The year was approximately 2005 or 2006. I was reading 1984 because it was named after the year of my birth. I knew nothing about it. At this time, Chávez was taking the first measures to turn the country into a socialist nation. I knew nothing about politics. I knew nothing.
And I was still friends with my socialist British friend.
I found 1984 by George Orwell to be the scariest book ever written. Things like this hadn't happened yet:
But I have always been good at arriving at the right conclusions from very few clues. I knew what was coming. I was unable to escape due to very personal circumstances, but I saw it coming.
A thing that remained in my brain as a sharp needle pinching me senseless, tho, was claim made by Winston Smith, main character of Orwell's. At a point in the novel, he watches a fat woman, member of the proles, hanging the laundry while singing some stupid song. However, he was struck by the beauty of her voice and by the creativity she used in rendering what had been created as a mass-production piece of garbage. He was quick to point out that because of that, hope was in the proles. He thought that they were the most free-spirited and capable of rising against Big Brother.
I, on the other hand, thought that was bullshit, and I still think that Orwell failed to realize the paradox he introduced by creating that scene. Sure, the members of the prole are "free" in that their lives are the most uncontrolled but Winston didn't originate from the proles. Not a single member of the proles created a diary and as soon as the Party found about the woman they crushed her sans resistance. It was Winston and Julia who endured mental torture and who had to be broken in order for Big Brother to survive.
A similar situation happens here in Venezuela. The proles are praised as hard-working and poor and the rich and middle class are treated like shit. But it was the middle class and the rich who warned about the dangers of Chavism. Not a single member of the poor (of the really poor) have risen against the government. They just keep meekly asking the government to please give them something and in return they will vote for the government.
This is why I will never rise against the government. There is no point in making myself another martyr for the pile.
I told my socialist ex friend about this and he of course, poisoned by the idea of the proles as being good and perfect, said that he agreed with Orwell.
Time proved me right. Pity it's not him suffering the consequences of choosing socialism. I duly hope that one day he does and no-one listens to him as he refused to listen to me.