Welcome to 1984, Jedi Fans
Posted: November 29, 2016
"Welcome to 1984"
The allusion of course was to George Orwell's book, "1984" - a particularly biting political satire which was really about Orwell's own time, 1949. His masterpiece was a dystopian outlook that didn't seem too removed from political forces of his day as history was propelling his own country (England) and the rest of the world deep into the cold war.
In my world then, 1984 wasn't at all dystopia -- somehow we humans had moved beyond Orwell's warning leaving his novel to be a "classic". High school students all over the country might have had to read it for class, but "1984" really didn't hold any contemporary relevance. In contrast, while the year 1983 had its share of crises, tragedies, and problems emanating from our television sets during the evening news, a number of remarkably progressive things were happening which shape our lives today -- from the beginnings of our modern Internet to Congress founding Martin Luther King day and criticizing Japanese internment. Looking brightly to the future and calling it "Star Wars", the president was going to defend our country with space based technology that promised to make the inter-ballistic missile threat of the cold war obsolete. His plan actually sounded feasible as we considered the technological and medical advances that seemed to be enthusiastically announced on the same screens almost every week. Even "Return of the Jedi" figuratively ended the notion of political repression as the rebels of the Star Wars trilogy celebrated their victory leaving audiences to return home, feeling similarly triumphant and empowered.
I know that's my own picture of the year leading into 1984. I realize I've ignored much in creating an image of the previous year in this essay that highlights the year with Ewok song and dance rather than something like the dark cold war vision of the TV series "The Day After". In my picture, Darth Vador smiles happily on the audience in his posthumous transfiguration, ultimately reformed and renewed for the moviegoers of '83. But I think many at that time would have agreed that Orwell's book just didn't seem that relevant when the year 1984 finally arrived.
Jumping way ahead to 2016, I have found myself reading 1984 again -- finding not just insight into Soviet style totalitarianism of the 40's and 50's, but themes that reflect against those of the most recent election.
One of the book's themes is that of "truth". Orwell's "Ministry of Truth" deals with art, education, literature, and journalism. But of course it's obvious, even to readers of today, that his Ministry of Truth is a propaganda machine like that of Joseph Goebbels. Moreover, the ministry is an instrument used to repress the free will of the people. There is no "truth" in the "Ministry of Truth". Inconvenient newspaper articles about people who were once favored by the party but who were later ousted aren't just hidden away. They are physically destroyed in "Memory Holes" and replaced with articles that revise "history", demonstrating that the party's position had never changed after all. The manufactured "truth" of 1984 is carried to the people by technology -- an information overload of pervasive screens that are always on and that have a Skype-like ability to see back into people's homes and workplaces, always manipulating their very thoughts. Winston and other protagonists in 1984 had a sense that their "truth" was manufactured, but to oppose the party's nonsensical slogans (e.g., "Freedom is Slavery") even in one's inner thoughts was pretty much unthinkable.
The President elect's campaign rallies now live on YouTube -- "two minutes of hate" as something similar was described in Orwell's book. Take a look at one of them -- if the video doesn't end with riled up masses chanting "Lock her up!" then the candidate was having an off day.
The "memes" of the victorious party will similarly live on in web archives, perhaps to be resurrected and shared once in a while in the midst of heated emotion on social media. George Orwell's "slogans" in 1984 were never out of sight, even though social media hadn't yet been invented in 1949.
Our 2016 election is finally over.
This last week, though, has been highlighted by one story after another about "fake news" -- web sites and Facebook pages that were set up during the election that manufactured "news" that would engage a certain conservative audience. Sometimes the stories were real enough -- headlines and language were simply added to elicit an emotional reaction. Writers knew how to manipulate their audience with emotion. If through its emotional embellishment a story reinforced a reader's world view, the story would get shared -- carried en-masse to the people at large and gratefully accepted and shared with satisfying outrage to still more readers. It would go instantly "viral" -- and throughout 2016 I saw hundreds of these cross my feed. Advertisers were overjoyed -- their ads which were pinned to these stories would almost immediately get viewed by millions. Even the President elect ended up participating in that "sharing" as fake news stories slid easily through his Twitter account on their way to his fans. A group in Macedonia discovered readily enough that they could bring the profitability of supermarket tabloids to a much larger audience via the Internet. Alex Jones and other conspiracy theorists end up thriving in a climate where legitimate journalism doesn't seem to stand a chance.
Even before the fake news phenomena, we had what many have called the "Fox News" effect -- but it could also be the "MSNBC effect". These are feeds that do bring legitimate news, but alongside plenty of commentary, opinion spots, and editing, making them, as a podcast at Fivethirtyeight.com described, "activist" content rather than "journalist" content.
In 2016 the Ministry of Truth is alive and well -- even with Orwellian newsspeak-like phrases like "alt-right" (really "bigoted") and "post truth" (really "willfully ignorant").
But we live in an advanced age and an advanced culture -- so why has our modern Ministry of Truth taken hold?
A clue comes from this Gallop survey which I discovered after listening to a FiveThirtyEight podcast:
As you read through, look at the trends -- Maybe you can start with the year 1984 as you examine how we Americans trust our institutions. Many institutions which were once more highly respected, now have diminished confidence. Government is the obvious example, but it's also Schools, Science, Organized Religion, Banks, Labor, Journalism, and even Medicine. We live in a very "anti-institution" age compared to 1984, and many have turned to our new ministry of truth and to a populist candidate like Donald Trump, out of their disappointment with these institutions.
That's half of the story about the survey -- the other half which goes back to Orwell's totalitarian vision are the institutions that haven't suffered drops in confidence. These include the military (authority), the police (authority), and small business.
The Orwellian interpretation might be that more than before, people only trust authority. (The commentator at FiveThirtyEight points out they also trust their local community -- hence "small business" being included above) Donald Trump uses very authoritarian rhetoric -- not only is "Make America Great Again" his slogan, but he says things like he knows more than the generals, and is otherwise the only man who can lead us to this future of greatness. Institutions that are about truth (Science, Education, Journalism, and Medicine) aren't trusted nearly as much as a man who can make emotional appeals to glory and greatness, and is supported by manufactured news which uses fear and patriotism in very much the same way Orwell's protagonists experience the products of the Ministry of Truth in their world.
Looking at the 2016 election while I read "1984", it makes sense that educated demographics tended to vote against Trump's populist movement. They have confidence in institutions that are about truth. Those who have been most disillusioned by the institutions of truth are left to trust authority instead. Truth ends up having less influence than a populist running for office who promises to shake up these institutions.
Of course, this essay is just one point of view -- my own musings. But right now, I have been fascinated by "1984". Whether it is to appreciate good literature or to examine Orwell's insights reflected on a modern age, I highly recommend the book.
I wish I could be more optimistic about these times, but we seem to have encountered a major setback in our culture. In the light of failing journalism, empowered billionaires, climate denial, and struggling schools, this seems to me to be the "meme" of our times as much as of Orwell's fictional world:
"Ignorance is Strength"
Maybe somewhere further down the path of history, the tides of public opinion will shift, and we can once again be in a progressive age. We might still find a time were we can feel good walking out of the theater, celebrating a future rebel alliance victory in the same vein as George Lucas's film of 1983.
