1984 Synthesis Essay

The warnings in George Orwell’s novel about the dangers of a totalitarian and dystopian

society have certainly prevailed and remain relevant to this day. The ability to create false

identities through advanced technology; the censorship by current dictatorships; the availability

of a device that truly appeals to the consumer but tracks their personal information and allows

surveillance by the government; and a government creating a storm by circulating lies to retain

its power: these are all characteristics of a society that experiences Orwell’s predictions and sent

a message that was not taken seriously enough.

Tim Reynolds, an officer of the Memphis Police Department, created a fake profile under

the name Bob Smith. For several years, he concealed his true identity while earning the trust of

protesters, leading him to gather evidence on them without their knowledge. Bob Smith, or Tim

Reynolds, used his platform to deceive two protesters: Keedran Franklin and Elaine Blanchard.

The department gained 22,000 pages of documents against Keedran and his associates. They

tracked Elaine to her house after she had posted about unfair treatment to black activists during

local Black Lives Matter protests, and made their appearance known by shining lights into her

windows. Both Keedran and Elaine were placed on a list that banned them from the mayor’s

property and said that they must be escorted in the City Hall. Facebook found evidence that the

same police department had six more linked social media accounts to promote its interests. Mr.

Charrington's betrayal, the first and arguably most devastating to Winston personally, shows the

party’s evil roots of deception. The once bushy eyebrows, gray hair, and wrinkled face instilling

a sense of nostalgia turned into slick eyebrows, black hair, and a youthfully restored face,

signifying the defeat of reality. The Party used Mr. Charrington’s warped character to their

advantage by creating a sense of trust and hope that would only lead Winston to further
incriminate himself. Social media has resulted in a plethora of falsified information, including

the ability of any individual to create new accounts, profiles, and identities on the internet. Users

cannot track the anonymous account without spending time, money, and resources in a lengthy

and tedious battle. These fake accounts have been used to support the government in capturing

evidence against enemies of the state. Tim Reynolds deceived citizens on behalf of the Memphis

Police Department to further the interests of the government, just as Mr. Charrington deceived

people on behalf of the Ministry of Love to promote the interests of the Party.

In North Korea, cell phones are slowly being introduced to society with the intention of

constantly monitoring and controlling citizens. Content is limited to that provided by the

government to prevent the influence of foreigners on the functions of North Korean society. Text

messages are one method of surveillance; any detection of the use of words not present in North

Korean society infers that the user has been exposed to media from outside of North Korea and

must be interrogated, as they are a threat to the well-being of the state. North Korea actually

banned the use of South Korean slang words and restricted parents from naming babies anything

deemed too “South Korean.” The Party’s eradication of overly expressive basic words through

Newspeak may have a different purpose than the North Korean government. We do not know the

motives of the North Korean government; however, we know that the Party’s methods of

censorship and surveillance are purely to maintain power and create a persisting sense of

uniformity through conformity. Regardless of the motive, each government’s banishment of

certain words is a method of controlling its citizens and preventing any chance of rebellion. The

Party may say they rule just to rule, but it is undeniable that the creation of Newspeak is a

method of censoring the citizens to prevent them from conspiring against the State.
 Orwell accurately predicted the development of a device that nearly every citizen would

cherish despite its evident threat to individualism through surveillance: the cell phone. Our

mobile phones act as the telescreens. We warmly welcome and pay a high price for these phones

into our lives while they observe, record, and store data regarding our personal analytics and

preferences. Third-party companies may provide services through the phones. These companies

may require agreement upon terms of services to use an application. This is where potentially

harmful, invasive agreements, such as the ability of a company to sell recorded data to other

companies, are hidden among the overwhelming amount of information. The government claims

that because the data is being sold to anyone, their purchase is justifiable. The government

applies this information to pursue its interests in gathering evidence against enemies of the state

or facilitating the capture of these enemies. Phone companies keep a record of all the locations

traveled within a five-year time frame and sell this data to the government. Donald Trump, the

President of the United States, secretly bought unwarranted access to a database that exposes the

location of millions of cell phones to track immigration and border activity.

