Resonance in our society now – to what extent was George Orwell’s vision of the future prophetic?

• Draw distinct parallels between features in Orwell’s vision of the future and that which we find to be true of our world today – match the present day truths with specific quotes from the text. Consider: Politics, Political Corruption, Technology, Privacy, Class, Sex, State Control over the Individual, Inequality, Media manipulation, Totalitarianism.

Telescreens – Phones

“Telescreens… could be dimmed” to make you feel you still held some privacy but there “was no way of shutting it off completely”. No matter what you did, where you went, your privacy will always be invaded. It’s how the Party was able to subconsciously manipulate. Every unusual tick would be picked up and you’d be accused of thoughtcrime. It means that the people of Oceania had to consciously be aware of every movement they made. To follow every law and never question anything was the power that surveillance has to allow manipulation. George Orwell was right, we’re able to be constantly monitored by “telescreens” today. Although our telescreens are different, they’re little devices that we choose to carry around – phones. Most phones contain a camera and a microphone that can easily be hacked to resemble a “telescreen”. We can’t turn our phone completely off because that then defeats the purpose of having them, allowing us to be watched at all times just like the “telescreens”. Unlike Nineteen Eighty-Four, we’re choosing to give up our privacy. We are unable to comprehend that we are capable of being manipulated through the phone. If we realised who was watching us, even when nobody was around, we may act differently. We may change our mannerisms, giving the viewer the capability to manipulate us to line up with their beliefs and ideas. Orwell envisioned that technology would develop to a point where the government could invade our privacy through cameras and microphones to manipulate. He didn’t predict that it would be individual corporations that would be surveilling us.

Records editors – Fake News

“Every record has been destroyed or falsified”, records editors continued this process of falsification “day by day and minute by minute”. Blurring the line of what is and isn’t the truth meant the people of Oceania never realised that “the past starting tomorrow had been abolished”. They didn’t know that the only thing that “survives” is a “few solid objects with no words attached”. What does survive of our yesterday? The process of fake news means we don’t know what happened in the past. We are unable to recognise fake news. Unlike Nineteen Eighty-Four where every falsification lines up to one truth, the many different variations of our stories mean we may never know what happens. Altering the past enabled the Party to manipulate the people. They were able to control peoples thoughts. People need to know about what has happened in history to form opinions and judgments about the present. Without a true history, their mind could easily be altered to fit the Party’s ideologies. The party controlled the “past” to control “the future” just as they controlled the “present” to control “the past” but who is controlling us? News sources aren’t just from the government. We don’t know who is controlling our past, present or future because of fake news. Our mind is constantly being swayed left and right to believe different stories. Fake news has enabled anybody to manipulate us and control our thoughts, beliefs, opinions and judgments. How do we know what we’re being told is true when we could find another source that tells us otherwise? George Orwell predicted that the past could be changed and “untruth”s could be told to manipulate. He did not expect that the manipulation would not be from the government. It comes from a minefield of multimillion dollar networks.

Big Brother/Newspeak – Social Media???

Big Brother was a way to personify “telescreens”. It made the “telescreens” more real, that it was not just a random camera on the wall but a person. “Big Brother is watching you”, a person is watching you. You must “worship Big Brother” because he is always watching. It was through the personification of the “telescreens” that Big Brother was there, meant that Oceania was easy to manipulate. Having the person that is your leader, that you must obey and love, watching your every move makes you act a certain way. You become conscious of every thought, step and breath. Social media is a modern day Big Brother. We don’t know who will see our post, but we know someone will, Big Brother will. People don’t post anything to social media, it’s a calculated process to ensure that you seem your best, that you don’t fall out of the line of social media norms. The subconscious manipulation that social media has to make us act a certain way is the same manipulation Big Brother has in Nineteen Eighty-Four.

The actual realities of world politics in 1950 and 1984

• Explore specific socio-political elements of the time: Technology, Political Systems, The Cold War, The USSR, Post-WWII Europe, Mutually Assured Destruction.