1984, George Orwell, author
Because of the current political environment, in this year 2020, I decided to reread 1984 when it was recommended by a friend. Decades had passed since my first reading. At first, I thought that this book would not be as impressive as it was when 1984 still loomed large as a time in the future and was not actually part of the past, as it is now. However, after rereading it, I realized it might be more frightening today, because so many of the author’s predictions have actually come to fruition. Many of the policies that were so terrifying in the book are more terrifying in the here and now.
With my first reading, I was impressed with the author’s imagination, with his ability to project himself into a fantasy world in which there was absolutely no privacy, a place that wanted its citizenry to be completely controlled in thought and actions by Big Brother, a place where neighbors, children, and friends were encouraged to spy on each other and turn each other in, to the authorities, for real or imagined infractions, a place in which those in charge controlled knowledge in order to control the people, a place where the state could listen in to all your conversations, watch your interactions 24/7 on a telescreen in your home and in the streets, predict what you were thinking, and then, demand strict obedience to the rules on pain of arrest, torture, punishment and even death.
As a victim, one would have no recourse. Once caught or denounced, a shroud of secrecy would envelop you. No one would know or care what was happening to you because real relationships were frowned upon. There was no escape. There was only one possibility, confession, brainwashing to change your thoughts, and possibly, if you could not be coerced to alter your thinking and behavior, you could be executed. The state used fear, terror and pain to control you. You might be starved, beaten or tortured with the most barbaric methods, until you submitted, until you gave yourself to Big Brother. His justice was the only justice. He was omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent. His henchmen were blindly devoted and carried out their orders without question. They had been completely brainwashed into serving the state.
It was as if the insane were considered sane and vice versa. The insane were in charge, and they made all the rules. Everything was backwards. The Ministry of Peace waged wars, the Ministry of Truth disseminated lies and rewrote history, erasing all traces of any evidence to the contrary by removing all those who might remember events that they wanted erased, the Ministry of Happiness forbade all forms of entertainment and contact that brought one happiness. It was a world of opposites. There was newspeak which controlled language, and there were thought police who controlled your ability to freely think. History was rewritten as inappropriate memories were erased.
The state had but one purpose and that was simply to retain its power, not to give power to the citizens, but to create an unyielding, unquestioning population of docile followers. If the population never knew pleasure, music, culture or love, they wouldn’t miss or desire it. There was zero tolerance for any infractions, and everyone was encouraged to be vigilant in order to discover those who broke the rules. Children turned in parents, husbands turned in wives and accusations were followed with arrests. There was no hope for any justice, except for the justice of Big Brother. Everyone confessed because the methods used allowed for nothing less. Your worst fears would be realized. You would be tortured into confessions and brainwashed into complacency. Loyalty and love was owed only to the state and Big Brother.
Today, we are witnessing the reality of many of the ideas foreshadowed in the book. We are living in a politically correct world in which some want to control our speech, thoughts and actions. Our statues are being torn down and our history erased. Certain words are being removed from our vernacular because they are deemed offensive. There are some groups that invite us to share information, but then they control that very information with rules that control our freedom to think and present our ideas. After we share our thoughts, they seem to arbitrarily judge some to be inflammatory and others to be benign. The judgment is entirely up to the judges who often condemn one side more than another based on their own personal and political beliefs. There are now groups that are trying to control all thought they disagree with, all words they find offensive, and one has to ask, who is qualified to make that judgment? Are they just seeking power?
So, while I thought the book would not be as realistic because it was written about a future that had already past, I found that the future predicted in the book is actually present in our here and now. We have no privacy. Our medical records are stored in computers and can be accessed; our tax returns or digitized and can be hacked; our movements are tracked by our phones; facial recognition technology can pick up our image out of a crowd, devices in our home hear our conversations and transmit them over the internet, our computers store our browsing history and target us with ads, cameras on the street follow our movements, and those in power want only to retain their power, and they will use any means to do so. They cheat and lie and make false accusations against innocent people who are unable to fight back without losing everything.
We are witnessing the abuse of power by a segment of the public because it serves their immediate goal. They are shutting down speech they disagree with. They are demonstrating in the streets and destroying public property, and they are getting away with it because they have the power. Alternate ideas are forbidden, and those who present them are attacked, sometimes violently. The dystopian future is now a reality.
In 1984 the author predicted the state would accomplish its goal of complete mind control of its citizens by the middle of the 21st century, by 2050! The state would exist merely to maintain its power. We are almost there. With the collapse of our fourth estate, which used to act like a check and balance, with deaf, dumb and blind leaders who seem to have a cadre of supporters who see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil, because it serves their purpose, we are in trouble as a society. Our government is being corrupted and its citizens are not rising up to defy it, because they believe they will have the power if their side wins. They are wrong. Whosoever can gain control of the narrative will control the world and have the power, and that power will never be shared and never be forfeited.