In George Orwell's dystopian story
1984, the central character Winston Smith is a member of the Outer Party who
works in the Ministry of Truth rewriting past news articles. The narrative is
set in Airstrip One (once Great Britain), a province of the superstate Oceania.
Life in Oceania is a world of perpetual war, omnipresent surveillance,
thought control, and public manipulation. An elite and privileged Inner Party
governs the superstate through merciless persecution of individualism and
independent thinking or "thoughtcrime". The leader of the Inner Party
is Big Brother, a personified entity with no physical presence. Four
omnipresent Ministries are the instruments that control all aspects of life in
Oceania:
1. The Ministry of Peace ensures perpetual war and directs atrocity.
2. The Ministry of Plenty manipulates shortage through rationing and
deliberate starvation. It subjects the outer party, the general citizenry, and
the proletariats (the uneducated working class) to sub-standard living
conditions while conversely, the Inner Party enjoys luxurious lifestyles.
3. The Ministry of Love manages torture and brainwashing. It ferments
hatred of all 'enemies' of the superstate by publically executing war
prisoners. Transgressors of state rules are tortured to extract meaningless
answers and ultimately dehumanise.
4. The Ministry of Truth is concerned with producing lies. It oversees
propaganda and historical transmutation.
The stark assertion “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU” ensures no one
forgets the rules and interminably reinforces the absolute power of the
totalitarian superstate. The ‘ThoughtPolice’ monitor the citizens of Oceania
through telescreens. Every movement, reflex, facial expression, and reaction
are recorded, all monitored and analysed by the Ministry of Love to uncover
anything that would indicate a ‘thoughtcrime’.
The core ideology of Oceania is Ingsoc (English Socialism or the
English Socialist Party).
The goal of Ingsoc is to enforce total control over the people of
Oceania and, more specifically, their thoughts, desires, and mindsets. The
principles of Newspeak, doublethink, and the mutability of the past are
enshrined in Ingsoc ideology.
The purpose of Newspeak is to constrain the use of language to conform
to the expressions of the mandated world-view and the mental habits of Ingsoc.
The goal is to make all other modes of thought impossible. The control of
language engenders the control of thought.
In the world of today, Orwell’s fictionalised themes and concepts
directly correlate with countless examples that are readily available on the
web. If you are prepared to do your own homework, these lists could be far
longer. The headings repeat Orwell’s thoughts.
Omnipresent Surveillance and Individual Freedom
In the wake of the September 11 attacks, Western governments have
mandated wide-ranging, highly invasive legislation in the name of the “war on
terror”. We have willingly given up personal freedom along with a considerable
proportion of our right to privacy.
Part of this willingness is a conditioned response to the fear of the
unknown - terrorism. Ironically, other factors such as the advances in
technology, and the ubiquity of social media, have also played a major role in
reducing our rights to privacy and freedom.
Governments and corporations spy on our private lives in a multitude of
ways. Tax file numbers, medicare numbers, driver’s license details, email
addresses, mobile numbers, and postcodes are part of everyday transactions.
Closed circuit cameras invisibly record our actions. Use your credit card and
the transaction is stored for two years. Airports invade our personal space and
possessions (try to stop an airport search and see how little your rights
count). Drones fly overhead with cameras attached. Silently and unremittingly,
data collection takes place without our permission.
Our communication systems are highly sophisticated and ubiquitous. In
addition to the landline phone, we have mobile smartphones and tablets, smart
TVs, the Internet, electronic payment systems, satellite navigation, and a host
of other devices that are less obvious. The internet of things harbours unknown
possibilities for obtaining information about us. Social media sites record our
“likes” and mouse click choices.
Today's websites such as Facebook track this information, while
governments and private individuals hack into our computers and install malware
to discover and track what they can.
Ever-present surveillance cameras spy on the average person as they go
about their daily business. Walk down the street almost anywhere and networked
CCTV cameras will record your movements. CCTV cameras are now equipped with
facial recognition software. Many personal devices have video cameras that are
easily hacked. Although they serve a useful purpose, these recordings occur without
our knowledge and any agency can decide to use the inherent information to
incriminate or coerce us for reasons known only to them.
Recent legislation titled The Telecommunications (Interception and
Access) Amendment (Data Retention) Act 2015, mandates that metadata generated
from all communication and internet activities are now accessible to
organisations approved by the Federal Attorney General. By law, internet
service providers (ISPs) and phone companies must keep detailed information for
two years. The metadata (time, date, telephone number, url, and duration) is
stored in databases that are accessible only to governments and unknown persons
working in unaccountable organisations such as ASIO. The same metadata can also
assist to track down copyright infringement.
For example, the Victorian Minister for Racing recently applied to
allow the racing industry to access metadata. According to Edward Snowden, our
telephone calls and browsing histories are accessible to any NSA analyst. His
revelations included the news that Australia listened in on the conversations
of the Indonesian President.
There are claims that if you do not have anything to hide, then there
is no need to be concerned. The fact is, when a government agency can monitor
everyone's communications and activities, we have all become suspects. In
reality, we have no conclusive idea of the extent of the surveillance that
intrudes into our everyday activities. Nor do we know its intended purpose.
Propaganda, Doublethink, Lies, and Public Manipulation
The mainstream media (MSM) views itself as reputable and credible, yet
serves the interests of state and corporate bodies. The absence of condemnation
of illegal wars, lies, the Islamic cult, and climate change aptly demonstrates
their unspoken biases. They present news and reports in ways that ensure the
audience passively internalises partisan and ideologically skewed versions of
events. Politicians no longer keep to their promises.
