The Definitive List Of How We’re Living In “1984”
(Tyler Durden) While some may think we’re living more of an Animal Farm existence (pigs hatch a coup and overthrow the humans, only to end up in worse shape thanks to a dictator named Napoleon who uses propaganda to obscure his incompetence), Sarah A. Downey – operating partner at Accomplice VC (and Dune fan, gamer and cosplayer) has assembled a comprehensive Twitter thread on why we’re actually living in Orwell’s other notable work – 1984, a cautionary tale of life under communism.
Presented for your edification (and click here or scroll to the bottom for Downey’s July 2020 interview with Benjamin Boyce where she opines on free speech, cancel culture and more):
I just finished re-reading Orwell's 1984, and if you haven't read it (or it's been a while), I can't recommend it enough. It has incredibly relevant and predictive elements that describe things we're starting to see in today's culture. Here are some examples (thread): 1/
— Sarah A. Downey (@SarahADowney) September 29, 2021
Note that I’m not saying that the dystopian, totalitarian hellscape of 1984 is exactly what’s happening today. However, the last couple of years have seen some disturbing parallels emerge.
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Discouraging good relations between the sexes by only allowing unattracted people to marry; weaponizing sexual frustration into political rage
Labeling stereotypically masculine behavior “toxic;” the all-time low rate of having sex, particularly in Millennials/Gen-Z
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Changing the meaning of common words/phrases instantly and punishing those who do not adapt
The redefinition (literally) overnight of phrases like “sexual preference” (used to be fine; suddenly “bigoted” and rewritten in the dictionary)
https://reclaimthenet.org/sexual-preference-websters-rewrite/
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Tactical language changes, continued
Changing definitions of “racism” (to pretty much anything where there are disparate outcomes among races) and “white supremacy” (to…pretty much anything involving white people)
https://newdiscourses.com/tftw-white-supremacy/
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The ubiquitous presence of technology that delivers you content but mainly serves to spy on you (primarily the Telescreen but also cameras, mics, etc.)
Amazon Echos, Google Homes, smart TVs, mobile apps that covertly monitor you (ahem, Facebook)
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The attack on objective reality as a way to demoralize and control people; “2+2=5”
People saying 2+2=4 is some sort of “racist math” washingtonexaminer.com/news/math-prof… Statements that everyone knows are true (e.g., men and women are biologically different) have become “unsayable”
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Newspeak, the Party language in 1984, designed to eliminate critical thinking, free will, personal identity, self-expression, and descriptions of objective reality
Political correctness, resulting in dehumanizing language like “bodies with vaginas” for “women”
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The Newspeak tactic of renaming words/phrases so that disagreement is hard (e.g., removing “bad” as a word & replacing w/ “ungood”)
Slogans like “black lives matter,” where the broadness of the phrase makes it difficult to state any disagreement with its methods
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“Memory-holing,” where the controlling government effectively erases a person, word, or event from history
Government-led “disappearing” of uncooperative individuals (e.g., the CCP memory-holing actress Fan Bingbing) businessinsider.com/fan-bingbing-c…
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The Party changing the status quo in real time, then acting like it’s always been this way (“we’ve always been at war with Eurasia”)
E.g., Biden saying in 2020 that vaccines won’t be mandatory (bbc.com/news/world-us-…), then making them mandatory for millions in 2021
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Another example of “we’ve always been at war with Eurasia” below:
The sudden shift in summer 2020 from “if you’re out in big groups, you’re literally killing people” to “if you’re not out protesting in big groups, you’re a bad person” cbc.ca/radio/asithapp…
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Another example of “we’ve always been at war with Eurasia” below:
E.g., the current administration expressing hesitance about *certain shots* under Trump, and now behaving as though such hesitancy is inconceivable
Hello, World!
Here’s a mashup of VACCINE MISINFORMATION from Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
— Kyle Martinsen (@KyleMartinsen_) July 16, 2021
Does Jen Psaki want Big Tech to CENSOR this?pic.twitter.com/vqnucmZjnj
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Tiered society: the elitist Inner Party on top, then the Outer Party, then the Proles; the Inner Party have special privileges and exemptions from rules
“Rules for thee but not for me;” e.g. @GavinNewsom‘s French Laundry dinner; only staff wearing masks at the Met Gala
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Doublethink/speak (phrases that are obviously false but stated as true): “FREEDOM IS SLAVERY; IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.”
E.g., CNN reporting on “mostly peaceful protests” in front of burning buildings thehill.com/homenews/media…
“2 weeks to slow the spread” lasting 563 days
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Doublethink, continued
“My body, my choice” applying to abortion rights but not vaccine mandates; feminists who “support women’s sports” but see no problem with people who’ve lived 30+ years as biological males competing in said sports apnews.com/article/2020-t…
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The Ministry of Truth, “which concerned itself with news, entertainment, education and the fine arts” & puts out propaganda
The too-close relationship between big tech, the media, and the government and their fight against “misinformation,” AKA whatever ideas they dislike
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The Ministry of Truth, continued
The media/big tech declaring that story about Hunter Biden’s laptop wasn’t true when it was; the same declaring Russiagate was true when it wasn’t, at least in part greenwald.substack.com/p/the-indictme…
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The mandate that there’s only one “correct” political party and set of opinions (The Party’s)
Many people’s repeated insistence that they’re “on the right side of history” and the increasing lack of tolerance for any diversity of opinion washingtontimes.com/news/2016/oct/…
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“Vaporization:” “Your name was removed from the registers, every record of everything you had ever done was wiped out, your one-time existence was denied and then forgotten.”
Severe cancellations where one becomes an “unperson:” fired, socially isolated, etc.
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Indoctrination of children so that they become spies who turn in their parents for “wrongthink”
The increasingly political stance of many teachers who take it upon themselves to transfer political beliefs to children rather than educate them neutrally/factually
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The Thought Police who surveil the population looking for the slightest indication that a person doesn’t fully support The Party
Scanning of social media, e.g., police showing up to people’s houses in Australia to question them about their posts reclaimthenet.org/australia-poli…
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Controlling speech to control (and prevent) thought
Social media platforms silencing people (like @NICKIMINAJ), applying “misinformation” warnings, blocking hashtags/link-sharing around convos they don’t want to exist
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Using citizens to spy on each other and report “ungood behavior”
E.g., the Texas 6-week abortion law encouraging citizens to report anyone in violation newsweek.com/texas-abortion…
Encouraging citizens to turn in others who aren’t following lockdowns police.vic.gov.au/palolr
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Tribalism: The Party vs The Brotherhood
Tribalism: vaccinated vs unvaccinated, Left versus Right, Republicans versus Democrats, etc. How about we focus on something we can all agree on: avoiding a future like 1984?
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