On March 30, I had the opportunity to speak at a local history event. The Third Annual History Soapbox is a venue where ten people have 6 minutes each to persuade the audience that a book has changed the world. This was my humorous attempt to make a case for George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four.
Then the face of Big Brother faded away again, and instead the three slogans of
the Party stood out in bold capitals:
War is peace
Freedom is slavery
Ignorance is strength.
This language of opposites, you will recognize, is the
Newspeak doubletalk of George Orwell's Oceania. In the novel 1984, it is
the signature means by which the governance reinforces its agenda and policy to
keep down the masses. Originally published in 1949, there is no dystopian
classic more canonical, and no author who wished so ardently NOT to predict the
future, but prevent it. Orwell spins the cautionary tale of Winston Smith's
developing consciousness to the tyranny of Big Brother, the omnipresent
totalitarian government, who is always watching, always manipulating. In
Orwell's 1984, the Ministry of Truth erases history and the Thought
Police can "disappear" you without so much as evidence or a trial.
They use data mining and surveillance, which kinda explains why Republicans
would want to revoke internet privacy rules. But, how can one man fight the
oppressive regime? In the end of the book, epically, all are reduced to loving
Big Brother.
When I first set out to craft my case that 1984 has
changed the world for this Soapbox, I considered becoming goodthinkfullly
fluent in Newspeak and then writing an argument completely in Newspeakese. But
as I thought through this diabolically clever plan, I made an important
realization: a satirical use of doubletalk does not convey humor or purpose
when we are in fact living in a time of political doublespeak and alternative
facts. So, instead of wit and wordplay, I shall rely on facts----of the non-alternative
variety.
Fact: On this very day, Mar 30, in 1984, the US ended its participation
in a
multinational peacekeeping
force in Lebanon
Fact: In 1984, Prince's "When the Doves Cry" was
Billboard's #1 song of the year
Fact: The film Amadeus won the Oscar for the best
picture of 1984
Fact: These are not the first things we think of when we hear
(hand motion) 1984.
What we think of is, oh, wait, was that the name of that
super popular Taylor Swift album, you know the one, oh that was 1989? Okay.
THEN, we think of George Orwell's book. And, this is because the most notable
thing about 1984 is a book about that year, yet predates it. A book that
anticipates and predicts, in an astonishingly accurate manner, the rise of a
neoliberal agenda, the smoke and mirrors elements of government, and a society
complicit in its own ignorance.
Unfortunately for the world, but serendipitous for my
purposes here, George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, is more prescient than ever after
the 2016 presidential election in the US and the developments that have
transpired under a Trump administration. To measure the book’s current
influence, look no further than a spike in book sales that put it on
bestsellers lists everywhere after Kellyanne Conway, Trump’s political advisor,
absurdly rationalized misinformation the current president of the United States
was dispensing by describing it as “alternative facts” a la George
Orwell’s “newspeak” and “doublethink."
But Orwell’s masterpiece changed the world long before the
current political climate, and that 1984 had changed the word is
indisputable.
Exhibit A: CBS's
long-running hit show Big Brother, hosted by the one and only Julie Chen. Now,
what other book do you know of that has inspired a prime time reality
television show while simultaneously fulfilling the idea that a bunch of the
populous would willingly (and enthusiastically I might add) succumb to having
their free will curtailed.
Exhibit B: Twitter says so, so it must be true.
@EKKAH writes: George
Orwell 1984 is one of the best books ever written.
Book emoji. Heart emoji. #readabookday
@reesnathan on June 25,
2013: Happy birthday George Orwell! 1984 is still hands down the best book I ever read and
it comes at a time where it's
significance is huge.
And, now I bring you to Exhibit C: This canonical book is on
high school reading lists everywhere. It is often the first book to open up a
young reader’s eyes to the possibilities of political dystopia and to encourage
critical thinking and skepticism about the social structures around us. Due to
the broad readership and accessibility of this book, it has been changing the
world of its readers since its publication nearly 70 years ago.
Until now in this county, perhaps we have hoped doublespeak
and Big Brother could only be a figment of Orwell’s imagination. Given current
circumstances, though, this book is especially changing the world by helping
inspire daily resistance against a governmental regime that has jumped out of
the pages of fiction into reality.
So, esteemed judges, people's choice, when you make your
decision tonight about the book that has changed the world, I invite to you
consider these questions to guide you:
One: Which of these books have you actually read?
Two: What other presenter here is sporting an appropriately
bookish t-shirt (which by the way, was purchased years ago)?
And lastly, what other book has ever made you so acutely
aware of getting your face gnawed off by rats?
There is only one answer, and it is Nineteen Eighty-Four. And
remember: Big Brother is watching.
