I don’t remember reading 1984 (but plan to) but do remember reading “animal farm” which was required in my school. I see a lot of the same things going on today in politics, politicians, & the news media that was happening on the farm. Isn’t it amazing how easy it is “they” lie to our faces while they are taking away our freedom, murdering us, & committing crimes against humanity against us?
Now would be a good time to study how previously censored, communist-controlled societies emerged out from that way of thinking. See what we can learn about what to do to lift this dystopian mental fog.
Which is worse? Disagreeing with someone or disagreeing with someone's right to disagree. Those on the wrong side of right don't even know the difference.
So there you go we are all equal. No one can change that unless you disagree. And that is your human privilege no matter we’re you are on this planet. 🌎
Great writing Jenna. Yes de facto we were more free in 1984, but our perceptions were just as managed as they are now, because Woodrow Wilson hired Edward Bernays to manage the public perceptions in about 1918.
Though the snooping tendency of government has always been present, it was limited by technology. As Louis Brandeis pointed out so many times a century ago, for many in government courts the constitution and First Amendment are but a parchment barrier. Edward Snowden the world how the government has no regard for the letter or spirit of the rule of law.
I read '1984' in the year itself. I was 17 at the time. I now realise that the freedoms that my generation enjoyed back then will never return. There was no fearmongering of 'pandemics', no hype about climate change being an 'ermergency' (when it wasn't and still isn't), in fact very little media attention to climate issues at all.
For us 1980's teenagers the main global concern was the possibility of nuclear war, as the Cowboy President, his Texan sidekick and their cronies genuinely believed that a nuclear was winnable. Then as now we were supposed to fear the Russians, but I never did and still don't. The main political issue for my generation during 1984/85 was supporting the miners in their battle with the Thatcher government.
But I'm British and most of my generation never gave a toss one way or the other about the Common Market, the EEC, unlike the current generation who obsessively support the EU. Oh well!
How disconcerting to have someone with the surname McCarthy earnestly assuring us that impositions on speech are the domain not of capitalism, but communism. But dominant social narratives are hard to disinvest oneself from.
When I went to the University of Virginia for my nursing degree (grad 1982), the nursing program had an odd 200 level philosophy course as a required part of the curriculum. It was "History and Philosophy of Science." While a number of my frustrated classmates worked diligently to eliminate this difficult course from our curriculum, I gradually learned to enjoy it. It helped me gain a broader perspective and a more long-term view of science - which I believe was the goal of whomever added it to our degree requirements. These many years later, during the COVID pandemic, I thought of the lessons I had learned about the Copernican Revolution during that class. Our government and the medical establishment were pushing an inaccurate narrative of "Science," while censoring and even causing difficulties for those who provided (accurate) alternatives to the current consensus of "Science." Meanwhile, my nursing alumni publication proudly announced that the school's nursing students were administering COVID vaccines. I wondered if any of this current crop of nursing students had had an objection to this particular vaccine - would the school have allowed them to opt out of giving them? I doubt it. I am extremely grateful for the education I received - but that only makes it more painful to see that current thinking within science and medicine has become so rigid and narrow-minded. Lives were needlessly lost during COVID because of this. True science requires creativity, critical thinking, and an openness to questions/debate; characteristics increasingly absent from the academic classrooms of today. The reports from my homeschooled sons' college classes are dismal. In my youngest son's psychology course last fall, the professor compared anti-vaxxers to "flat earthers." How do you reason with such a person? My son already knows you can't.
We have reached a threshold of, I do not when actually, that is a hot wire even among families and friends. The hot wire which keeps us from freely speaking. Free speech is when the hot wire bursts into flames 🔥
And everyone present puts up their fists for a fight. Not a conversation or even a debate but a hot flaming fight.
I am a zen Buddhist priest who said such a comment to students of Zen when each person heartily agreed we would all jump to fight. The air got plenty hot and no one said a word.
Amen!! All the dystopian novels were prophetic- “the Truth will out”!
And 1984 Rocked! Loved my 80’s hair!😂
100% excellent article. The heart of the entire matter
I don’t remember reading 1984 (but plan to) but do remember reading “animal farm” which was required in my school. I see a lot of the same things going on today in politics, politicians, & the news media that was happening on the farm. Isn’t it amazing how easy it is “they” lie to our faces while they are taking away our freedom, murdering us, & committing crimes against humanity against us?