When pressed for a concise answer, they invariably avoid direct
responses. By consciously deflecting the truth, they deceive the public.
This practice is the essence of doublethink.
Climate change is a prime example of how the media and politicians have
conditioned the public to accept it as fact regardless of the history of
recorded and known experiences. Viv Forbes’ (PP 02/12/15) timely quote from Dr
Tim Ball superbly illuminates the agenda behind these coercions: - “Paris is an
Orwellian gathering of people who want to save the planet, but who really want
to rule the world.”
The monotonous repetition of ‘islam is the religion of peace’ and the
convenient separation of ‘Islam’ from ‘terrorism’ that exude from politicians
and the media alike, point to a level of collusion that should never occur in a
free and open, democratic society.
The tactics of presenting useless statistics, incorrect economic
predictions, and slanted opinions polls as ‘legitimate news’ leaves audiences
with an impression that ‘things are ok’, and that there is full agreement on
the populist perspective. Misleading headlines that link to uncorrelated
content attract readers conditioned by Facebook and Twitter to reading short
excerpts or abbreviated opinion pieces. The title creates a false impression
that instantly alters the reader’s understanding of the associated spurious
news item.
One of the great illusions of today is the touted benefits of the
information age: that of on-demand and instant access. Free and open access to
information does not guarantee the accuracy and integrity of what we read. We
must always be mindful of the fact that we live in a media age in which
incessant government and corporate propaganda is at once insidious, contagious,
influential, and overwhelming. “The information age has actually given rise to
a media age. We have war by media; censorship by media; demonology by media;
retribution by media; diversion by media – all a surreal assembly line of
obedient clichés and false assumptions.” (Pilger, 2014).
Historical Transmutation
The watering down of historical facts in the quest for ‘accurate’,
‘unbiased’ and politically correct accounts of past events, diverts our
attention from the lessons of the past, and risks a dangerous repetition of the
same mistakes. Although animated cartoons at first may seem innocuous forms of
fun and entertainment, they nevertheless influence viewers’ minds regardless of
their age.
Conformity to modern beliefs and agendas has resulted in the removal of
racist, violent, sexist, or historical material from popular animations to
appease contemporary political, political, economic, religious, or racial
biases. For example, the producers of the full-length movie Anastasia were
heavily criticised for distorting the historical facts of Anastasia’s violent
life at the turn of the 20th century.
When Disney announced the production of a live-action version of the
1967 movie “The Jungle Book”, university professors demanded less racism in the
new film. Their contention was that King Louie and the other apes demean black
people.
When first screened, Bert and Ernie of Sesame Street fame were not gay,
but today the cover of the New Yorker magazine depicts these puppets as a gay
couple. Amazon runs the following disclaimer for one of its videos: “Tom and
Jerry shorts may depict some ethnic and racial prejudices that were once
commonplace in American society. Such depictions were wrong then and are wrong
today.” Such attempts to change past perspectives still occur today. Recently,
debate emerged on whether future incarnations of Spiderman’s Peter Parker
should be non-white or gay.
Newspeak, Thought Control, and Persecution
Political correctness is now a standard means of ridicule and verbal
abuse designed to limit freedom of expression and reinforce conformity to
biased, confined ways of thinking. It is almost identical to Newspeak in that
‘politically correct’ language in speech and the written word hedges free
thought. More specifically, it is the modern equivalent of censorship and
thought control. The term ‘PC Police’ is an obvious connection with Orwell’s
ThoughtPolice.
Peer pressure exerted through political correctness is a powerful and
effective weapon for preventing any deviation from ‘socially accepted norms’.
Many opinionated and ill-informed individuals and groups throughout Australia
willingly and swiftly seek to correct perceived infringements on current
(assumed) societal norms. Thus, our society comprises both thought criminals
and thought police, constantly controlling the words and actions of all who
attempt to think for themselves.
Software now constrains our thinking patterns. For example, autocorrect
and autocomplete tools dictate our choice of phraseology. The correction tool
provided in the latest versions of MSWord recommends the removal of male or
female related terms. The limitations imposed by emails and tweets stifle
written communication by obliging users to remove descriptions and explanations
that add depth and meaning to the core words.
SMS texts reduce language use and word choice even further. SMS
shorthand permeates everyday communications and degrades the use of language so
that it no longer conveys the grand and noble ideas it is capable of conveying.
All these tools speak directly to the essence of Newspeak.
Why Does Any of This Matter?
Orwell based the novel 1984 on his experiences and knowledge of
Communism. Marxism underpinned the beginnings of the communist mindset. The
same marxist ideals and their effects on Australian society still exist today.
The essay “Cultural Suppression in Australia” (PP 10/11/15) established part of
this line of thought. Although Orwell's dystopia has not fully materialised,
there are clear signs that the same marxist principles described by Orwell are
reshaping everyday life in Australia and across the Western world.
Whether we choose to believe it or not, we are subject to an
extremely subtle, carefully designed agenda of mind programming,
indoctrination, and brainwashing from the moment of birth, right through to our
death. In the essay to follow, I will expand further on Orwell’s insights and
through additional examples, show that 1984 is much closer than many of us may
have imagined.By
Stephen Quinton
Stephen Quinton's extensive research in the education sector spans 30
years and he is published globally. Stephen was born in Pambula NSW in 1952. He
is now retired in Perth Western Australia. The Pickering Post
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