McGrath, well, yes -- but physical terror is a presence in the world of 1984 in a way that no white middle class American experiences. Winston achieves transcendent love of Big Brother only after long imprisonment, starvation, torture -- there's really no corollary to this in the modern US.

So there is quite a substantive difference between the Stalinist model Orwell drew on and the current US "democracy" -- neither torture, nor even the implicit threat of torture, have proven necessary to achieve near total control. Nor has overt censorship -- information is, of course, strictly controlled by omission from mainstream sources, but we're free to pick up a copy of Z magazine, attend a Chomsky lecture, or vote for Ralph Nader, without fear of imprisonment and torture.

enh, why should I care -- I have my nine bean rows, and a hive for the honey bee. That may be the ultimate question -- is there something essential in human consciousness that demands social justice. Orwell seemed to think so, in 1984 he has the party go to considerable effort to beat it out of Winston.