![]() ![]() The food shortages, government control of the press, militarization of culture, spying on citizens, and mass arrests and torture of supposed “enemies” were all part of life in Soviet Russia. He was one of the few literary voices on the left to recognize and speak out against the human rights abuses of the Soviet Union, and his fictional work draws heavily on the very real totalitarian regime of Joseph Stalin. 1984 Was about the Soviet UnionĪll of Orwell’s books were written with a message, and 1984 is no exception. ![]() This selective recall has led to a widespread misreading of the book’s original warning. What remains in the cultural memory are simply fragments of the larger picture: government censorship, ubiquitous surveillance cameras, and Orwell’s clever neologisms (Newspeak, doublethink, and thoughtcrime, among others). In the decades since the time of its publication, the context of Orwell’s magnum opus has been lost. It was meant to warn against the growing spread of communism. They will focus on social media, security cameras, data collection, and “fake news.” The problem? The novel was not a commentary on the downside of technology. There will be no shortage of think pieces that will misinterpret its legacy. ![]() ![]() June 8, 2019, marks the 70th anniversary of George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984. ![]()
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