Big Brother Is Watching!

I recently ran across and interesting article on the 'C.B.C.s' website. In the article, U.S. tightens screening of Canadians with visas, the author describes an new fingerprint scanning procedure that the U.S. department of homeland security is introducing. Recently at work, management had a thumbprint scanner installed to get rid of the current system of swiping a card. Every day I see or hear about new technology that have a distinctly Orwellian look or feel to them.

It has been years since I have read George Orwell's '1984' but I still vividly recall the moral behind the novel. Granted that '2 + 2 = 5' in the novel, in reality it seems as though we are getting closer and closer to having two way screens in our living room that some unknown and unseen agent can check up on us. Is Orwell's grim fictional tale of the future becoming fact in our society?

With the introduction of the European Union, one of my first thoughts was a quote from Orwell's 1984, "Big Brother is watching you!" I've read articles that a similar system is to be introduced here on the North American continent, the North American Union (N.A.U.). Shades of these two unions were foretold in Orwell's book. It's amazing that a book written in 1948 could have so much impact on todays world. Just try to remember, "Big Brother is watching."