1984, 2021 style
Have you read 1984 by George Orwell? If not, here’s a short overview of the book, which was written right after World War Two and published in 1949:
The world is divided into three super-states. The story takes place in “former” Great Britain which is part of the super-state Oceania. The government is authoritarian and controlling. The leader of the government is “Big Brother”. People who speak against the government disappear. More minor offenses are dealt with through re-programming. There are cameras and microphones everywhere so that citizens are under constant surveillance and are afraid to do or say anything that might get them in trouble. Televisions have cameras in them so Big Brother officials can watch people, thus the saying “Big Brother is Watching You”.
When people disappear, everything about them disappears, so, it looks like they never existed. The government will change facts to support their new position on something and facts related to the previous situation are totally deleted as if the facts of history never happened. The three super-states are constantly at war, with two super-states always allied against the third. Overnight, alliances switch, so that a super-state that was Oceania’s enemy yesterday is Oceania’s ally today and all previous information about that state being an enemy is erased and new information supporting that state always being Oceania’s ally is inserted in its place.
The following concepts are operative in the book.
Big Brother – The leader of the government (may or may not be a real person)
Perpetual War – The countries are always at war to unify the citizens to a singular purpose.
Omnipresent surveillance – Cameras and microphones everywhere
Propaganda – Information that is not objective and is used primarily to influence the citizens and further an agenda, often by presenting facts selectively to encourage a particular synthesis or perception in people’s minds
Thought Police – Secret police of the super-state, who discover and punish personal and political thoughts unapproved by the ruling party.
Newspeak – A continually diminishing vocabulary to allow for complete thoughts to be reduced to simple terms of simplistic meaning.
Doublethink – Simultaneously accepting two mutually contradictory beliefs or facts as correct.
Telescreens – Television screens with cameras and microphones so Big Brother can “watch”.
2+2=5 – False dogma or information that a citizen is required to believe.
Memory Hole – Where the erased or deleted past facts, information or documents go.
Of course, George Orwell (whose real name coincidentally was Eric Blair) was writing a fictional book thinking that governments would eventually become “Big Brother” since his writings were based on his perception of the Nazi’s and Communism. It turns out, The Owl has figured out that most of the above concepts have come true but are not, in 2018, being perpetrated by governments, but by the citizens!
Let’s take these Orwellian concepts one by one as they exist in 2021.
Big Brother
As is sometimes inferred in Orwell’s book, in 2021 Big Brother is not an actual person, it is everyone with a smart phone and/or surveillance camera (like security cameras, “Ring” smart doorbells, etc.) and who translate information thusly obtained to expose someone for something they don’t like that a person said or did. Only a fool would think they have any sense of privacy in 2021. Although the government has some cameras (like at street intersections and government buildings), the vast majority of cameras and microphones are owned and operated by citizens and businesses (which are run by citizens). This makes “Big Brother” the citizens, not the government. Yes, Big Brother is watching you…your friends and neighbors and employer.
Perpetual War
It turns out, since the inception of the United States, the US has only experienced peace (not being at war) 7% of the time. Yes, 21/239 years. One could argue that the US has been at perpetual war. Check it out at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_the_United_States or Google it yourself.
Omnipresent Surveillance
Stated above. Smart phones, security cameras and microphones, etc. Owned mostly by the People.
Propaganda
Ever present on the internet and social media. Perpetrated almost exclusively by…the People, although politicians, whether in office or not, are producing it all of the time as well. Social media posts and tweets are notorious for this. Often proven to be totally false. It’s incessant. How about the folks saying Sandy Hook never happened; it was a contrived movie produced by gun control activists? Tweets, Facebook posts. We have to have websites like Snopes to chase down what is the real truth, although most people don’t go there to see, and not all of the untruths are investigated there. The result: people who read these tweets and posts believe these and are swayed by them, fulfilling the propaganda’s purpose, to misinform and create misperceptions in people’s minds.
Thought Police
Nowadays, this isn’t a government function or department, it is individuals, interest groups and advocacy groups. Someone says something and some individual, interest group or advocacy group makes a conclusion of what was in the mind of the person who said something, vociferously trying to convince everyone that their perception of that person’s thoughts are correct (e.g., their interpretation of a statement) and that everyone should be offended by what was said or happened, even when the person forcefully denies it. And, the public believes the “offended” individual, interest group or advocacy group not the person who said it, who is the only person who actually knows what was in their mind. Yes, people believing the person who says they know what another person meant despite the fact that the actual words used were different from that!
