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li33ieg: 1984, Brave New World and Fahrenheit 451: 3 essential titles that remind us of the need to keep our individual souls pure.
Ludi_Ling: Really, the one cannot be mentioned without the other. Actually, apart from the dystopian subject matter, they are very different stories, but serve as a great counterpoint to one another.
Anonymous user: It's essential to read Huxley's and Orwell's books together. Both present the ultimate version of the totalitarian state, but there the similarities end. While Orwell argues in favour of hate and fear, Huxley suggests that pleasure and drugs would be far more effective as controlling forces. Who was the more prescient prophet? That's what every reader should decide for him- or herself.… (more)
readafew: Both books are about keeping the people in control and ignorant.
hipdeep: 1984 is scary like a horror movie. Fahrenheit 451 is scary like the news. So - do you want to see something really scary?
BookshelfMonstrosity: A man's romance-inspired defiance of menacing, repressive governments in bleak futures are the themes of these compelling novels. Control of language and monitors that both broadcast to and spy on people are key motifs. Both are dramatic, haunting, and thought-provoking.… (more)
ivan.frade: Both books talk about revolution and the people, individual rights vs. common wellness. "darkness at noon" is pretty similar to 1984, without the especulation/science-fiction ingredient.
Anonymous user: Huxley and Zamyatin are practically the canon recommendations for this work, so much so that they hardly need to be mentioned, let alone mentioned again.. Therefore, let me instead recommend a lesser-known work that likewise influenced Orwell's work: Burdekin's dystopian future-history, Swastika Night… (more)
Nineteen Eighty-Four George Orwell Published 1949 Dystopian novel ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Reading Orwell 24 Reread
Orwell knew.
He knew what the future would look like if good people did nothing.
I have re-read 1984 numerous times and always understood it to be a dystopian novel, which it is, considering it is "an imaginary place or condition in which everything is as bad as possible." But it is not only a dystopian novel. It is A WARNING! An urgent premonition to future generations of free people everywhere, but particularly Britain and the United States because each nation [had been] protectors and promoters of individual liberty and economic freedom.
Orwell saw first-hand what happened (during WWII) when masses of people worshipped a man, granting absolute power to him, or in the case of 1984, one "Party." When that happens, that leader or party gets away with everything. They use dictatorial methods to control every aspect of private life, and they destroy everything in their path that threatens or challenges or exposes their schemes and lies -- especially the truth.
TOTALITARIANISM
This is called totalitarianism, and this is what I want to write about, as opposed to just reviewing 1984 again. Totalitarianism is nearer to us because the masses have not heeded Orwell's warning. In fact, many are clamoring for its acceleration.
Totalitarianism is centralized government bent on absolute authority over everything. Imagine everything. Now imagine government with total control of it. They get control by agitating all logic and reason, causing people to doubt what is right and true. Totalitarianism continuously assails the masses with contradictions and hypocrisy and prompts people to question their sanity. It is psychological abuse, bullying, and supremacy. One by one, the people break.
I will return to that rant, but first:
In 1984, the world was divided into three regions, which were always at war with each other, although it could never be confirmed. It could have been that the Party bombed their own people just to keep them in perpetual fear and submission.
All people lived in a three-level caste system made up of mostly Proles, the general population of workers who lived in a state of poverty. Then Outer Party members, like the protagonist Winston, had it slightly better than the Proles. They were trained in the dirty work of government, such as demolishing the truth, rewriting history, reinventing language, and extinguishing individual lives.
Finally, the Inner Party members were the smallest class of government elitists who drank the Kool Aid. They implemented policy and controlled the lives of everyone else. Only the Inner Party enjoyed privacy and luxuries. The Party was supposedly led by one named Big Brother, but no one knew if he was alive or real or one or many.
WHAT IS THE POINT OF ALL THIS POWER AND CONTROL?
The point was POWER. Power is alluring. Power is everything.