The US government and the Party both exploit the perceived benefits of each device to

invade the privacy of its users. The Party is more open about its deception because of the

increased ignorance about oppression and the willingness of citizens to conform unconditionally.

Both the US government and the Party heavily monitor the location and analytics of their

citizens to maintain control through the annihilation and termination of potential threats to their

domination. The Party boasts about being stronger than Nazis and Russian Communists because

they shape history and the future by declaring whatever information they see fit as true or untrue.

They use revisionism to remove any person or object from history and memory. We see this

when O’Brien tortures Winston, convinces him that Oceania has always been at war with
Eastasia, and “erases” his knowledge of the evidence that proved the three men innocent. This

obliteration of memory creates a vacuum in which the government can step in and control as they

see fit.

The coronavirus pandemic has become a politically polarized subject because of the

current climate of the country. During the last year of President Donald Trump’s term, humanity

got hit with a global pandemic. Donald Trump, head of one of the most idolized leading nations,

had a lot to do with the controversy brought about by the pandemic. The Trump Administration

repeatedly gave its constituents false hopes and information that led to the political polarization

of the disease and instilled racism. Trump told citizens lies such as “the virus will eventually just

disappear,” “the virus is a democratic hoax,” “children are virtually immune to COVID-19,” “the

US has done more testing than all other countries, combined!” and countless other lies. He

suggested that scientists use powerful light and injected disinfectants to treat COVID-19, causing

doctors and scientists everywhere to urge citizens not to consume toxic disinfecting products.

Trump nicknamed the virus the “China Virus” or the “Kung Flu” virus. Since these pseudonyms,

New York alone has seen a 1900% increase in anti-Chinese racist activity.

Trump’s constant lies about the virus in an effort to maintain his approval rating, blaming other

countries to spark a sense of nationalism and blaming the opposing party are all efforts to create

a false reality of scapegoating and lack of accountability to keep him in power. Trump tries to

create ideas of doublethink that have a naturally contradictory essence. However, without the

ability to force a false belief, such as 2+2=5, only the uneducated and scared citizens shall

follow. Trump and Big Brother have the same intention of systematically spewing self-serving

lies and forcing the acceptance of false truth; however, Trump does not have the true power or
willing audience to execute the same level of convincing as Big Brother, which led to his

downfall of support.

George Orwell’s uncanny prescience about a dystopian future contained many parallels

between his fictional account of the Party and their methods and the events we see manifesting in

modern society today. The pervasive erosion of human privacy through surveillance and

deception, combined with the intentional spread of misinformation and the lack of accountability

or remorse demonstrated by the Party and some modern governments, represent clear dangers to

our freedom to think, act, and communicate effectively. Orwell predicted our current crossroads:

the path of ignoring these warnings, forcing us to succumb to destructive powers, or heeding

them to preserve our basic human freedoms.

Sources
Schuppe, Jon. “Undercover cops break Facebook rules to track protesters, ensnare criminals.”
NBC News, October 7th, 2018,
www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/undercover-cops-break-facebook-rules-track-protesters-ensnar
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Havis, Michael. “North Korean teens face gulag for 'perverted' slang on mobile phones.”
Daily Mail, January 6th, 2021.
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9117773/North-Korean-teens-face-gulag-using-perverted-slan
g-words.html

NY Times Editorial Board. “The Government Uses 'Near Perfect Surveillance' Data on
Americans.” The NY Times, February 8, 2020,
www.nytimes.com/2020/02/07/opinion/dhs-cell-phone-tracking.html

Paz, Christian. “All the President's Lies About the Coronavirus.”

The Atlantic, February 23, 2021,
www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/11/trumps-lies-about-coronavirus/608647/

Gowing, Nicholas Keith. “Coronavirus: Outcry after Trump suggests injecting disinfectant as
treatment.” BBC News, April 24, 2020, www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52407177

Aggeler, Madeleine. “The U.S. Is Seeing a Massive Spike in Anti-Asian Hate Crimes.”
The Cut. February 10, 2021,
www.thecut.com/2021/02/the-us-is-seeing-a-massive-spike-in-anti-asian-hate-crimes.html