Letter to Editor by George Fry

Did Orwell have a crystal ball? Was Orwell a shaman, did he have a crystal ball or perhaps he just had a wild nightmare.

News flash, dateline present, you are being watched.

A few days ago, a small town’s school kids were lucky enough to receive brand new computers. With joy the computers were welcomed and put right to use. The vision of no child left behind was coming to fruition; someone certainly was nice, to think of these children.

As it turns out, one or two of the computers came up missing, or so we are told. The school had a little secret: they were able to remotely turn on the cameras, which are standard, conveniently built in to the computers.

This probably would have gone unnoticed, but while the school officials were looking for the stolen “gifts from the gods” they saw a child taking and perhaps sharing drugs. The computer had a drug addict using it.

The next part was unclear, but basically the drug addict probably knew where the stolen computers were.

The boy was confronted, and it came to be known the drugs were simply candy, something a child can buy at the store. The school was wrong, plus they invaded the boys home unwelcome.

As cameras, computers, and dragonfly size spying devices make our lives more enjoyable, easier, and safer; are we becoming an Orwellian type of society?

With the threat of terrorism being jammed down our throats; we have let the government listen to our phone calls, x-ray our bodies, and freely enter our homes if they deem it necessary.

In the name of safety, we let municipalities put up cameras in public areas. How long will it be until we are told by remote control “you did not exercise today”, or “ we know you’re not sick, get to work now.”

Perhaps this is just paranoia, or perhaps little “Billy getting busted” was just the start of something dark and ugly. How far will the powers that be go, to control how we live?

Cash money is quickly being replaced  with plastic substitutes. We gladly save a dollar and let the groceries track what we consume. We fill out consumer surveys in order to win prizes, etc.

Will this idea of progression be our undoing, and does anyone really care? We walk by each other without a hello; we peer from behind window blinds unwilling to get involved.

Do we even know the people that live beside us? How far will this go? Did Orwell have a time machine?

George Fry

food science senior