When Winston was finally arrested for having revolutionary thoughts and tortured into loving the Party, O'Brien, Inner Party member, told him: When we [the Party] are omnipotent we shall have no more need of science. There will be no distinction between beauty and ugliness. There will be no curiosity, no enjoyment of the process of life. All competing pleasures will be destroyed. but always - do not forget this, Winston - always there will be the intoxication of power, constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler. always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - forever. The goal of totalitarianism is to break another man down by removing all prospective joy, hope, love, beauty, and power -- no more personal privacy or potential improvement; no more independence or individuality. Aside from causing him to think he has lost his mind...he must give up all reason to fight to protect truth and his own life. Once he is broken down, he will fearfully submit to this power. For some it is easier and quicker than others.
I mention this because I want to show that we have lived through the start of the above scenario already - a likely test run. The Covid scam was a test run in totalitarianism. I was in California at the time, and even as late as early 2022, the governor was still playing the Mask-On-Mask-Off game, dictating when everyone had to mask up because cases rose or when masks were no longer necessary because cases went down. Governor Gavin Newsom is a prime suspect for totalitarianism, and if the people oblige, he will go as far as he can if no one will stop him. Thank God, there were a few legislators, a church, and a court that did stop his overreach. For now.
TWENTY TWENTY
Look what the media did in the United States. They spread lies, suppressed truth, and protected only the voices they agreed with. They helped instill fear, which is a catalyst for mass compliance to a corrupt government, or otherwise: "man worship." And it wasn't President Trump the masses worshiped. It was that short little Anthony Fauci who was the epitome of parched power, but mostly teeming with hypocrisy and contradictions.
I also say "they" because I do not count myself as part of the majority that lived in absolute terror of the virus, yet, still donned a mask and mingled with crowds of people, as if material protected them just because they were told it would; or those who knew the mask was foolishness, but complied anyway with fear of standing alone in truth. And the little colored circles that littered the floors of stores and windows reminding us that we were in kindergarten and had to stand six feet, which was also an arbitrary measurement. Did anyone believe that they were safe from a deadly virus if they stood six feet away from another human?
When this current so-called executive was installed, he wickedly sought a legal way to FORCE EVERY HUMAN WHO WORKED FOR A PAYCHECK TO BE POISONED simply because he believed he could do it, but no way was found. Praise God!
Then all those lies about masks, lockdowns, isolation, closed schools (for years in California), lost jobs, firings, and forced injections against one's better judgment came home to roost, and all of those liars had to admit (but did not) that you could still get sick; only the injected were getting sick; and in fact, they are getting sicker. Some had even died. Isolation was not a bright idea; masks did not work; and we have to admit, they disrupted a robust economy (it is still struggling), probably intentionally.
You see, a crisis "arose" and totalitarian-bent authorities and their supporters reacted accordingly by establishing fear, then provided a sense of hope and salvation through obedience without investigation, which the people responded to subordinately. Never mind that the facts changed daily and the "guidelines" were like a roller coaster. There never was consistency, but always contradiction. Nothing made sense, and everyone was confused, anxious, and combative, which was the perfect atmosphere for totalitarian government to lay its tentacles.
By the way, I am thinking about little dictator governors of select states, and also unelected officials, health officials, and globalists, besides this current federal administration. President Trump did not continue to push for lockdowns or masks or keeping kids out of school or closing churches. He did, however, give into dreadful advice about pushing through a deadly pharmaceutical poison, but he never supported forcing anyone to be injected with it or be fired, like the current mean executive, whose name I cannot utter.
Remember the psychological warfare that abounded and was encouraged and protected? Doctors, scientists, or anyone who shouted otherwise against the ever-changing/concrete science-god Fauci were muted and booted. Thousands of doctors, immunologists, virologists, and anyone who contradicted the narrative lost their voices and simply disappeared from public view. Some lost their jobs and businesses. Even certain information was not searchable via the internet.
