Why is there a big brother figure being mentioned and who or what is it referring to?

847 views

In [this whistleblowing post](https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/c1mmq6/hong_kong_police_arrested_protesters_after/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app) that talks about arrests being made to hospitalized protesters in Hong Kong through a backdoor, someone in the comments [states that big brother is watching](https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/c1mmq6/hong_kong_police_arrested_protesters_after/erebzcb/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app). Can someone explain who or what this big brother figure is like I’m five?

In: Other

6 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

It comes originally from a book by George Orwell called 1984, which is set in a dystopian society where the state is always watching the citizens and the citizens are reminded that the state is watching them with signs all over the place stating that big brother is watching you, where big brother is the state security apparatus.

Anonymous 0 Comments

It is a reference to a book named “1984” by *George Orwell*. It describes a dystopian future in which a fascist government has taken over the UK and is in total control of live in the country. One of the features of the totalitarian state is the omnipresent surveillance.

In the book it is described with the slogan “Big Brother is watching you!” Where big Brother is the name given to a potentially fictional leader of the party that controls everything.

The book gave us many words to describe attempts to create a world as the one described in the book.

People speak of Orwellian surveillance when they think it is similar to what the writer described in his book.

People also speak of “Newspeak” and “memory-holes” to describe the way that some fascist and totalitarian regimes have controlled language and history as it was known to their people.

People use the phrase “Big Brother is watching you” to reference the surveillance state described in the book where the government is watching everyone ever move.

“Big Brother” has become synonymous with some entity that engages in mass surveillance.

Anonymous 0 Comments

It is a reference to the George Orwell novel, _[1984](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four)_, where in an alternate future (at the time) Great Britian was part of a highly oppressive totalitarian state known as Oceania. Oceania was “ruled” by the Party, whos leader was a figure known as “Big Brother”, a Stalin-esque looking man who may or may not have actually existed, but was the “face” of the Party. One of the most notable aspects of this state was the constant surveillance the citizens were under (to the point of having surveillance devices in every home, business and public square) and the criminalization of even _thinking_ things that the Party disliked (known as thought-crime in the book).

_1984_ and the Big Brother mascot are symbols people invoke to talk about the dangers of oppressive regimes and the slippery slope of criminalizing dissenting options.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Big brother refers to a controlling government that abuses power, neglects civil liberties, and has mass surveillance on the citizens. See Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four novel.

Anonymous 0 Comments

He represents the government conducting constant surveillance. A figure from the famous novel *1984* by George Orwell.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Brother_(Nineteen_Eighty-Four)

Anonymous 0 Comments

“Big brother” usually refers to an oppressive government watching everything you say/do through spying, essentially, so they can nail you for what amounts to thought crimes.