, the European Union announced in Luxembourg
last week that they had come to an agreement on new legislation that
is intended to combat hate crimes, xenophobia racism. The document is
titled "Council Framework Decision on combating racism and xenophobia."

The document defines racism and xenophobia as "publicly condoning,
denying or grossly trivialising … and directed against a group of
persons or a member of such a group defined by reference to race,
colour, religion, descent or national or ethnic origin when the
conduct is carried out in a manner likely to incite to violence or
hatred against such a group or a member of such a group."

The penalties for possessing such irrational fears of foreigners
include one to three years in prison as well as exclusion from
entitlement to public benefits or aid, temporary or permanent
disqualification from the practice of commercial activities, or being
placed under judicial supervision.

Therefore, if an E.U. citizen "grossly trivializes" or "publicly
condones" the Armenian genocide — exactly what several groups were
doing in Times Square in New York City on Sunday — they would get
thrown into jail for three years and be banned from having a job or
benefits of the state upon release.

The new rules would completely protect any event labeled as genocide
by the International Criminal Court in the Hauge, and thus any views
differing from theirs are severely punished.

In "1984," to enforce this plethora of regulations on thoughtcrime
while maintaining their iron grip on individual thought, the state
of Oceania enacted a surveillance society.

They had omnipresent devices called telescreens, televisions equipped
with video cameras that informed citizens when they broke the rules
and aided the "Thought Police" in locating and squelching dissent.

Britain recently introduced talking closed-circuit television cameras
that will allow police to tell individuals to stop misbehaving through
a built-in microphone and speaker.

In Middlesbrough, monitors in a central location watch the cameras
and interact with the public through microphones. According to the
BBC, these are being extended to 20 additional areas across Britain,
and are being implemented to prevent fights and reduce litter.

The BBC also states that Britain already has more than 4.2 million
standard CCTV cameras installed across the country, that’s one camera
for every 10 individuals, with more going in every day.

Restricting freedoms because of fears and guilt is not the answer.

Even in America, knee-jerk reactionaries across the country call for
restricted freedoms whenever tragedy occurs.

Irrational fears of other cultures, tragedy, and littering are part
of a free and open society, something we except in order to maintain
individual liberty.

Europeans would be better served by exercising freedoms to inform,
convince and educate those who disagree or deny.

Draconian sentences for these thoughtcrimes combined with prevalent
monitoring only exacerbate the problem by stifling debate and
eliminating liberty.