The Rise of the Proletariat

You will be familiar with the horror of Orwell's famous 1984 novel. The nightmare vision of an oppressive society where members of the Inner and Outer Party are subject to constant surveillance and restriction of liberty.

The central character, Winston, is a member of the Outer Party, who are subservient to the requirements of the Inner Party and subject to relentless oppression. You will recall that the split of the general population in this order is approximately 5% Inner Party 15% Outer Party and 80% Proletariat.

Of course the Proletariat were too illiterate, ignorant and too busy getting stoned and giving each other syphillis for the Inner Party to bother subjecting them to the elaborate surveillance methods foisted on the Outer Party. The 'Proles' were content merely to stew in their own filth and whilst massively outnumbering the Inner Party elite, posed no threat to their continued dominant position.

Recently (within the last 9 months), I have subscribed to social software sites Bebo and Facebook. This experience (particularly Bebo) has led me to believe that our society is proceeding speedily to a level of lumpen proletarianism in proportion to that in Orwell's novel.

I have been scolded by a few friends for posting "political shite" on my Bebo page, and told politely that "Bebo is for fun no boring political shite". I am talking CHomsky-esque stuff here, about the easily observed contempt with which Captialist Governments treat their working class populations. Nothing spectacularly controversial or inflammotary such as 'Brits out of Ireland Now' or 'Blair is war criminal'.

Ironically in the course of one of these conversations, the person offering me the benefit of their "wisdom" proceeded to embark, without a trace of irony, on a fairly tedious whinge on the fact that the management team in his workplace were given bonuses achieved on the back of the workers' performance. I was also informed that "unions arenae worth a fuck", as if a union is a service such as dry cleaning, whereby you pay your money, sit back and someone else does some work on your behalf. Divide and Rule right enough.

You will perhaps consider this a strange source for political philosophy, but I recall a passage from a U2 biography, now safely ensconsced in my loft, where lead singer Bono, quotes someone [I wish I remember who] who observed that under Capitalism, individuals identify themselves by what they consume, not by what they contribute i.e. I am a Westlife fan, I watch Coronation Street, I drink Tennent's lager etc.

Another feature of 1984 was 'Newspeak'. This was a process of systematically discarding words from the vocabularly year on year, thereby ostensibly restricting the ability of the population to articulate and ultimately to think for themselves. How do express resentment when you have no word for it?

I may be accused of being a Grammar Fascist, but the recent trend for young people to communicate by 'txt language' seems worryingly remiscent of this Orwellian vision. OK, obviously this is not a state sponsored assault on our ability to communicate and philosophise, but perhaps one inflicted by the economy of technology.

I am perhaps being arrogant, but I sometimes consider that if this authoritarian society existed today, I would number in the Outer Party, ahead of the Proles. However, this is not altogether a comforting thought. Perhaps I should drop the Noam Chomsky posts and concentrate on posting about how shite Gary Caldwell is!

I've been thinking about this for some time now, but I would like to tell you about the trigger that prompted me to put this stream of consciousness on the blog today. A few days ago, I came across a person on Facebook with the same name as someone I used to work with but with no profile photo. With no way of telling id this was the same person, I decided to contact him through a friend invite and was accepted in due course. Turns out the guy in question is not actually the person I thought he might be.

However, I decided to have a quick nosey at his profile and was struck by the sheer mind-numbing mediocre banality of the information therein. Someone actually thought this stuff was worth sharing with the world. This fella is 20 years old, not 12 believe it or not, however he is by no means a unique example :

Personal Info

Interests: TOWN N CIN TIESTO. FUTI N GOLF NW N AGAIN. BETTING

Favorite Music:: TIESTO CNT BEAT THE KID

Favorite TV Shows:BENIDORM LOVE IT. N CORIE, EASTENDERS. APPRENTISEN ANY FUTI

Favorite Movies: DONT RELI WATCH THEM GET BORED BUT WE WER SOLDIERS GUD LOOK CHUK FUTI TACTORY N BLACK HAWK DOWN R ALRYT

Favorite Books: NEVA RELI READ APART FROM PAPER AT WORK N THAT

Favorite Quotes: DUN NO RELI

About Me: NEVA NO WOT TO SAY RELI I WORK IN MANSFIELD DOIN JOINERY FOR MILLER HOMES DUN ME 3 YR AT COL ENJOY IT IN SUMMER BUT CRAP IN WINTER BUT STICK WI IT COZ GUD MONEY SO I CN SPEND IT AL AT WEEKEND ON SHIT

I find women are even more prone them men to utter banality.

Here is my photofit Female Bebo profile (25 years+):

Interests = Shopping, TV, dancing.
Music = Westlife, Robbie.
Movies = Dirty Dancing, Pretty Woman
TV = Corrie, Eastenders, X Factor [rotate with pishy 'reality' show of the moment]
Books = None. Heat magazine at a push (occassionally Jordan's biography)
About me = I am mad me. I love a laugh and a dance and a drink wi ma pals.

Oh well... back to my fascinating and uplifting socio-political research into how the oil is running out and the elites are going to fuck as all in the resource wars of the 21st century!