Are We Living in a “1984” Dystopia?
In one of the 20th century’s most renowned novels, George Orwell invites us to imagine a future where the world is under the control of a totalitarian regime, warning society against totalitarianism and the values promoted by totalitarian leaders. The novel is set in Oceania, a totalitarian state led by the Party and its leader, Big Brother, and constantly at war with Eurasia and Eastasia. Individuals have been brainwashed to pay absolute obedience to Big Brother, who controls them, their actions, and their thoughts. Through 1984, Orwell invites the reader to examine the present and question the future. The novel transports the reader to a completely different political and social reality that is based on Orwell’s ideas of the future, which inevitably leads us to wonder which clues from the present prompted him to create that world. How far detached are all the falsehoods, all the coverups, all the tortures, the wars, the abuse of power from contemporary reality? Certain radically imaginary events and facts in 1984 mirror historical events, facts and social and political abuses of our time, from the Holocaust to the war in Ukraine.
MINISTRY OF TRUTH
In 1984, the Ministry of Truth exists to build an alternative reality and “correct history” by inventing fake news, statistics, events, and people. The key historical tragedy targeted by real-world “Ministers of Truth” is the Holocaust, a victim of ungrounded denialism. Dr Deborah E. Lipstadt, an American historian, academic and writer, who spent years researching the phenomenon of Holocaust denial, came across the so-called “revisionists” and the Institute for Historical Review (IHR) in California, US. The IHR describe themselves as “an independent educational centre”, who work “for a more just, sane and peaceful world”, ironically. Directed by Mark Weber, who was banned from the UK by the British Government in 2015 as his “presence here is not conductive of public good”, this institution promotes antisemitic beliefs and values and is connected to Nazi and Fascist organisations. As the name suggests, revisionists “revise mistakes in History” and re-interpret Historical facts and events, including the Holocaust, one of the “best documented genocides in the world”, and offer their interpretation of the account. The IHR published “66 Questions and Answers about the Holocaust”, an attempt at questioning the irrefutable evidence on the Holocaust. To first question “What proof exists that the Nazis practiced genocide or deliberately killed six million Jews?”, “The IHR says:
None. The only evidence is the post-war testimony of individual ‘survivors’. This testimony is contradictory, and no ‘survivor’ claims to have actually witnessed any gassing. There are no contemporaneous documents and no hard evidence whatsoever: no mounds of ashes, no crematoria capable of disposing of millions of corpses, no piles of clothes, no human soap, no lamp shades made of human skin, no records, no credible demographic statistics”.
This is neither disinformation nor distorting reality. This is a reimagining, rewriting and rethinking the past. The IHR is comparable to the Records Department of 1984, where main character Winston Smith replaces truths with lies that are meant to become absolute truths, along with the changing of events, facts and figures undertaken by the Ministry of Truth. Morally speaking, Holocaust denial is also a highly disrespectful act towards Holocaust survivors, victims, and heroes.
ALTERNATIVE FACTS
Another parallel to 1984 comes from the USA. An interview that will hardly be forgotten is that of former Counsellor Kellyanne Conway at a Meet the Press interview in November 2017, when she used the neologism “alternative facts” to defend former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer’s falsehood on behalf of former President Donald Trump. Countless lies have been told but what is most impressive is Mr. Trump’s ability to doublethink, that is, holding two contradictory beliefs or opinions and believing in both simultaneously. Doublethink is Donald Trump believing that “3 million people voted fraudulently [in the 2016 elections] while also believing that his win was historic in nature”. “Alternative facts” mean alternative truths, therefore not truths by definition. “Alternative” facts are falsehoods.
The issue is that they are not just lies. This is evidence of lying while knowing you are lying, ultimately convincing yourself and your supporters that falsehood is the truth. Can this culture of manipulation, omission, and distortion of information escalate into a 1984 reality where truth and falsehood are indistinguishable?
