Welcome to Dystopia

With increased frequency, I hear comparisons of George Orwell’s novel 1984, and the reality of today. It seems that modern society mirrors much of the dystopian horror envisioned by Orwell as we endure ubiquitous surveillance, political distortions of language for political advantage, and the twisted manipulation of information so that it no longer resembles truth. Orwell’s citizens of Oceana were subjected involuntarily to surveillance while todays society freely shares its private data in exchange for convenience and entertainment.

In 1984 we had the Thought Police. In 2026 we have big tech data brokers. In the novel there were government telescreens that monitored all activity, where here in the present we have public and private CCTV supplemented by millions of smartphone cameras and GPS locators. The 1984 Ministry of Truth deleted and rewrote historical archives and today we have a government banning books, removing historical references, removing laws and regulations that even use certain words like woke, equity, or human rights. That government also uses propaganda machines to create deep fakesand fake news to feed algorithmic echo chambers. In both the novel and modern reality, we see the essence of 1984’s “Newspeak” redefining language to fit a desired narrative.

While 1984 used actual physical torture, terror campaigns, and food rationing to demand compliance, today’s compliance methodology uses wage restrictions, high priced education, with limited access to healthcare to achieve the same goal and advance income disparity. In 1984, citizens were forced to take two minutes out of their day for “Two Minutes Hate,” during which time they were forced to watch videos of state enemies and express rage.

Today we willingly watch our televisions and smartphones for “Hours of Hate.” The only difference seems to be that we can either support our Big Brother government or maintain our sanity in opposition. We have a president whose use of "doublethink" (holding two contradictory beliefs simultaneously) is a regular part of every day dialogue. We are subjected to his spoken or tweeted doublethink sometimes in the same stream of consciousness. We have arrived at the predicted 1984 dystopian world via a slightly different path with a similar outcome.

A similar analogy could be made to Aldous Huxley’s 1932 Brave New World. Huxley more accurately predicted a world controlled by pleasure, convenience, and endless consumerism. Huxley’s government provided a drug called "soma" to help avoid sadness, anxiety, and to prevent deep reflection. In the twenty-first century we have social media algorithms that also deliver micro doses of dopamine to “dopeify” the masses.

I often feel that I am living in a Cliff Notes combined analyses of 1984, Brave New World, Animal Farm, Soylent Green, Brazil, Fahrenheit 451, Mad Max, Lord of the Flies, and Hunger Games.