2020 or 1984? Thoughts Reading Orwell’s 1984 for the First Time
When the year 2020 has more similarities with a fictional, dystopic interpenetration of 1984 than the prior year, it’s evident our world has become quite familiarly unfamiliar.
In George Orwell’s 71-year old book 1984, we follow the main protagonist Winston Smith as he navigates London in what he believes to be the year 1984. Working for the Ministry of Truth, he spends his days as a journalist altering news articles and erasing the past — not by choice, per say. It’s the world he lives in. A world where the past, present, and future are run by Big Brother and the Inner Party members of Ingsoc, the region of Oceania’s governing ideology.
In Oceania, privacy doesn’t exist. Telescreens and secret microphones are everywhere: the streets, workplaces, restaurants, and especially homes. They’re watching you and they’re listening to you. All you have to yourself are your thoughts, and even those are illegal if they don’t obey the beliefs of Ingsoc. Thoughtcrime, it’s called. Thoughtcrime describes a person’s politically unorthodox thoughts, such as beliefs and doubts that contradict the principles of Ingsoc.
2020 has seen a wave of pulling wrong thoughts from the minds of others. Articles and social media posts that don’t align with the story we are fed are quickly censored and taken down…