Remember the faux checkers -- modern day Thought Police -- who flagged, docked, and ostracized anyone who posted the wrong articles or voiced the wrong opinion? Eventually, some lost their accounts and were unable to participate in further discussion. Free speech was dead; only the right ideas that aligned with the ones in power were permitted. Did that not mold you to think before you posted? It sure did. You were molded to keep quiet because your opinion was labeled dangerous.
After a few years of this, people no longer knew how to think, and they no longer trusted themselves. Since objective truth is unacceptable, people need government to tell them what to think. And people will believe anything, even absurd things like drag queen story time for children is good; all white people are racist; there are more than two genders; five year olds can choose their gender; and a man is a woman if he says so. BELIEVE ALL MEN! And much more absurdity. If these are what the political class, media, entertainment, and elites pretend to be truth, then it is virtuous to LIVE BY LIES, as Rod Dreher taught us.
In a totalitarian state, thoughts are owned and operated by the powerful, and all people who participate are deprived of liberty, privacy, and identity. Likely they will never rise up, form a personal opinion, or be creative again. They are all dead.
WHAT WE CAN DO
In 1984, Winston knew the Proles (who made up 80-85% of the population in Oceania) were capable of overthrowing the Party if only they rose up against it. All that it takes to tear down a totalitarian regime is to reject the lies and not participate. Orwell wrote 1984, as I have said, as a warning, to trigger as many people to act against totalitarianism; to turn away from the lies and push back at the statist cult.
He recognized the importance of being critical of leaders or government (even those you support), in order to "work towards what could be better," instead of accepting everything they said and did as right and true. He believed that if we did not continue to expose the lies, then we were cooperating with totalitarianism, allowing it to expand and increase in power.
But let us have cheer because there is hope still. Orwell meant to bring to our attention the responsibility and urgency we have to hold accountable those in authority and check their power while we still can. Humanity is not hapless if we are willing to act.
~George Orwell
FINAL THOUGHTS
Nineteen Eighty-Four is an essential work on my personal canon because it speaks directly to me. I love personal liberty and freedom so much, and to live under the weight of an oppressive, totalitarian government is a nightmare. I would rather die, though I am sure that is not a biblical attitude to have. I am trying my best to suffer through the burdens of this world while I await my real home.
Both sides of the American political spectrum, including the electorate, accuse the other side of ushering in a 1984-world; but if either side were truly opposed to that nightmare becoming reality, then we should witness both working tirelessly and loudly to defend and guard constitutionally-protected life and liberty, speech, privacy, religion, and especially truth. Are you seeing any of that?
It's questionable.
* * *
For an example of a future 1984 totalitarian nightmare the globalists seek to impose on the whole world, see The Great Reset. ( )
4.5 but i'll round up! i last read this in high school, so it has been a while. i appreciated it much more this time around because i'm no longer 16 years old. ( )
It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. Winston Smith, his chin nuzzled into his breast in an effort to escape the vile wind, slipped quickly through the glass doors of Victory Mansions, though not quickly enough to prevent a swirl of gritty dust from entering along with him.
Quotations
"BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU."
"WAR IS PEACE. SLAVERY IS FREEDOM. IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH."
Freedom is the freedom to know that two plus two make four.
Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.
In philosophy, or religion, or ethics, or politics, two plus two might make five, but when one was designing a fun or an airplane they had to make four.
Thoughtcrime does not entail death: thoughtcrime is death.
The best books... are those that tell you what you know already.
We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness.
If you want to keep a secret, you must also hide it from yourself.
Power is in inflicting pain and humiliations. Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing.... We are creating a world of fear and treachery and torment ... a world which will grow not less but MORE merciless.... In our world there will be no emotions except fear, rage, triumph, and self-abasement.... There will be no curiosity, no enjoyment of the process of life. All competing pleasures will be destroyed. But always—do not forget this, Winston—always there will be the intoxication of power, constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler. Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—forever.
She had become a physical necessity, something that he not only wanted but felt that he had a right to.
The whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought ... every year fewer words, and the range of consciousness always a little smaller. ... What was required was short clipped words of unmistakable meaning which ... roused the minimum of echoes in the speaker's mind. ... The smaller the area of choice, the smaller the temptation to take thought.
Winston fitted a nib into the penholder and sucked it to get the grease off. The pen was an archaic instrument, seldom used even for signatures, and he had procured one, furtively and with some difficulty, simply because of a feeling that the beautiful creamy paper deserved to be written on with a real nib instead of being scratched with an ink-pencil. Actually he was not used to writing by hand. Apart from very short notes, it was usual to dictate everything into the speak-write, which was of course impossible for his present purpose.
Such things he saw could not happen today. Today there were fear, hatred, and pain, but no dignity of emotion or deep and complex sorrows.
And if all the others accepted the lie which the Party imposed—if all records contained the same tale—then the lie passed into history and became truth.
Until they become conscious, they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious
The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.
Winston, in addition to his regular work, spent long periods every day in going through back files of the Times and altering and embellishing news items which were to be quoted in speeches.
At present nothing is possible except to extend the area of sanity little by little.
In so far as he had time to remember it, he was not troubled by the fact that every word he murmured into the speakwrite, every stroke of his ink pencil, was a deliberate lie.
War prisoners apart, the average citizen of Oceania never sets eyes on a citizen of either Eurasia or Eastasia, and he is forbidden the knowledge of foreign languages. If he were allowed contact with foreigners he would discover that they are creatures similar to himself and that most of what he has been told about them are lies.
Applied to an opponent, it means the habit of impudently claiming that black is white, in contradiction of the plain facts. Applied to a Party member, it means a loyal willingness to say that black is white when Party discipline demands this. But it means also the ability to believe that black is white, and more, to know that black is white, and to forget that one has ever believed the contrary.
"How does one man assert power over another, Winston?"
Winston thought. "By making him suffer," he said.
Countless other words such as honor, justice, morality, internationalism, democracy, science, and religion had simply ceased to exist.
...a Party member called upon to make a political or ethical judgment should be able to spray forth the correct opinions as automatically as a machine gun spraying forth bullets.
Books like Orwell's are powerful warnings, and it would be most unfortunate if the reader smugly interpreted 1984 as another description of Stalinist barbarism, and if he does not see that it means us, too. (Erich Fromm)
Portrays life in a future time when a totalitarian government watches over all citizens and directs all activities.
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Book description
George Orwell describes a grey, totalitarian future ruled by Big Brother and his wide network of agents, including the Thought Police - a world where news is fabricated according to the authorities' wishes and people live lukewarm lives by rote. Winston Smith, a hero who lacks heroic attributes, merely wants truth and decency. But he realises there is no hope for him in a society where privacy is non-existent and individuals with unconventional thoughts are brainwashed or executed. Even though the year 1949 has passed, George Orwell's nightmare picture of the world we were creating remains the great modern classic portrait of a negative Utopia.
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George Orwell
Published 1949
Dystopian novel
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Reading Orwell 24
Reread
Orwell knew.
He knew what the future would look like if good people did nothing.
I have re-read 1984 numerous times and always understood it to be a dystopian novel, which it is, considering it is "an imaginary place or condition in which everything is as bad as possible." But it is not only a dystopian novel. It is A WARNING! An urgent premonition to future generations of free people everywhere, but particularly Britain and the United States because each nation [had been] protectors and promoters of individual liberty and economic freedom.
Orwell saw first-hand what happened (during WWII) when masses of people worshipped a man, granting absolute power to him, or in the case of 1984, one "Party." When that happens, that leader or party gets away with everything. They use dictatorial methods to control every aspect of private life, and they destroy everything in their path that threatens or challenges or exposes their schemes and lies -- especially the truth.
TOTALITARIANISM
This is called totalitarianism, and this is what I want to write about, as opposed to just reviewing 1984 again. Totalitarianism is nearer to us because the masses have not heeded Orwell's warning. In fact, many are clamoring for its acceleration.
