Professor Jean Seaton, Director of The Orwell Foundation, has said:
"In Nineteen Eighty-Four, Orwell posed the most terrifying of all questions: could people be brought to really believe (rather than merely pretend to believe) the lies they are told? Seventy-Five years later we are at the start of a roller-coaster experiment with our minds as we battle, rather feebly, to manage the information technologies that already do much to control us and our societies, alongside the resurgence of authoritarianism." What we learnt from the Covid plandemic is that the disease ploy is among the most powerful to produce compliance from the masses. At that time there was a widespread consensual trust in the "science" by the ordinary people, that vaccines worked, and that meant producing immunity. One would get vaxxed, and become, as one GP I heard proclaim, like a "super-hero," immune. For a time, the lies were believed, and sadly, still are by a large number of people, who will follow the system to their deaths.
Thus, the lockdowns got people worked-over so that to get back to a "normal" life, all that was necessary was the jab, which came as promised by Big Pharma. Only thing was, that the vax did not prevent transmission of the Covid infection. And it was soon recognised by the mainstream that immunity waned, so more vaxxes were need. But, the vaxxed up seemed to be getting Covid a number of times, as if the immune system was no longer recognising the viral protein as a pathogen. And, then, after a couple of years, excess mortality was higher than ever seen outside of war years, and a whole array of cancers and prion diseases emerged.
Western societies were already moving in the direction charted by George Orwell in 1984, produced mainly by the race/immigration and hate laws, creating an effective Ministry of Truth, with thought Crimes, all run by Big Brother, or is it Big Sister? But Covid was the turning point for pushing through totalitarian controls, all of which can be rolled out at any time.
George Orwell would be stunned at how far the West has fallen down the 1984 path, and beyond. Australia now has most of the elements in place, and the rest of history will be fighting this and getting back to square one of freedom. And man could have chosen the alternative destiny of heading for the stars, instead of battling it out in the mud and trenches.
https://nakedemperor.substack.com/p/on-the-75th-anniversary-of-orwells
"75 years ago, George Orwell's novel '1984' was published. In the book, writing became the ultimate act of subversion and we started to see that happening in real life during the pandemic. Fortunately, enough people fought back and a few places, such as Substack, remained where we could express our opinions.
Professor Jean Seaton, Director of The Orwell Foundation, said:
"In Nineteen Eighty-Four, Orwell posed the most terrifying of all questions: could people be brought to really believe (rather than merely pretend to believe) the lies they are told? Seventy-Five years later we are at the start of a roller-coaster experiment with our minds as we battle, rather feebly, to manage the information technologies that already do much to control us and our societies, alongside the resurgence of authoritarianism".
The pandemic certainly showed us that people could be brought to really believe the lies that they were told.
Big Brother Watch, a non-party British civil liberties and privacy campaigning organisation, does a stellar job at holding authorities to account. To celebrate '1984's birthday they have produced a list of five predictions, that Orwell made, that seem all too familiar today.
5.The Telescreen - Everyone in 1984 is required to have a television set in their home. It pumps out state propaganda and watches and listens everything they do. There was no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. Today a vast surveillance network system monitors and tracks you. Your phone and smart tech records every decision you make and archives it.
CCTV watches you wherever you are and now live facial recognition is tracking your movements.
4.Ministry of Truth - This state department manipulates and alters facts and information to serve the interest of The Party. "Who controls the past, controls the future. Who controls the present, controls the past".
During the pandemic, the UK Government's secretive counter-disinformation unit was monitoring and recording opposition to government policies. Politicians, the press and the public should all be free to scrutinise the Government, without their speech being logged in government reports.
3.Thought Police - A thought crime, in 1984, is the act of thinking outside the limits of what is accepted by The Party. The Thought Police stamp this out and crack down on freedom of thought. Now, government's are finding novel ways to police dissent through obscure technologies, for example, cutting off their banking.
What we spend our money on offers deep insights into who we are and what we think. Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) will allow anyone with access to see what we have spent our money on or stop us spending if we go against government policy.
2.Big Brother - This totalitarian leader created fear and enforced discipline through constant surveillance. Digital ID could have one of the biggest Big Brother surveillance effects on our society. They can be used for mass surveillance, to curb liberties and to shape people's decisions.
Tied with facial recognition, digital ID would mark a whole new era of surveillance by getting rid of any privacy we have left.
1.Newspeak - The regime used newspeak to restrict freedom of thought and control the population. The language is used to hide the truth by creating false realities which serve to confuse and censor the public. This is happening today under the guise of public safety. In reality, public safety is used for state overreach.
"1984 was not supposed to be an instruction manual but so much of Orwell's writing rings true today".