On January 21, 2017, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer stood in front of representatives of the American media and claimed that Donald Trump’s inauguration drew the largest crowds in history. When photographic evidence and statistics rapidly surfaced to prove the opposite, U.S. Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway quickly jumped to Spicer’s defense, stating that rather than spreading falsehoods, Spicer gave “alternative facts".
In wake of Conway’s statement, 1984 by George Orwell saw an exponential growth in sales. Only a few days after the incident, the novel held the #1 bestseller spot on Amazon, and Penguin Publishing rushed to reprint over 75,000 copies to fulfill the demand. The mid-twentieth century classic centers around a totalitarian world where history is altered, freedom of thought is abolished, and the individual belongs to the all-controlling Party. Much speculation has arisen as to the reasons for the sudden spike of interest in the book, and fingers have been pointed to just about every current event, from the inauguration of President Donald Trump to political upheaval in North Korea. Though pinpointing the exact triggers for the novel’s sudden popularity may be difficult, certain aspects of 1984 are resonating with the public due to trends in western political and social spheres. These aspects of the novel include the idea of the government altering history, the use of language to sway and control the population, and individual privacy being replaced with government surveillance.
In Oceania, the 1984 re-imagining of the United Kingdom, the omnipotent Party is in the habit of rewriting history as they see fit. Winston Smith, the protagonist, works in the Ministry of Truth and is tasked with changing old news articles to shift all past events in the Party’s favour. In one such example, Winston has to rewrite a statement by Big Brother where the political figurehead incorrectly predicted the location of a Eurasian attack. The “rectified” statement changes the prediction such that Big Brother was correct all along. In another instance, Winston rewrites a past speech that referenced a person no longer in existence - likely a rebel now deemed dead and disgraced by the Party - and creates an entirely new citizen named Ogilvy in the process. He notes that due to his work, Ogilvy “would now exist as authentically, and upon the same evidence, as Julius Caesar or Charlemagne.” In short, the primary concern of the Ministry of Truth is to rewrite history in order to strengthen the Party’s hold on the present. “Who controls the past controls the future” is one of the founding principles of Ingsoc, and frightening echoes of this sentiment can be seen in the Trump presidency. Conway’s insistence that Spicer’s lie is just an “alternative fact” is a testament to the strength of altering the past in order to stay in control: by demoting the status of fact, Conway can lay the foundation for the government to use the same claim for any facts that don’t support their agenda.
Conway’s statement isn’t the first of such similarities to 1984 within the Trump presidency; Trump is known to make claims that are in direct contradiction of fact. For example, he made fifty-five claims that he is directly responsible for business investments and job creation, when in reality these economic turns had taken place long before his inauguration. He also made forty utterations of his tax cuts being the biggest in history, when in fact they rank a mere eighth. The parallel to 1984 is clear: Trump’s constant, blatant lying is done with the same intent as the Party’s own changing of history. Both wish to alter facts and historical events in order to appear more competent and powerful, as well as to raise the approval and satisfaction of the public. When contemplating the Party’s control over the past, Winston notes that “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” and Trump’s shameless lies about his “accomplishments” are no different: with every falsehood, he subliminally commands the public to reject any facts that contradict his own version of the supposed truth. It is no surprise that the American population is suddenly so interested in the novel when their own President has similar tendencies to those of the Party.
The resonating power of 1984 can be delved into deeper when one takes into account the power of language. In the novel, there are many notable instances of the Party’s use of language to control the population. The most obvious of such examples is the creation of Newspeak, the language that is designed to restrict the thought of the citizens of Oceania in order to prevent even the possibility of thinking of rebellion. No one describes the goal better than Syme, one of the architects of the language: “In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it.”. By limiting the vocabulary of its citizens, the Party can eliminate the possibility of disagreement with its principles because the concept of opposing ideas simply does not exist. Newspeak also has another, less apparent goal: when one’s vocabulary is severely restricted, so is their ability to think critically and analytically, therefore lowering the risk of the Party’s actions being questioned or scrutinized.
If a primitive vocabulary promoted by the government sounds eerily familiar, it should. When compared to his presidential predecessors, Donald Trump was found to have the most simplistic grammatical structure and vocabulary, as well as a speaking level of a third-to-seventh grader. His speeches are marked by his uncomplex word choice, as well as a habit of speaking in absolutes. He has used the word “beautiful” to refer to the wall on the Mexican border, Confederate statues, factories built by Apple, and babies that weren’t aborted. The use of a simple word with both emotional and positive connotation to refer to political ideas reduces the complexity of those ideas. The advantage of such a simplification is that it leaves little room for debate, fact-checking, and research. In other words, when such ideas are presented in a simple manner they are far more likely to be accepted due to their apparent primitiveness. Trump’s language is one of populism, and is used not only to deliver his message to the less-educated working class but also to limit the levels of criticism of his messages by simplifying them into an undisputable absolute. His use of the Twitter platform further delivers short, rapt, and sensationalist messages, not unlike those that the Party delivers to its own people through simply-worded speeches and articles.