Totalitarianism is centralized government bent on absolute authority over everything. Imagine everything. Now imagine government with total control of it. They get control by agitating all logic and reason, causing people to doubt what is right and true. Totalitarianism continuously assails the masses with contradictions and hypocrisy and prompts people to question their sanity. It is psychological abuse, bullying, and supremacy. One by one, the people break.
I will return to that rant, but first:
In 1984, the world was divided into three regions, which were always at war with each other, although it could never be confirmed. It could have been that the Party bombed their own people just to keep them in perpetual fear and submission.
All people lived in a three-level caste system made up of mostly Proles, the general population of workers who lived in a state of poverty. Then Outer Party members, like the protagonist Winston, had it slightly better than the Proles. They were trained in the dirty work of government, such as demolishing the truth, rewriting history, reinventing language, and extinguishing individual lives.
Finally, the Inner Party members were the smallest class of government elitists who drank the Kool Aid. They implemented policy and controlled the lives of everyone else. Only the Inner Party enjoyed privacy and luxuries. The Party was supposedly led by one named Big Brother, but no one knew if he was alive or real or one or many.
WHAT IS THE POINT OF ALL THIS POWER AND CONTROL?
The point was POWER. Power is alluring. Power is everything.
When Winston was finally arrested for having revolutionary thoughts and tortured into loving the Party, O'Brien, Inner Party member, told him:
When we [the Party] are omnipotent we shall have no more need of science. There will be no distinction between beauty and ugliness. There will be no curiosity, no enjoyment of the process of life. All competing pleasures will be destroyed. but always - do not forget this, Winston - always there will be the intoxication of power, constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler. always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - forever.
The goal of totalitarianism is to break another man down by removing all prospective joy, hope, love, beauty, and power -- no more personal privacy or potential improvement; no more independence or individuality. Aside from causing him to think he has lost his mind...he must give up all reason to fight to protect truth and his own life. Once he is broken down, he will fearfully submit to this power. For some it is easier and quicker than others.
I mention this because I want to show that we have lived through the start of the above scenario already - a likely test run. The Covid scam was a test run in totalitarianism. I was in California at the time, and even as late as early 2022, the governor was still playing the Mask-On-Mask-Off game, dictating when everyone had to mask up because cases rose or when masks were no longer necessary because cases went down. Governor Gavin Newsom is a prime suspect for totalitarianism, and if the people oblige, he will go as far as he can if no one will stop him. Thank God, there were a few legislators, a church, and a court that did stop his overreach. For now.
TWENTY TWENTY
Look what the media did in the United States. They spread lies, suppressed truth, and protected only the voices they agreed with. They helped instill fear, which is a catalyst for mass compliance to a corrupt government, or otherwise: "man worship." And it wasn't President Trump the masses worshiped. It was that short little Anthony Fauci who was the epitome of parched power, but mostly teeming with hypocrisy and contradictions.
I also say "they" because I do not count myself as part of the majority that lived in absolute terror of the virus, yet, still donned a mask and mingled with crowds of people, as if material protected them just because they were told it would; or those who knew the mask was foolishness, but complied anyway with fear of standing alone in truth. And the little colored circles that littered the floors of stores and windows reminding us that we were in kindergarten and had to stand six feet, which was also an arbitrary measurement. Did anyone believe that they were safe from a deadly virus if they stood six feet away from another human?
When this current so-called executive was installed, he wickedly sought a legal way to FORCE EVERY HUMAN WHO WORKED FOR A PAYCHECK TO BE POISONED simply because he believed he could do it, but no way was found. Praise God!
Then all those lies about masks, lockdowns, isolation, closed schools (for years in California), lost jobs, firings, and forced injections against one's better judgment came home to roost, and all of those liars had to admit (but did not) that you could still get sick; only the injected were getting sick; and in fact, they are getting sicker. Some had even died. Isolation was not a bright idea; masks did not work; and we have to admit, they disrupted a robust economy (it is still struggling), probably intentionally.
