If novelist George Orwell were alive today I wonder what he would tell us
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I told you so.
That’s what George Orwell would say if he could visit our world, 75 years after he wrote his final novel, "1984."
Orwell sought to demonstrate the dangers not just of totalitarianism but of a world where words lose their meaning. Many of the terms he coined for the novel have since entered common discourse -- "thought police," "Big Brother," "doublethink," and the "memory hole," to name a few. And of course the adjective "Orwellian" comes to us because of this book. All of them point to the loss of our most precious freedom -- freedom of thought. And unfortunately, that’s where we as a society appear to be headed today.
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The setting for "1984" is a dysfunctional, decaying London torn apart after the "atomic wars" of the 1950s and 1960s reshaped the planet into just three primary nation-states. Oceania (London and the West) remains in a permanent state of war, sometimes with Eastasia, sometimes with Eurasia. It doesn’t really matter, as long as there’s an external enemy to hate.
"1984" author George Orwell (ullstein bild via Getty Images)
War is a constant in the novel, although the enemy changes at the whim of the rulers. Same thing in our world. During the 1980s, we armed the Mujahadeen to weaken the Soviet Union and turn Afghanistan into Moscow’s Vietnam. Then came 9/11, and the "freedom fighters" who had helped topple Communism were now our enemy. In the West, everyone applauded the switch without a second thought. Orwell was right -- as long as we’re at war somewhere, the citizenry doesn’t seem to mind. We even like it!
Today’s version of Big Brother, of course, propagated and strengthened by social media, is cancel culture.
Even the name Department of Defense sounds like something out of "1984." Formerly the more accurately named Department of War, the DoD received its new title in 1949, just a year after the publication of "1984." What exactly we were "defending" for two decades in Afghanistan is anyone’s guess, aside from possibly the stock prices of Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and Halliburton.
Winston Smith, the reluctant hero of "1984," has a job rewriting newspaper articles and editorials after their subjects have been tortured and killed by the government. Then every trace of them in print disappears, courtesy of the efforts of Smith and his co-workers.
Today’s version of Big Brother, of course, propagated and strengthened by social media, is cancel culture. Say or do the wrong thing at work, on campus, or online just once and you risk being erased, losing your job, and disappearing down the memory hole, just like Smith’s ill-fated colleagues in "1984." Orwell would have recognized cancel culture for what it was -- a tyranny of thought. He probably would have fallen victim to it himself for protesting against it.
The first step toward totalitarianism is allowing other people to think for us or to redefine words so that their real meanings are lost. If we aren’t careful, freedom itself, as Orwell would have said, will slide right down the memory hole.
In the novel, Big Brother’s regime has three main divisions -- the Ministry of Peace, which ironically wages the above-referenced constant war; the Ministry of Plenty, which oversees never-ending famine; and the Ministry of Love, which houses the government’s extensive torture apparatus. In Room 101 of the Ministry of Love, enemies of the state undergo torture individually crafted to break their spirits and make them love Big Brother.
Today, we don’t torture people (I hope). Instead, like Big Brother’s government, we torture the meaning of words, so that they mean whatever we want them to mean, in order to advance our own political agendas. Today, words mean something that was never part of their original definitions. But nobody complains.
Orwell saw that one coming, too.
The regime in Orwell’s novel maintained its grip on society by manipulating emotions, with daily "Two Minute Hate" sessions and the occasional "Hate Week." Today, as our social media and Facebook feeds polarize us, we no longer "agree to disagree" as in the past. People on the other side of an argument aren’t just wrong; they’re evil. These days, we spend a lot more than two minutes hating others.
"Telescreens," ubiquitous in "1984," are two-way TV screens that monitor behavior and give orders to people, in their homes and offices, even during mandatory exercise sessions ("Bend down further, Smith! Touch your toes!"). Orwell might not have imagined the Internet, but these days, screens are everywhere. While the government may not be monitoring your behavior (although who knows?), advertisers certainly are. Big Brother may not be watching you, but Big Business is.
LILLE, FRANCE - NOVEMBER 21: Protestor holds a sign readin "Big brother is watching you" in reference to Orwell's book "1984" as they demonstrate at Republique Square of Lille in protest to the French Government's proposed global security law bill on November 21, 2020 in Lille, France. ((Photo by Sylvain Lefevre/Getty Images))
In the novel, Winston rents a bedroom without a telescreen where he trysts with a young woman, a member in name only of the "Anti-Sex League." Smith is ratted out when he foolishly assumes a colleague is a member of the (anti-Big Brother) Brotherhood. Smith is tortured and brainwashed into giving up his rebellious nature and his freedom of thought. Ultimately, to his everlasting shame, or at least to ours, he comes to love Big Brother.
Put it all together and today we have a society that’s...dare I say it...downright Orwellian. You and I may not consciously love Big Brother. But the first step toward totalitarianism is allowing other people to think for us or to redefine words so that their real meanings are lost.
If we aren’t careful, freedom itself, as Orwell would have said, will slide right down the memory hole. We won’t even remember what we meant when we used to say let freedom ring.
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New York Times bestselling author Michael Levin runs www.MichaelLevinWrites.com, a book ghostwriting firm.
