We are living in 1984

Almost every single term, idea and theme in 1984 has a real-life, contemporary counterpart. My goal with this video is to try to point out these counterparts, particularly where they may be subtle or easily missed.

- In Canada we have more than just hate speech now, we actually have compelled speech, something Jordan Petersen has made his career speaking out against. For those of you who are unaware, you are required by law in Canada to use a persons preferred pronouns.... whatever those may be. THEY ARE CHANGING AND CONTROLLING OUR LANGUAGE.
- The word ‘racism’ has literally been changed to include an aspect of power. Orwell tells us that the purpose of ‘newspeak’ is ultimately to change the language so that people no longer have the ability to articulate anti-party sentiment or even the capacity to disagree with the tenants of the ideology. You can no longer articulate or convey the idea of racism against white people due to the change in language. Language – the literal meaning of words – is being changed to fit a narrative.
- BLM is okay, but all lives matter is not. If you don’t want a vaccine against the virus you are an anti-vaxxer, the fact that you have received other vaccines, and have no problems with them is irrelevant. Again, all nuance is gone – there is only the narrative. And again the definition is changed to fit that narrative.
- Even things like Twitter represent a move to some kind of newspeak. The character limit imposes restrictions on the complexity of any kind of message you want to get across.
- YouTube removing dislikes is a step in the same direction. Limiting your ability to express your view.

Thought crime is one of the most well known concepts from 1984 – and this too is either coming or already present in our world.
- Some governments are trying to enforce their hate speech laws in your own private home. People are encouraged to rat out their friends and family.
- People are being encouraged to tattle tale on friends and family who are going against the narrative of the virus. Apps have been made by governments in order to make it easier to notify them when you see a dissident.
- They are doing this to sow the seeds of suspicion among all of us. The more we are wary of each other, the less we are wary of them.

Another concept, closely related to thought crime, is that of facecrime.
- Facecrime is basically your demeanor or behaviour giving away the fact that you are guilty of thought crime.
- I find this idea terrifyingly similar to the common phrase ‘silence is violence’. Your lack of vigor betrays your thought crime.
- I think this idea has become increasingly visible since the emergence of Trump. The secret trump voter, the silent majority. People feeling the need to keep silent about their views is the very thing that gives them away. The mere fact that a person doesn’t engage actively enough in the preachings of the party gives them away as an enemy.

And of course in the world of 1984 dissidents that are caught may become ‘unpersons’
- To be unpersoned is to never have existed, to be erased from history.
- I have seen some examples in our world that are coming dangerously close to this. The removal of the statues of prominent historical figures simply because they didn’t agree with our modern sensibilities. The fact that all the good they may have done is irrelevant because they no longer fit the party lines.
- Another example of this is the pogchamp guy. Support the wrong protests and become unpersoned. The use of his face as an emote on twitch should have been irrespective of his views. But no, these people must be removed, and must be hated.

The 2 minutes of hate (Members of the party are encouraged to focus their rage to outside forces, daily):
- A perfect opportunity to shift blame, provide an enemy, and of course oust the dissidents.
- I think I need go no further than the good old orange man bad. Every single day, focused hatred and blame.
- Compassion and empathy are gone. There is no trying to understand the other side, they are just the enemy, deserving only of hate.

Another well known concept is doublethink. The ability to hold two contradictory thoughts without issue.

The idea of Black/white or 2+2=5: The idea that something is logically false but because the party says its true, then it is. You are just to trust big brother, don’t ask questions.
- The most disturbing example of this that I see is this idea “the science is settled”, that science even can be settled. This is logically impossible and idiotic, and yet it gets touted all the time. This is so incredibly disturbing to me. Science is not settled, it is never settled, settling would be the exact opposite of science. And yet this gets repeated constantly, and regularly by people who should know better. But it is doublethink.