You see, a crisis "arose" and totalitarian-bent authorities and their supporters reacted accordingly by establishing fear, then provided a sense of hope and salvation through obedience without investigation, which the people responded to subordinately. Never mind that the facts changed daily and the "guidelines" were like a roller coaster. There never was consistency, but always contradiction. Nothing made sense, and everyone was confused, anxious, and combative, which was the perfect atmosphere for totalitarian government to lay its tentacles.
By the way, I am thinking about little dictator governors of select states, and also unelected officials, health officials, and globalists, besides this current federal administration. President Trump did not continue to push for lockdowns or masks or keeping kids out of school or closing churches. He did, however, give into dreadful advice about pushing through a deadly pharmaceutical poison, but he never supported forcing anyone to be injected with it or be fired, like the current mean executive, whose name I cannot utter.
Remember the psychological warfare that abounded and was encouraged and protected? Doctors, scientists, or anyone who shouted otherwise against the ever-changing/concrete science-god Fauci were muted and booted. Thousands of doctors, immunologists, virologists, and anyone who contradicted the narrative lost their voices and simply disappeared from public view. Some lost their jobs and businesses. Even certain information was not searchable via the internet.
Remember the faux checkers -- modern day Thought Police -- who flagged, docked, and ostracized anyone who posted the wrong articles or voiced the wrong opinion? Eventually, some lost their accounts and were unable to participate in further discussion. Free speech was dead; only the right ideas that aligned with the ones in power were permitted. Did that not mold you to think before you posted? It sure did. You were molded to keep quiet because your opinion was labeled dangerous.
After a few years of this, people no longer knew how to think, and they no longer trusted themselves. Since objective truth is unacceptable, people need government to tell them what to think. And people will believe anything, even absurd things like drag queen story time for children is good; all white people are racist; there are more than two genders; five year olds can choose their gender; and a man is a woman if he says so. BELIEVE ALL MEN! And much more absurdity. If these are what the political class, media, entertainment, and elites pretend to be truth, then it is virtuous to LIVE BY LIES, as Rod Dreher taught us.
In a totalitarian state, thoughts are owned and operated by the powerful, and all people who participate are deprived of liberty, privacy, and identity. Likely they will never rise up, form a personal opinion, or be creative again. They are all dead.
WHAT WE CAN DO
In 1984, Winston knew the Proles (who made up 80-85% of the population in Oceania) were capable of overthrowing the Party if only they rose up against it. All that it takes to tear down a totalitarian regime is to reject the lies and not participate. Orwell wrote 1984, as I have said, as a warning, to trigger as many people to act against totalitarianism; to turn away from the lies and push back at the statist cult.
He recognized the importance of being critical of leaders or government (even those you support), in order to "work towards what could be better," instead of accepting everything they said and did as right and true. He believed that if we did not continue to expose the lies, then we were cooperating with totalitarianism, allowing it to expand and increase in power.
But let us have cheer because there is hope still. Orwell meant to bring to our attention the responsibility and urgency we have to hold accountable those in authority and check their power while we still can. Humanity is not hapless if we are willing to act.
~George Orwell
FINAL THOUGHTS
Nineteen Eighty-Four is an essential work on my personal canon because it speaks directly to me. I love personal liberty and freedom so much, and to live under the weight of an oppressive, totalitarian government is a nightmare. I would rather die, though I am sure that is not a biblical attitude to have. I am trying my best to suffer through the burdens of this world while I await my real home.
Both sides of the American political spectrum, including the electorate, accuse the other side of ushering in a 1984-world; but if either side were truly opposed to that nightmare becoming reality, then we should witness both working tirelessly and loudly to defend and guard constitutionally-protected life and liberty, speech, privacy, religion, and especially truth. Are you seeing any of that?
It's questionable.
* * *
For an example of a future 1984 totalitarian nightmare the globalists seek to impose on the whole world, see The Great Reset. (