Orwell’s ‘Telescreen’, the RFID Chip and the Future of Television

Here are a few things happening in 2012 that should make the world wince. We are handing over our rights and freedoms to the governments and the elite in the world on a daily basis in mostly total ignorance and apathy. We think we are informed, educated and concerned but it is mainly an illusion.

Thanks to an average of 30 hours per week watching the television we are basically being mind controlled. Television tells us what to believe, how to act and progressively by the day, how we should feel. It is the perfect instrument for controlling millions and billions of people around the world. Notice that even the people living in poverty can still afford to buy a cheap television. Some may even buy a wide screen TV and sit there for hours being programmed.

In his book, 1984, which George Orwell wrote in 1948, television was just begining to emerge in places like New York City. In the 50’s, people in Canada started watching one or two channels in black and white, and people starting coming on board. In our home, my father held out until 1960 when he went out and bought a 17 inch black and white RCA.

Of course, if you read 1984, you will discover that Orwell’s ‘telescreen’ was actually a device that not only received a signal but transmitted a signal also. That means that beside sitting in your living room watching a program on the ‘telescreen’, the device could also transmit a signal to whomever is out there sitting at a terminal watching the watchers.

Most people who read and studied 1984 while at school read it as an imaginative story. But did anyone actually believe that most of the plot would be played out in the future? Did teachers discuss the directions that society needed to take to avoid a dystopia, a dark future and basically a police state. I think not.

It is precisely because we have been asleep at the switch that the world is being controlled to the extent that it is. The pyramid of control is getting steeper and steeper, which means that ‘the few’ control ‘the many’. Watch the movie V for Vendetta and you’ll see the operation of a brutal police state in its full glory. The movie is closer to the truth than most people want to believe.

How could ‘information officers’ use the television as an instrument of surveillance? Do we really believe that the technology to spy on people doesn’t already exist? If we lived in London, England, we would be on surveillance cameras almost 40 times in one day as we moved around the community. Perhaps soon our flat screen televisions will have a small, integrated camera to be used ‘in emergencies for our personal security and safety.’ How would we know?

Look at the use of RFID commonly referred to as ‘spychips.’ RFID has been marketed (using television of course) as a way to keep track of your pet dog or cat, since the chip emits a signal. Sounds benign. However, a school board in California just initiated a pilot project to enforce RFID bracelets for all students, and parents are outraged. How much longer before the boards require all students to be microchipped? 

Microchipping is a topic for another day but remember that the chips not only send but receive a signal. That is why the controllers use soldiers as guinea pigs for ‘testing’. The controllers can send signals to the microchips which in fact can control behaviour. They affect parts of the brain, can change moods, levels of agression — just imagine the possibilities.

Keep in mind also that many of the clothing manufacturers use RFID tags to track the movement of their merchandise. Every time you walk in to Wal-Mart, a card reader can pick up the ‘chip’ on your new credit card, and Wal-Mart knows instantly who is walking in to their store. This is all part of 21st century marketing which is removing our privacy by the day.

The interesting picture at the top of this page was the motivation for writing this article. In my view television is robbing us in so many ways and I resist it whenever I can. Days, even weeks in some cases will pass by, and I can find other, more interesting things to do which are better for my spirit and my personal sense of worth.

I have a difficult time watching all the daily violence on the screen, the mindless reality shows, the depressing news stories and the trivialization of things that really matter.

It’s a personal decision that everyone has to make. But if you have young children, do them one of the best favours you can do for them. Keep them away from television.