Trump’s speeches are also infamous for his us-versus-them mentality where he rallies his supporters by unifying them against a common enemy. Whether it’s Muslims, illegal immigrants, or North Korea, nearly every one of his public addresses have an opposing party that Trump uses to incite fear and hatred in the American population. The Party in 1984 uses the exact same strategies with language to unify the citizens of Oceania against Goldstein and Eurasia or Eastasia, therefore keeping them under Party control. The parallels between Trump’s linguistics and those of the Party are clear: both are simplistic and divisive in nature with a common purpose of gaining and keeping the support of the public.
One of the final key players in the popularity of 1984 is the issue of government surveillance and lack of individual privacy. The Party is able to watch and listen to everyone at every time and individual privacy is entirely unthinkable. The Thought Police watch the telescreens for any sign of rebellion and children report their own parents for talking in their sleep. When Winston discovers that he is able to escape the watch of his telescreen from a certain spot in his apartment, he relishes the fact as some semblance of privacy, even though his every action can still be heard through a microphone. His appreciation of the tiny area of less surveillance is a testament to the strength of the individual will for privacy.
Government surveillance is not a new topic in American politics by any means, but it is certainly one that is constantly growing and evolving due to emerging stories and revelations. Directly after Edward Snowden revealed the NSA’s monitoring of private citizen communications, sales of 1984 soared 5800%, signalling the population’s fear and anger. However, that was only the beginning of the public’s concern on the topic. One study found that 57% of Americans deemed it was “unacceptable” for the government to track the communications of citizens. Following the Facebook privacy scandal and its connections to Cambridge Analytica, Facebook’s stock dropped 14% as concerns over mass surveillance and sharing of online data and communications skyrocketed once more. It is no surprise that in an age of ever-growing concern about government surveillance, 1984 resonates more than ever as readers begin to fear that the seemingly harmless tactics used by the American government may be abused and manipulated into a total surveillance system not unlike that of the Party.
1984 is a novel that is uniquely relatable to every generation following its release, whether the public connects to the hatred of socialism and communism, the idea of individualism and rebellion, or the international fears of totalitarian governments, such as those in Russia or North Korea. In the modern day, however, the primary areas of relatability to the novel are governments altering history to suit their agendas, the effects of a primitive vocabulary on the public, and growing concerns of government surveillance. With the world of 1984 being bleak and in opposition to nearly all values that western society holds dear, the growing areas of similarity between the modern world and that of the novel should serve as an eye-opener about the direction in which American society may headed.
Trump’s speeches are also infamous for his us-versus-them mentality where he rallies his supporters by unifying them against a common enemy. Whether it’s Muslims, illegal immigrants, or North Korea, nearly every one of his public addresses have an opposing party that Trump uses to incite fear and hatred in the American population. The Party in 1984 uses the exact same strategies with language to unify the citizens of Oceania against Goldstein and Eurasia or Eastasia, therefore keeping them under Party control. The parallels between Trump’s linguistics and those of the Party are clear: both are simplistic and divisive in nature with a common purpose of gaining and keeping the support of the public.
One of the final key players in the popularity of 1984 is the issue of government surveillance and lack of individual privacy. The Party is able to watch and listen to everyone at every time and individual privacy is entirely unthinkable. The Thought Police watch the telescreens for any sign of rebellion and children report their own parents for talking in their sleep. When Winston discovers that he is able to escape the watch of his telescreen from a certain spot in his apartment, he relishes the fact as some semblance of privacy, even though his every action can still be heard through a microphone. His appreciation of the tiny area of less surveillance is a testament to the strength of the individual will for privacy.
Government surveillance is not a new topic in American politics by any means, but it is certainly one that is constantly growing and evolving due to emerging stories and revelations. Directly after Edward Snowden revealed the NSA’s monitoring of private citizen communications, sales of 1984 soared 5800%, signalling the population’s fear and anger. However, that was only the beginning of the public’s concern on the topic. One study found that 57% of Americans deemed it was “unacceptable” for the government to track the communications of citizens. Following the Facebook privacy scandal and its connections to Cambridge Analytica, Facebook’s stock dropped 14% as concerns over mass surveillance and sharing of online data and communications skyrocketed once more. It is no surprise that in an age of ever-growing concern about government surveillance, 1984 resonates more than ever as readers begin to fear that the seemingly harmless tactics used by the American government may be abused and manipulated into a total surveillance system not unlike that of the Party.
1984 is a novel that is uniquely relatable to every generation following its release, whether the public connects to the hatred of socialism and communism, the idea of individualism and rebellion, or the international fears of totalitarian governments, such as those in Russia or North Korea. In the modern day, however, the primary areas of relatability to the novel are governments altering history to suit their agendas, the effects of a primitive vocabulary on the public, and growing concerns of government surveillance. With the world of 1984 being bleak and in opposition to nearly all values that western society holds dear, the growing areas of similarity between the modern world and that of the novel should serve as an eye-opener about the direction in which American society may headed.
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