On November 11, 2017, Donald Trump declared: “We’re actually getting very good marks having to do with foreign affairs. There’s nobody that I can think of that I don’t have a very good relationship with”. Now, this is not comparable to Orwell’s Ministry of Peace operations, that is to say, declaring and conducting war(s) while denying being at war with other countries. However, 2017 brought a lot of tension between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un. While giving each other funny nicknames, “little rocket man” for Kim Jong-un and “old lunatic” for Donald Trump, they engaged in a nuclear weapon competition and Mr. Trump declared: “the United States has great strength and patience, but if it is forced to defend itself and its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea”, at his first UN General Assembly. Nonetheless, there is nobody Mr. Trump can think of that he doesn’t have a very good relationship with. This is yet another example of doublethink and alternative facts that do not align with the reality of the United States and Donald Trump’s relationships with other countries at the time.
Alternative facts seem to be used as a tool of manipulation in Russia as well. If you are wondering what Russians watch on television in the morning sipping their coffee or in the evening at dinner, that is not the war in Ukraine. While other countries are being swamped by shocking and painful images and videos of war, that Ukrainians are living on their skin, Russia’s news outlets barely show a euphemism of the conflict. The Ukrainian war is not a war; it is a “special operation”. According to The New Yorker, “the communications-oversight authority demanded that ten media outlets, including TV Rain and Novaya Gazeta, […] remove reports that described the war as a war, or else providers would block their websites and impose fines”. This is done to avoid sharing “misinformation” about the war in Ukraine, essentially, sharing truths that contrast the government’s lies, or as formally declared, the official state reports. Russia is filtering information, distorting reality, and giving “alternative facts”. This rhetoric resembles “war is peace”, part of the Ingsoc Party’s slogan, and alludes to the Ministry of Peace of 1984. The Russian government started a war “without provocation, without justification, without necessity”, while denying being at war. This premeditated attack commenced in 2014 with the annexation of Crimea and the attacks in the Donbas, making the invasion and absolute control of Ukraine Russia’s next-in-line goal.
BIG BROTHER AND MEDIA CONTROL
Social media empowers citizens around the world. While on the one hand users provide tech giants with invaluable data, these tech giants give individuals the opportunity to make their voices heard, promoting freedom of speech, allowing free and global sharing of information, and providing powerful tools to demand and bring about change. To hinder change from happening and disempower Russians, Russia has banned access to Twitter and Facebook and restricted access to BBC News. There are no direct flights to Europe. The only way out of the country is by car or train. Innocent Russian civilians have lost freedom of speech and power.
Similarly, in 1984, Big Brother and the Ingsoc Party obtain total control over Oceania and its people by manipulating the media, especially newspapers, and impeding freedom of speech in every form, including personal diaries. Complete manipulation and control disempowered individuals, who lost their ability to think, react and express ideas, opinions and thoughts. This situation is comparable to Russia’s as media control inevitably results in ordinary people becoming powerless. This is worse than 1984 because it is not fiction. This is the reality of one of the most powerful countries in Europe and the world.
A further step would be questioning the implications of living in a Big Brother world, where information is filtered and controlled. Power abuse to manipulate and control information leads to gaining more power: power over individuals’ thoughts, opinions, and actions. This is not only manipulation of information but also manipulation of individuals. Russian soldiers have been manipulated and deceived into believing the trip to Ukraine was a military training. Soldiers expected to be welcomed as “liberators”. The reality is that Russian soldiers have been tricked by the Russian authorities, who declared Ukraine is under the abusive control of fascist forces, hence needing help from Russians to bring them freedom. Nonetheless, while Russian soldiers were initially victims of power abuse themselves, now the Russian soldiers and mercenaries carry the moral and legal responsibility for the actions undertaken on Ukrainian soil and on its people. The United Nations established The Independent International Commission of Inquiry to investigate human rights violations in Ukraine.
Unlike Holocaust denial, George Orwell’s predictions are far from being fictitious. We have materialised “1984”, creating a world dominated by dangerous and unpredictable superpowers, a world that allows countries and individuals with harmful intentions to succeed. A world dominated by lies, injustice, and breaches of human rights. With countries turning their backs on each other and putting at stake millions of lives, personal interests and quests for power are prioritised. Today is extremely unstable and the future uncertain. Will the current geopolitical climate get progressively worse? Will the world fall into the hands of totalitarian regimes? Will we be the protagonists of a 1984 world?
Reference to the sources can be found here
