George Orwell's 1984 for Real

George Orwell wrote his prophetic masterpiece 1984 barely three years after Europe was liberated from the oppressive grip of Nazi socialism.

Victory notwithstanding, Orwell remained preoccupied with the ease and speed with which a nation's freedom could be lost.

Freedom's strength was also liberty's fragility — a free people could choose to relinquish freedom.

This poignant lesson was Orwell's wake-up call that the great draconian nightmare hadn't ended — it was merely postponed.

A first step in the loss of freedom is the voluntary loss of privacy.

In 1984, the populace of Oceania is constantly monitored by the Party via omnipresent telescreens.

Today's smartphones are the counterparts of these invasive telescreens, tracking every user's location, consumer preferences, and personal habits.

Today, governments often rely on fear to control the population.

In his techno-thriller State of Fear, Michael Crichton elaborates on the overwhelming role fear can play in government control.

"Never let a crisis go to waste" is a common paraphrase of Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals.

Most crises are difficult to elevate to doomsday pitch.

Global warming, for instance, lacks the immediacy and personal impact to promote widespread fear-mongering.

Yet, on occasion, a crisis may arise that strikes fear even in the fearless.

COVID-19 is a case in point. Government lockdowns that would normally be impossible are now mostly accepted.

Another powerful tool for achieving group control is hatred.

Like fear, hatred's consuming obsession can overwhelm large groups of people into addictive frenzy.

In 1984, the citizens of Oceania are subjected to daily "Two Minute Hate" sessions and a weeklong Hate Holiday.

This practice has been carried to extremes in recent years with the nearly 24-7 "Trump" hate forums that are broadcast by even once respected news outlets.

Newspeak is Oceania's official language, a linguistic tool that fosters the Party's ideologies of English Socialism.

Its aim is to limit thought.

"Orthodoxy," Orwell wrote, "means not thinking — not needing to think."

Today we call this groupthink, something that ironically abounds on college campuses.

Individualism in Oceania is equated with eccentricity and given the derogatory Newspeak term ownlife.

Organizations like BLM, Planned Parenthood, and Antifa rely on doublethink, a Newspeak term describing the ability to simultaneously hold two opposing opinions.

Planned Parenthood is hardly about parenting, despite its child-centered name.

Groups like Antifa adopt names evoking noble-sounding causes to shield their radical activities from criticism — a tactic used by terrorist organizations like al-Qaeda, who hunker down in schools and hospitals to avoid being attacked.