Why I Think Big Brother Would Fail

Just got done reading 1984, and it was quite a book. All things considered, I do believe that Big Brother would ultimately fail. I believe that it would take several generations and probably several centuries, but I do believe that it would in the end.

I have two or three main reasons for this. The first is that the dumbing down of the populace means that it would not take long before there are few, if any, people left to fix the technology that Big Brother depends upon.

The second is that the overall culture was one that was rapidly devolving into debauchery and cruelty. There is even a frank admission that the Inner Party is obsessed with power. It is not the traits of the first or second generation that one need worry about, but the traits of later generations where such things become dangerous. Cruelty and obsession with power in the hands of the stupid means that they will likely exercise no self-control, which means that they will likely starve whole swathes of the population, murder others, and ultimately waste resources until there are none left.

Another reason is that when obsession with power and stupidity are both the highest virtues in the land, it is only a matter of time before the ruling party falls in on itself. Greed and thirst for power has ever supplanted the worship of deity in human history; why would one expect exultation of Big Brother to be any different? Seeing that exultation for Big Brother will likely not stop such a thing, we can see through the course of human history that empires based on such things always fail.

My final reason is that the arrogance of the Party is obviously to the point of insanity. And this is a prime reason that Big Brother would ultimately fail, I think. In generations to come, this arrogance will be bound up in the stupid, and they will likely grow lazy, content, and lax. It is this inevitable lax attitude that I think would allow squabbles within the Inner Party and its ultimate failure.

All these things are lessons that could be averted with a careful study of history and knowledge of human nature. But in a society where history changes every day, these lessons could never be properly studied and applied.