Newspeak: 1984

The concept of "newspeak" in 1984 is one that involves the elimination of "unnecessary" words for the purpose of eradicating the thoughts that usually accompany those words. It all comes down to fear. Because language has been downsized, eventually people will have no memory of the old words. And because of this, if one is feeling a certain way, there is no longer a word to express the feeling. Controlling language in this way leads people to think that their feelings are not justified or real. If words do not exist for an action, one is unable to perform the action. If words do not exist for a thought or concept, one is unable to think about complex matters. Elimination of words ultimately puts all control into the Thought Police's, and the Party's, hands because people are less able to rebel or to challenge authority.
Although I can think of no individual or group who has attempted to eliminate all connotations of words, I can think of some instances in which language has been "minimized." First of all, language has naturally downsized since the nineteenth century. Poetry that could be easily understood then is no longer as easily understood now because certain words are not commonly used in today's society. Second of all, rappers and other "hip" celebrities have succeeded in getting many people to use slang words in place of more elaborate and classy words. This minimizes one's language in that these slang words have so many connotations that one can use them in a multitude of situations. Because of this, many other words are believed to be no longer cool or necessary to convey a message. 1984's concept of "newspeak" may not be much of a reality in our society; however, influencial figures unknowingly encourage this concept at times.

Cloning: Playing God

I do not agree with the concept of cloning at all. As was mentioned in the video by people who are anti-cloning (most often people with strong religious beliefs), to clone is to play God. Some argue that therapeutic cloning, as discussed in the video, can come in handy when one needs an organ transplant. Or there is the continual argument that "skin cells are not living beings, therefore we are not ending lives." But just because we have the technology to do something does not mean we should. "Playing God" may help people to have healthy children, but when people start manipulating features of those healthy children it becomes dangerous. As was mentioned in both the video and the article, people choosing genes for their children (possibly clones of themselves) is dangerous because our society may end up with a lack of diversity. A genocide may even occur due to the stark contrast in groups of genetically engineered "individuals." Yes, cloning may help to a certain degree, but to clone is to meddle with a concept that was never meant to be meddled with. I'm not sure how I feel about stem cells being lives, but I do know that if we clone in any way, it may get out of hand. How would one feel if our society was full of blond-haired, blue-eyed people who all lacked something special that nature would have given them had they not manipulated it? If a parent manipulates genes or clones, they may produce the most handsome boy in the world, but what if he had been able to cure cancer had they not manipulated his genes? As the video discusses, all cloning does is turn people into products. If cloning is not stopped, who knows how far we will go and how much damage we will inflict upon ourselves. And at that point it may be too late; Nature will have "engineered" a plan of its own by then.

Customary Class Conflicts: Elimination or Acceptance?

Karl Marx thought that class conflict is inevitable in a capitalist society; capitalists strive to protect capitalism and to oppress the lower classes for maximum profit and workers struggle to abolish capitalism due to the fact that they are manipulated against their own best interests. Before reading the article on Karl Marx, I had never quite looked at capitalists and workers in this way. I definitely agree that conflict is inevitable due to stark differences in needs between both classes. Capitalists are so hungry for profit that they do not tend to notice those whom they are taking advantage of. And workers are busy despising capitalists for treating them like machines. This gap just continues to widen until a happy medium is no longer feasible. Unhappiness, as is apparent in capitalism, is the predecessor for conflict.
The World State's view of class in Brave New World is directly correlated to Karl Marx's point of view. In Brave New World, people are conditioned before birth to belong to a certain class level in society, and they are conditioned to genuinely appreciate their role. By subjecting "people" early on to certain stresses that will need to be tolerated later on in life, they become much more comfortable and successful under these stresses. In addition, people in each class must listen to recordings while they sleep that tell them what to believe and what to feel. This conditioning is all carried out in order to prevent the class conflict that would inevitably occur if people were unhappy with their "ranking."

Health Care: Universally Important

After watching Sicko, Dead Meat, and reading "Michael Moore and the Beige Bomber," I have come to believe that the United States has a corrupt and destructive health care system that must be fixed or replaced in order to preserve the health, and even sanity, of our nation and its people. Although Michael Moore presents an excellent argument in Sicko, providing examples of how universal health care has prevailed in France and other countries in Europe, it may be best to work on reform, as the "Beige Bomber" article argues. Yes, no one is required to pay for health care in France, yet taxes are extremely high for other things. And in China, where free universal health care reigns, doctors and hospitals are sliding into the pit of debt. In addition, places such as Canada have dangerously long waiting lists for medical procedures just because they have a "universal system." There is usually a silver lining to every cloud, but one must not forget the cloud itself. In all aforementioned cases, the cloud is comprised of long waits, debt, and high taxes. This should logically bring one to the conclusion that our health care system needs to be reformed. As Sicko shows, an American, or any person for that matter, should not be denied health insurance based on a preexisting condition, he or she should not have to move in with children because of medical debts, and no one should have to die because of these decisions. The deaths that do occur occur because health insurance companies want to make maximum profit. And essentially killing others for profit is so anti-American that it can make one "sick." The best thing for our country to do is to reform our health care system (completely abolishing it will only cause more problems). The most important lesson, in the bigger scheme of things, that we can learn from those countries with universal health care is not universal health care in itself but rather the not-for-profit care that they provide their citizens. That is the best health care of all.