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I ask this because 1984 is popular, sales and allusions to it spike in the midst of security controversies and bills like SOPA, and people claim that Big Brother will ensure that you personally get sent on a one way trip to FEMA camps.

So I want to know, do you think that America (or anywhere else in the world that isn't already like that like North Korea) is in danger of being the dystopia depicted in the book or is this just hyperbole?

Woah woah woah, that's quite a claim right there. First off, no one can predict the future. All this is entirely possible.

Now that that's said, I'd say we're still far from it. While the government and certain agencies are making questionable moves, total control is not imminent and would most likely be noticeable. If they are passing laws that are generally unfavorable and met with negative backlash, something will be done. The point of government is to serve the people. A failed government is when they begin to serve themselves. The United States has corruption as with any nation, but most of the bills and legislature past have intent. A purpose to strengthen and enforce existing policies, or perhaps to fix a few holes in the law.

Voice won't be ignored, think of situations like LGBT rights or feminism. We here a lot about it no? Society and politics run in a certain way that people will point out the flaws in order to improve everyone's life as a whole. Not everything is addressed and improved, but at least we hear the opposition.

We want to be seen as happy and prospering people. The United States is without doubt a superpower, influence stretching across the world, billions of people know the name. If people, especially leaders and those with power begin hearing of sketchy actions, then our public image begins to deteriorate. Not saying everyone sees the US as a wonderful paradise, but it's respectable. This would be more damaging to us than helping. Sure we may have increased security, but what good is that if a major superpower is noted as a potential autocracy?

Think of Nazi Germany slowly annexing or occupying other lands. Nations began to cut off ties with them, and even go as far as war. Now these to situations are vastly different, but the idea is that security is a major issue and that we as a collective people can and will speak out. The US won't turn into a totalitarian dictatorship overnight.

edits: grammar, structuring, spelling, etc

> FEMA camps

As far as I know SOPA was just about stopping copyright infringement/piracy, not spying on people and sending them to the ministry of love. As for things like NSA spying that kind of thing goes on all over the place, not just the US.

The bill of rights also protects things that were outlawed in 1984 like free speech, right to bear arms, and religion so those cannot be made illegal. Furthermore a third of all Americans own guns and plenty of people are more than willing to use them against the government (just look at the militia movement) and there would be public outrage over the removal of personal freedoms. So while you may have the government doing shady things like suspending habeas corpus, those aren't really widespread events and don't really happen to the general public.

@Gary
think of Russia Nazi Germany slowly annexing countries.

@Starscream

The weird thing about Russia and Ukraine is that it's a "regional conflict". I do think it should get more attention, but the media covers things based on interest and sales. Like the Islamic State over Boko Haram, ebola over things like malaria. Russia just isn't "relevant" or "interesting". They'll talk about it, but audiences prefer things that are more directed towards them or their nation.

I'd say that, even with all scandals included, we in the so-called First World are actually more truly free than any other point in human history. And that's almost entirely thanks to the internet, which has allowed for unprecedented levels of free expression in every shape and kind over the last twenty years. There are really only two things in the future that could put a serious threat to this:
1. Some kind of nightmarish technology that would make George Orwell's vision look like a Saturday morning cartoon. For example, a satellite that could zap people's brains across a large area and make them think exactly what the user (read: the government) wanted them to think. Is this possible? Absolutely. Is it likely to be developed while kept in relative secrecy until it's too late for us to do something? Probably not. The combination of the sheer number of people that would have to be involved in a project of that magnitude and its massive controversy would mean that, in my projection, the information would leak pretty quickly.
2. Subsequent generations that are totally willing to hand over civil and political freedoms. As for the current ones: Did you see what happened with SOPA? But ultimately, predicting the distant future, especially when it comes to humanity, is nigh-impossible. I guess we'll just have to do the best we can in educating the youngest among us.

Image is broken.

as for SOPA part of the backlash from the bill was the result of it being seen as a way to censor anything from "innocent" fanworks to competing sites, and some of these fears show up in more security-related bills like the CISPA. SOPA itself could be seen as allowing the NSA, among others to incriminate anyone for any reason under that premise. (key word if "Could be").

as for the NSA, they are the most infamous for spying in recent memory.

I'm aware that FEMA camps are BS, that was just an example I used. I guess the point of the discussion is more like: is everything citing 1984 a conspiracy theory, a slippery slope fallacy that that makes things seem worse then they are (And no I can say that SOPA was a POS from the start). Is it over-hyping dangers that may not even exist?

>As for the current ones: Did you see what happened with SOPA?

Yes, I was aware of SOPA for quite some time. I know of the nigh-unanimous, bipartisan backlash against it (I myself didn't like the bill) and how the internet effectively defeated the bill.

Image not broken you poop

Okay then I guess my browser didn't like the page the image was hosted, sorry.

Off-topic.

Avast detected one of the pictures on this thread as a virus.

That might explain why I didn;t see it.

Anyway let's get back on topic, shall we?

…is this just hyperbole?

This. The only way I could see something like that happening is a total apocalypse like in Fallout where there's a massive and sudden shift in society and how the world works. There's all sorts of silly /pol/ happenings. The FEMA camps, The DHS buying tons of ammo, etc.

I think we're actually farther away today. FDR probably brought us the closest. He banned the private ownership of gold and had people arrested and imprisoned if they didn't turn it over to the government. He tried to rig the Supreme Court and fill it with his judges who'd never defy his ideas. He had people placed in internment camps because of their ethnicity, directly going against several amendments of the Constitution (which the Supreme Court allowed because they let fear trump the law).

Our modern controversies pale in comparison.

Lord Starscream The Conversationalist said:

The bill of rights also protects things that were outlawed in 1984 like free speech, right to bear arms, and religion so those cannot be made illegal.

It's amazing how easily the Constitution becomes useless. The best way to take over the US is by taking over the Supreme Court. If there was ever a dystopia, it would have to start with SCOTUS.