Newspeak
This one is easy. Just read a text. Texting shorthand, emoji’s, emoticons, bitmoji’s, etc. Aren’t they continually diminishing vocabulary to allow for complete thoughts to be reduced to simple terms of simplistic meaning?
Doublethink
Believing Fake News, which is rampant on the internet, despite the fact that people subliminally know it can’t be real.
Telescreens
Smart Phones, Personal assistants, computers with cameras above the screen, smart televisions.
2+2=5
Fake News which is all over the internet and social media. Not mostly promulgated by the government, mostly by the People with an agenda, although there are politicians producing it.
Memory Hole
This is going on now when a tweet or post is “taken down”. Or when emails “can’t be retrieved”. Or texts that are delete or can’t be retrieved. Recall people saying things like, “My smart phone broke and now I can’t get my previous texts” or “I traded in my smart phone and now no one can get the texts from that phone” or “The email server had a hiccup and the emails are permanently deleted and irretrievable”.
Disappearing People
In Nineteen Eighty-four, people who do something that Big Brother doesn’t like would disappear. Nowadays, since Big Brother is the People, people disappear when someone says something the People don’t like. They are “Cancelled”. Nowadays, there isn’t Free Speech, mainly because the First Amendment doesn’t cover censorship by the People, only the government. Here is the First Amendment:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
See, it says Congress shall make no law. But the People and employers can impose whatever prohibition or abridging on speech (including writings) they want by creating enough negative public opinion or, for employers, a company policy, that consequences can be applied when someone said something that some individual, interest group or advocacy group doesn’t like. There is no legal action relative to the consequence. People who say something some people find “offensive” lose their jobs and their lives are wrecked just as badly as if they were arrested and sent to jail. Even if they apologize. Their apologies are never accepted. The People are unforgiving, just like the Oceania government in Nineteen Eighty-four.
So, in essence, there is no true Free Speech in the USA. The Orwellian concepts noted above are in operation mostly external to the government and apply dire consequences on the accused. The jury is the public and the media (who whip the public’s intolerance to an almost unimaginable intensity). Here’s a list of famous people who have lost their jobs, been sidelined and have had their lives negatively affected because they said something some people didn’t like. They lose their jobs mainly because the businesses they work for fear financial loss from people boycotting their businesses (Thinly veiled in disapproval. It’s really all about money.):
Rosanne Barr
Justine Sacco
Megyn Kelly
Michael Richards
RuPaul
Dr. James Watson
John Galliano
Mel Gibson
Gigi Hadid
Floyd Mayweather
Rihanna
Kathy Griffin
James Aurthur
Azealia Banks
PewDiePie
Josh Rivers
Ten Walls
Katie Hopkins
Billy Bush
Brian Williams
Not that The Owl agrees with what any of these people said and The Owl may be offended by what some of these people said. The point is, it doesn’t matter. In a country that espouses to Free Speech, they should be able to express their opinion.
The Owl says, there is now no such thing as Freedom of Speech in the USA. If there was, a person should be able to say whatever they want and not have a consequence other than some people don’t like it and are offended, with the exception of an organization, which legally can restrict what people say within the organization (but should not have a say in what employees say in public outside the organization; so an organization shouldn’t be able to fire someone for saying something in public that the organization doesn’t allow within their “four walls”/”on the clock”). The reach of an organization should end at the edge of their “walls”.
The Owl’s opinion is, one can hardly ever say anything that at least some people don’t agree with and could be offended. Even Colin Powell once said, “Being responsible sometimes means pissing people off.” The Owl once placed this quote under his signature at work and almost lost his job. The higher ups were offended (no policy was violated, they just didn’t like it)…no Freedom of Speech in that company, even a quote from an august military and political person supporting the notion that you can never say anything that doesn’t offend somebody.
The Owl is sure some individual, interest group or advocacy group will be offended by this writing. The Owl hopes he doesn’t disappear! LOL! 😉