Examples Of Totalitarianism In George Orwell's 2012-2016

1984 Is the New 2016

Welcome to the year 1949, George Orwell has just published a novel about the totalitarianism future of 1984. At this moment in time, the United States is at the end of World War II, and The Great Depression. The 1940’s had a new wave of great technology, such as the first color television, an electronic digital computer, microwave oven, and the atomic bomb. With these new technological advancements, it’s no surprise the people were scared of what was to come of 1984.

Fast forward to 1984. In this time period, not much is similar to George Orwell’s predictions. Still technology is advancing every day. In the 80’s, cell phones were not readily available, people used phone booths and home phones. Some of the biggest technological

Big Brother is considered to be the leader of the Party. AKA President Obama. However, the United States government is the antonym of totalitarianism. In 2013, a former CIA agent, Edward Snowden, leaked classified information suggesting the government spies on its people, similar to how Big Brother is “always watching”. Big Brother monitors the people through telescreens. In this century, we have social media which keeps records of anything we post online, Snowden shares with us that the NSA can tap into our phone calls and emails, and video cameras are everywhere, watching for thieves and misbehavior. Do you really think no one is watching

Newspeak is the official language of Oceania, originally adopted to remove any rebellious thoughts. However, our current generation has our own ‘Newspeak’ informally called ‘text talk’. (Beale, 2013)Teenagers, like myself, say words like LOL (Laughing Out Loud), even though we aren’t even laughing. Doublethink is another term reviewed in Orwell’s novel. Many politicians in our time have mastered this. Politicians use doublethink to convince the voters to elect them. We live in the new age of technology, and you can tell we’re addicted to it. Texting becomes more common than meeting in person, and newspapers are a thing of the past. The way technology is forming American culture to become, I am not surprised at how similar our current world is to George Orwell’s 1984.

Censorship is a huge factor in the totalitarianism effort. In the novel, Orwell created several ministries, one in which was the Ministry of Truth. The Ministry of Truth is responsible for updating the history books to make the party appear spectacular. In our current world, newscasters water down the news and don’t share the entire story. The extent between the censorship of 1984 and 2016 is varying, however the censorship is still there. Our government agencies help our leaders to hide from their mistakes and consequences such as the party and Big Brother in