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New Year, Yet Same Old, Same Old
Recognizing the lies that bind us
A new year, and more beliefs to discard. More awareness of the propaganda that has previously escaped my awareness. The past year, 2022, was so reminiscent of George Orwell’s 1984, that I wonder if we are already so much like the people in the fictional Oceania, that hope for justice is truly no more than a dream.
Published in 1949 . . .1984 is perhaps Orwell’s most famous work. The story of Winston Smith, who rewrites Times editorials at the Ministry of Truth to suit the Party’s version of events, 1984 introduced ‘Big Brother’, ‘thought police’, ‘Room 101’, ‘doublethink’ and ‘newspeak’ to the English language. A satire on totalitarianism, 1984 is a testament to the potential power of modern political systems, and the dark side of human nature: as O’Brien tells Winston, ‘the object of power is power’.source
More and more journalists have been censored and Julian Assange remains in his prison cell. The few truth-tellers that are still writing and speaking out, have been more and more “disappeared.”
