The complete failure of ‘1984’ – By Auron McIntyre (The Blaze) / Oct 25, 2023
George Orwell’s novel serves the role of containment, fencing in thought about how a population might be controlled.
Progressive media outlets are celebrating the release of “Julia,” a new feminist retelling of “1984” authorized by George Orwell’s estate. One glowing review from the Los Angeles Times declared that the new novel outclassed Orwell’s dystopian classic and suggested that it should take the original’s place in high school English curricula.
The irony is almost too much to bear. Perhaps the 20th century’s most famous novel about propaganda, in which the main character’s job is to update the historical record to conform to the current government narrative, has been updated to conform with modern propaganda. The media, which in theory serve as the safeguard against exactly this form of centralized information manipulation, are instead its most enthusiastic cheerleaders. Though we live in a society whose conception of authoritarianism has been shaped almost entirely by “1984,” Orwell’s novel has failed to slow our rush headlong toward centralized state control.
Humans are narrative creatures who do not interact with facts in a vacuum. Stories are critical because they create a shared context and vocabulary in which we can place the facts that we encounter. Even going back to Plato, most civilizations have understood that the stories they collectively tell themselves shape the very conceptual landscape on which people approach issues.
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