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Comment by arethuza | Hacker News Reader

Wasn't it just party members who had telescreens? Most people (i.e the proles) posed no threat to the Inner Party and therefore weren't monitored that closely.

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The proles were less monitored, but there were telescreens hidden everywhere in the city just in case.

Besides why have telescreens, when children ratting out their parents are the most effective soln.? That’s what scares me the most of the next twenty years.

>That’s what scares me the most of the next twenty years.

Explain, please.

Kids speak the truth.

Sometimes the truth they say can get ppl in trouble.

That still doesn't make sense. Why is that the thing that scares you the most in the next 20 years?

Because such tactics were already successfully used in the past -- WW2 Germany, and post-WW2 Soviet Union. And they were quite effective, too. Seeing as the world is moving into another dystopian era, the same mechanisms can be employed again, this time enhanced by the electronic surveilance too.

Even just a single fraction of it -- a mandatory (at least where I live) cellphone, with permanent location tracking by the service providers is scary enough right now.

It's been a few years since I read it but I remember them going to the woods where they hoped they would be out of the reach of microphones, so I assume monitoring devices were fairly ubiquitous.

Or they're looking for telescreen-free areas in places where they're supposed to be: party members slumming it in prole areas would not be normal and proper (at least beyond basic black market stuff)

Yes, the "proles" mostly live in poverty, and while they can purchase telescreens they're not explicitly kept down, being mostly kept in poverty and entertained.

The party keeps an eye on the behaviour of the masses (and will take out possible leaders arising) but there is no individual oversight.

You may be right. It's over 30 years since I read it. Seems to be a good idea to reread it, though.

Read Brave New World too.

I liked Brave New World better. I read it a few years ago and honestly it felt like it was just talking about present times.

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