George Orwell wrote a dystopian novel named 1984 that was published in the year 1949. The book received much criticism for a negative backdrop, disturbing theme of what would happen if the world fell into wrong hands. Critics were not happy with the dark theme of life in the totalitarian regime. But who knew how close humanity can get to nightmares of the past.
The book starts with the official motto of Oceania, a nation in the dystopian world, which goes like this -
WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
The war in Middle East has been funded for decades on the very same idea that to maintain peace war is necessary. We don’t see any sign of peace there in the near future. Winston Smith, the protagonist, is an employee of the MINISTRY OF TRUTH. The ministry is charged with the duty of adjusting history to present circumstances of shifting alliances. Every personal mail or letter would go through close scrutiny in the Ministry. Polish government passing resolution to correct history of their role in the holocaust is the recent example of how people in power are ready to rewrite history. The Snowden leaks revealed how NSA would go through every mail, message and pictures of US citizens in the name of national security.
Then there is the ominous presence of BIG BROTHER that inspired reality TV. The true BIG BROTHER in any sense would be social media giants who know everything about us- what we like, where we live and now how we will look at an age we might not reach (thanks to face app). Isn’t that some power to wield?
Oppressive regime needs an adversary, well thanks to social media. One post and online mob is on its way. The TWO MINUTE HATE in 1984 foresaw it, it consisted of session planned to let your rage and frustration of boring daily life come out through name calling and verbal abuse towards a non-existing enemy, a well thought part of propaganda.
The novel consisted of an idea of government telescreens with dual purpose, steady stream of government propaganda 24/7 and also had inbuilt device that would allow BIG BROTHER to keep an eye on you at all times. This device we now call CCTV could detect THOUGHT CRIME, yes you read it right. Having an opinion against the ruling party would alert THOUGHT POLICE, which can land you in jail and will probably get you an anti-national tag. Well that sounds very familiar. The Chinese video surveillance, largest system of its kind, is closest to what George Orwell had imagined.
Our ignorance to read user agreements and understand their implications when signing on to the websites or apps have provided the social media sites with considerable powers. The platforms that were supposed to be paradigm of freedom are now being used to influence our decision making ability.
Flooding timelines with fake news and viral messages targeted against opponents in elections makes it difficult to choose without bias. What’s the point of having democracy if we cannot choose freely? One thing for sure is the fact that this classic by George Orwell is more relevant today than it ever was.
The eerie similarity of today's world with what was thought to be a nightmare can not be a good sign.
This is when we believe or have a perception that we are living in a democratic world that runs on wheels of globalization and technology. How come the two happen at the same time ? Well one thing that most of us didn't get was it is not the tyranny over people that was making life miserable in Oceania, it's tyranny over information and technology that made things difficult for any opposition to be in any state of leverage or competition.
Certainly one’s ignorance is another’s strength. It seems like that future relies on our boundary of ignorance, if there is any.