1984, a Lesson to be Taught for Eternity
(A work in progress)
1984 is a story that has been held as a “what-if” ever since its conception, a tell-tale warning of how George Orwell saw the world potentially trembling towards in 1949, when the book was written. I believe that looking into the world that is often deliberated, and instead of looking at the practical methods of control used, we used the book as a loose guideline, we can see many, many similarities in our current world to the world of 1984.
Something fascinating about the differences in the world of 1984 and our current modern world, is the methods used to keep the proles productive. We, as people, have so deeply instilled a hustle culture that we keep ourselves accountable to be productive, not even for our own benefit, but primarily to the benefit of the well off. “The Prince” (Machiavelli, 1532) speaks in depth of the use of fear to keep people productive and happy. We have made a culture in which you do not have to fear the state if you are an unproductive member of society, but you have to fear your neighbors and social ostracism if you are not productive. It makes the job of the government much, much easier to keep the people working and busy, as they have their own desires to be productive to the ideals that have been made on a cultural level. This hustle culture becomes a double edged sword, where your desires inherently become selfish, and it makes it easier to do the next point I’ll get to. I believe this hustle culture has killed the ability for a majority of humans to truly give themselves into what they believe, and instead only think of themselves, which is ironically the exact opposite of Big Brothers methods, however they are both effective in doing what is desired in each individual case. The government affords us many freedoms to give the appearance of choice, which then leads to the organization of hate towards people of opposing viewpoints as it is believed that their opinions actually make a difference in the world that affects themselves.
One of the biggest methods of brainwashing in 1984 was the use of a consistent enemy of the state, using the enemy as an excuse for the need to keep the poor more famished and keep them from being well off. Now, in the US, we can see this in foreign entities, such as Russia, or even middle eastern extremists (see 9/11, and the succeeding invasions and conflicts). But, I personally have a belief that the main enemy we are being confronted with in this modern world are those of the opposing political party (thank you two-party system). Whatever party you align with, it is shoved down our throats that the opposing party is the source of all problems in the current state. So, instead of being prompted to make systemic changes which represent the whole of the nation, the wealthy can keep this advantage by keeping the people against each other, and keeping a consensus topic at all times to be a divisive debate. I do not believe that politicians are inherently evil, or that they all have malice intent in their actions. However, I do have to question how public servants can represent the public when our own culture has inherently gone against them doing so. There are, and always will be those who genuinely want actions that promote the well being of those proles, but they will always be outnumbered against those who follow the predisposed notions our culture promotes, and those who the culture promotes will always be benefited personally from the favors of those rich and powerful in the nation.
Something that most people seem to not realize in 1984, is that not everyone is being watched constantly like Winston and Julia are. It is said that, while initiatives will be put in place for a majority of people to instill cultures that benefit the causes of Big Brother, 85% of the population is left to primarily their own devices, as they are not a threat. They aren’t organized, they are not collected in wealth, and they have a general distrust of one another, prompting the impossibility to actually organize effectively if they even wanted to. In our modern world, people who are not ingrained into that hustle culture of rising to success through hard work are inherently distrusted by those who believe it is the live or die method of living one’s life. We keep each other in check. The divisive differences in beliefs also prevents a banner being raised for people to flock to, as the other side is deemed as evil with their decisions that we are under the belief make a difference in the world. We keep each other from assembling to make change.
1984 has been a story that catches the ire of many not for its main plot, but the background that the story is set in, and the fascinations of dystopian worlds. The story itself is a love story (well, anti-love story I guess, but still), but the catch that gets people hooked is the world, which I believe is not as different from ours as we may like to tell ourselves. I strongly believe that every person who has the ability, should read 1984 and the prince, not to fantasize over the worlds proposed (fantasy world for 1984, being a person of power in The Prince), but to view them as a warning for the current world we live in.
Dylan Pohovey