ThirstyFish

George Orwell's "1984" was not meant to be an instruction manual. And I don't think that it was. Long before "1984" was published in the year 1949, "they" had already figured out that violence is an inefficient means for control while consent is highly efficient. Hence, the abuse of language that Orwell eloquently portrays: "War Is Peace, Freedom Is Slavery, Ignorance Is Strength".

We primarily think through language. By controlling the language of thought, it is possible control thought. The whole Advertising Industry has been founded on this one principle. Through the use of catchphrases and euphemisms we are sold stuff we don't need, consent to stuff we wouldn't normally consent to - language and images are intentionally utilized to relate inherently unrelated things. A certain brand of car becomes associated with wanderlust, with freedom.

Orwell's "1984" was more than just thought control. It was also about constant surveillance. And where mind control and surveillance fall short, state violence is brutally effective. 30 years after 1984, in the year 2014, we not quite there yet. But as Daniel Ellsberg put it: "We don't quite live in police state, but we do have infrastructure of one".