Every time I now hear someone utter, land of the free, I say - think again!
Now would be a good time to study how previously censored, communist-controlled societies emerged out from that way of thinking. See what we can learn about what to do to lift this dystopian mental fog.
I'm with you 99 percent. Would adjust to make it 100 percent with the following (to me it is important)
"The beauty of a Constitutional Republic [democracy] is that if you consider Wilde a pompous blowhard, you’re free to say so."
SO the big question (and I don’t have the answer): What can we do about it except leave computers and TV behind and talk to our neighbors?
Which is worse? Disagreeing with someone or disagreeing with someone's right to disagree. Those on the wrong side of right don't even know the difference.
So there you go we are all equal. No one can change that unless you disagree. And that is your human privilege no matter we’re you are on this planet. 🌎
Great writing Jenna. Yes de facto we were more free in 1984, but our perceptions were just as managed as they are now, because Woodrow Wilson hired Edward Bernays to manage the public perceptions in about 1918.
Though the snooping tendency of government has always been present, it was limited by technology. As Louis Brandeis pointed out so many times a century ago, for many in government courts the constitution and First Amendment are but a parchment barrier. Edward Snowden the world how the government has no regard for the letter or spirit of the rule of law.
Freedom is gone it will take decades or even a century to gain it back.
I read '1984' in the year itself. I was 17 at the time. I now realise that the freedoms that my generation enjoyed back then will never return. There was no fearmongering of 'pandemics', no hype about climate change being an 'ermergency' (when it wasn't and still isn't), in fact very little media attention to climate issues at all.
For us 1980's teenagers the main global concern was the possibility of nuclear war, as the Cowboy President, his Texan sidekick and their cronies genuinely believed that a nuclear was winnable. Then as now we were supposed to fear the Russians, but I never did and still don't. The main political issue for my generation during 1984/85 was supporting the miners in their battle with the Thatcher government.
But I'm British and most of my generation never gave a toss one way or the other about the Common Market, the EEC, unlike the current generation who obsessively support the EU. Oh well!
How disconcerting to have someone with the surname McCarthy earnestly assuring us that impositions on speech are the domain not of capitalism, but communism. But dominant social narratives are hard to disinvest oneself from.
Jenna, you’re not very funny; you’re serious. The New World Order is already here.
When I went to the University of Virginia for my nursing degree (grad 1982), the nursing program had an odd 200 level philosophy course as a required part of the curriculum. It was "History and Philosophy of Science." While a number of my frustrated classmates worked diligently to eliminate this difficult course from our curriculum, I gradually learned to enjoy it. It helped me gain a broader perspective and a more long-term view of science - which I believe was the goal of whomever added it to our degree requirements. These many years later, during the COVID pandemic, I thought of the lessons I had learned about the Copernican Revolution during that class. Our government and the medical establishment were pushing an inaccurate narrative of "Science," while censoring and even causing difficulties for those who provided (accurate) alternatives to the current consensus of "Science." Meanwhile, my nursing alumni publication proudly announced that the school's nursing students were administering COVID vaccines. I wondered if any of this current crop of nursing students had had an objection to this particular vaccine - would the school have allowed them to opt out of giving them? I doubt it. I am extremely grateful for the education I received - but that only makes it more painful to see that current thinking within science and medicine has become so rigid and narrow-minded. Lives were needlessly lost during COVID because of this. True science requires creativity, critical thinking, and an openness to questions/debate; characteristics increasingly absent from the academic classrooms of today. The reports from my homeschooled sons' college classes are dismal. In my youngest son's psychology course last fall, the professor compared anti-vaxxers to "flat earthers." How do you reason with such a person? My son already knows you can't.
We have reached a threshold of, I do not when actually, that is a hot wire even among families and friends. The hot wire which keeps us from freely speaking. Free speech is when the hot wire bursts into flames 🔥
And everyone present puts up their fists for a fight. Not a conversation or even a debate but a hot flaming fight.
I am a zen Buddhist priest who said such a comment to students of Zen when each person heartily agreed we would all jump to fight. The air got plenty hot and no one said a word.
I love your work. Don’t give up.
Fly