1984
When I first read the book, "1984", by George Orwell, in college, I didn't quite grasp its message. We can imagine what the readers thought when it was first published in 1949. Readers then would have had to grapple with the then far-fetched idea of "telescreens". In the sixties, the time I read the book, "Big Brother" was unthinkable, except perhaps in the context of science fiction. But Orwell meant for it to be more than that. Perhaps he wanted it to be more of a cautionary tale of a future that was going to be more dystopian than utopian. The latter was naturally the more preferred wish - a better future - but Orwell was pessimistic of the direction the world was taking despite the fact that immediately after the end of WWII, the United Nations was founded (1945) and the State of Israel was created in 1948. That same year, Orwell decided to write the novel, which was published the following year (1949).
The year 1984 came and went. The Reagan presidency begun its second term. Although a lot of dreadful events occurred that year - Indira Gandhi was assassinated, and it was also India's worst environmental disaster at the Union Carbide pesticide plant that killed thousands of people; DNA came into mainstream vocabulary; the Iran hostage crisis was long a historical footnote - there was optimism that the cold war was ending. Reagan was relentlessly going after reuniting a divided Germany that culminated in the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989, followed by the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
In other words 1984 was not how George Orwell predicted. However, today his book is on Amazon's best seller list. It is gaining more interest and readership now (from early 2000 to the present) than during all the years that followed its first publication. Some of you may want to read it. On the other hand, one may only have to look around to get a glimpse of what George Orwell was trying to paint.
Eerily, "1984" is today.
First, before we give Orwell too much credit for his oracles, we need to point out what he did not foresee. He did not predict the internet, made no mention about algorithms, clearly had no clue there was going to be Facebook, Twitter, YouTube nor the term, "social media". He was wrong about a nuclear war that was to have taken place in the mid 50's, although we would allow him, "perpetual wars" (Cold war, Korean, Vietnam, Iran/Iraq, the Gulf war, etc.). And he did give us "Big Brother", many decades before the reality TV show.
Summary of the book from Britannica
"The book is set in 1984 in Oceania, one of three perpetually warring totalitarian states (the other two are Eurasia and Eastasia). Oceania is governed by the all-controlling Party, which has brainwashed the population into unthinking obedience to its leader, Big Brother. The Party has created a propagandistic language known as Newspeak, which is designed to limit free thought and promote the Party’s doctrines. Its words include doublethink (belief in contradictory ideas simultaneously), which is reflected in the Party’s slogans: “War is peace,” “Freedom is slavery,” and “Ignorance is strength.” The Party maintains control through the Thought Police and continual surveillance".
"Thematically, Nineteen Eighty-Four centers on the consequences of totalitarianism, mass surveillance, and repressive regimentation of persons and behaviors within society."
Totalitarianism is defined as a "system of government that is centralized and dictatorial and requires complete subservience to the state".
Let's have a quick look back at history that involved two of the greatest revolutions first. It was in the early 1900's when the Bolsheviks revolted against the Tsarist regime in Russia. The Romanov dynasty was overthrown that gave the world its first highly organized and first successful creation of a communist party. The Qing dynasty was the last imperial dynasty in China, following the Ming dynasty. The Qing empire lasted from 1644 to 1912. After the fall, the "government" was run by ruling elites. In 1948, Mao Zedong led the Cultural Revolution that gave us today's Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
The irony of all of these is that the two successful revolutions that were directed against the absolute and total control of the ruling empires have created two countries that have themselves become totalitarian states. Russia's so called democracy, post fall of the Soviet Union, arguably lasted only for so long.
In 1765, an earlier revolution started by thirteen colonies in the New World created today's foremost example of democracy. Free speech and freedom of religion are two of its keynote features. Its economic system is based on free market principles that had been the envy of the world. It is notable that the American Revolution preceded the one other significant upheaval - the French Revolution - by almost twenty five years.
There is cause for worry in the land that for over two centuries managed to hold on to the principles that exemplified the reasons for its success. George Orwell's view of the world in "1984" is now upon that land.
1. At no time in the past century that mass surveillance was possible until now.
2. Censorship of free thought is going on as we speak. Technology is an effective weapon at silencing free speech and opposing thought when Twitter, Facebook and Amazon are able to throw off the switch against those perceived to promote opposing ideas. Repression of free speech is real.
3. When a major media personality is able to say that political supporters she does not like should be deprogrammed is exactly what "1984" talked about.
4. When calls for businesses to drop someone's product from their stores is heeded as a result of the CEO's political support, economic censorship happens, also a feature in "1984".
George Orwell was a democratic socialist. Sounds familiar?
CNN Oct 13, 2015 · Senator Bernie Sanders explains why he describes himself as a Democratic Socialist at the CNN Democratic debate in Las Vegas.
George Orwell vehemently opposed totalitarianism and I'm sure the Vermont senator does as well. It would be interesting to see how Sen. Sanders - an independent but caucuses with the Democrats - will conduct himself.
The next 100 days will determine the direction of this country for the foreseeable future.
I leave the reader with this:
On censorship
Below is a direct quote from the book:
"Anyone who challenges the prevailing orthodoxy finds himself silenced with surprising effectiveness. A genuinely unfashionable opinion is almost never given a fair hearing, either in the popular press or in the highbrow periodicals". (Sounds familiar?)
Revisionism
a. Yesterday, the San Francisco school district decided to remove Lincoln and Washington as school names. This follows the destruction of several historical statues in many places last year. Removal of statues is a form of revisionism.
b. Holocaust denial - "The Simon Wiesenthal Holocaust Center, for example, charges that revisionists claim that concentration camp crematories were not really crematories at all, but bread ovens. Revisionists are often accused of claiming that the well-known photos of emaciated corpses found in camps at the end of the war are fakes, or that no Jews ever died in the camps. Such perverse misrepresentation is very reminiscent of the passage in 1984 which describes a “hate session” presentation of a concocted speech by the monstrous and semi-legendary arch-fiend".
3. Newspeak: "Deceptive “Newspeak” terms are in wide use today. One of the most odious examples is “affirmative action” which, despite its benign ring, is a dishonest label for a vast government-imposed program of anti-White racial discrimination. And like the hysterical “hate sessions” unforgettably described in 1984 ..
I leave it to anyone willing to look a little more closely at what is happening around him or her.
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