Totally Totalitarian: 1984

IT seems that every other week there’s a new right wing government popping up into a position of influence with horrible views on other nationalities and immigrants and a certain ideology of conservatism and traditionalism that looks to put a sock in the mouths of citizens by taking away the right to freedom of speech and expression.

There are countries where that has existed for some time notably China and the Russian press.

George Orwell and his book 1984 are forever quoted and referenced, and there’s a disturbing parallel between the fiction and reality now to the point it’s as if the book was a manual.

Of course, Orwell was really warning us of what was to come. And he understood perfectly the paranoia and desire to control that has evolved into mass surveillance and silencing of critics – that’s comprehension of human behaviour. Those are elements of a narcissist, which is a common personality type of those desperate for positions of relative power, the very ones that should be denied access because of their narcissism and lack of empathy – a paradox we need to solve.

Imagine a boot stamping on a human face forever

George Orwell

Orwell predicted incredibly well. But he’s not alone. Plenty others have imagined similar situations coming into existence, and it doesn’t take too much of a jump ahead to figure out what future people will do, likely the same as they’ve always done, only now technology and globalisation has changed things massively. He did however write about it in such an incredibly impactful way that 1984 is unmatched on the topic it illuminates and the way it describes not just the notion of existence (if it can be called that) in a totalitarian state but the emotional element. The onus is on us to ensure the world of the future is one that we want to be a part of, and one we are proud to pass on to another generation. There’s no escaping the responsibility although cognitive dissonance can be a hell of a drug.