I think it's more in the UK, but there are people who don't remember back to even before the last election, people who don't know who Tony Bliar is, people to whom reality TV is more important than finding out with whom we are at war... and this is encouraged by the media and the government. (Also, Islam isn't a religion, just a collection of "bad guys and terrorists" which really annoys and upsets me.) In my age group (I still class myself as "early 20s") there are people who don't understand why they should vote, or think that voting is just a popularity contest, like on reality TV. They don't understand it affects their lives! And yes, if I can trace exactly what my DH spends via the on-line bank, then how do we know others can't do the same? I really don't trust our government enough not to.

Having said that, I'm sure there's a portion of the UK who think we're still at war with the Germans, so maybe it's just a generational thing and the same types of people will, in their 60s, still be "at war" with the Middle East and not trust any Muslims. My FiL, for example, won't eat any food that's from France or Germany; he will also not travel outside the UK "just in case". He's such a Rosbif - OK, I'm not French but he really is! I think the 1984 world has eliminated the intelligensia and been populated with people like that (not that FiL is thick, far from it, but just the small-minded attitudes he often has) and the people who think that voting is a popularity contest, quite easy to do really. TB and his cronies are trying to do that to the UK.

As for the ending... the last line just stays with me forever. Up there with the last line in Tolkein's The Two Towers for most haunting last lines ever. I hadn't read the book for almost 10 years and could still remember that line and how scary it was.