For three or four years the world has seen a rather sharp turnaround. Many associate it with the arrival of US President Donald Trump in the White House, who has radically revised many dogmas of American and world politics. The reversal has become even more tangible in connection with the so-called coronavirus pandemic, which started in early 2020.
The course that the world followed after the end of World War II brought humanity closer to the future, depicted in Aldous Huxley's dystopia Brave New World (1932). The process of moving towards this "happy" future accelerated at the turn of the 80s - 90s. The period of the cold war ended, the Soviet Union and the socialist community collapsed, and the movement into the future continued under the banner of general liberalization and globalization. There was talk of the need to completely dismantle national borders and create a World State - the very one described in the novel by O. Huxley. The same World State, which Huxley put forward the slogan “Community. Sameness. Stability". One of the ten rulers of the World State ("Brave New World") Mustafa Mond recognized that the main thing in this formula is stability,keeping in mind the stability of world power. And its secret (the stability of power) is simple: “You need to rule wisely, not with a whip. Not to act with fists, but to influence the brains. " By acting on the brain, one can achieve a state of a person that, on the one hand, is characterized by complete contentment with life; on the other, complete indifference, which can be called immersion in the “second reality” or the state of “nirvana”.
The peoples were promised that with the help of general liberalization and globalization, hunger would be finally eliminated in the world, wars would disappear, all people would become happy and be satisfied with the power that was turning from national to supranational before our very eyes. This will be achieved through such means as family planning, the full legalization of free love (which will eventually make the family unnecessary), cultural drug use, the development of correct reflexes in a person with the help of the media, schools and universities, replacing complex culture with pop culture (which will serve not millions of "chosen ones", but billions of people), etc.
Against the background of this state, such processes necessary for the world elite (owners of money) as the reduction of the world's population, the dismantling of industry (deindustrialization), the digitalization of society (completing the construction of an electronic concentration camp for the remaining population), and the completion of the creation of a world government will take place without much advertising.
O. Huxley was an opponent of "hard" totalitarianism, and in his novel he painted a society that would be built on "soft power": people would gladly accept the "blessings" of the authorities, not feeling that they were slowly but surely enslaved and killed - spiritually, morally and ultimately physically. Instruments of "soft power" - eugenics, drugs, New Age religion, propaganda of free love, pop culture, juvenile justice, special methods of zombie … Everything that plunges a person into a "second reality". And the authorities at this time will rebuild the "first reality", destroy traditional values, equip the planet under the "new world order".
16 years after Brave New World, another English writer, George Orwell, wrote his dystopia, 1984. The two novels are two models of the future "ideal" society. In some ways they coincide, but in others they are strikingly different. And today it makes sense to take a closer look at the novel “1984”, since the beginning of the reversal, which I mentioned, is accompanied by the appearance of signs from the model of George Orwell.
So, the first difference that catches your eye. O. Huxley has a single world, it is ruled by the World State, the process of globalization has long ended. But George Orwell does not have a World State. In 1984, we see three superpowers called Oceania, Eurasia and East Asia. No sign that they will ever come together. They are constantly at war with each other. At least, this is how ordinary citizens of London, belonging to the jurisdiction of Oceania, perceive the situation (the events of the novel take place in London). Oceania and one of the other powers are in a constant war, when one power is an ally of Oceania, the other is an enemy.
True, some of the heroes of the novel surmise that in fact there is no war: war is a product of propaganda (of the Ministry of Truth) and the government (party) maintains a sense of permanent war in society in order to achieve their unreported goals. First of all, maintaining a heightened "patriotic" tone among the people: the external enemy consolidates the masses and distracts from internal protests. It is not for nothing that the novel "1984" regularly hosts "five minutes of hatred." War, as we learn from the novel, is also needed to maintain demand for military products (in the spirit of the ideas of the English economist John Keynes). Finally, the war is needed to justify the call to the people to "tighten their belts." It is by no means possible to raise the standard of living of the common people (referred to as proletarians in the novel),for this can raise his intellectual level and people will begin to understand the true intentions of the party (in the novel, she is the personification of power). The Proles, in the firm conviction of the party, should think about bread day and night, not being distracted by anything else (especially politics).
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Today we see that globalization is over. At least for a while. The world has entered a phase of isolationism. At first, these were the actions of President Trump, who pushed the world towards trade and economic protectionism. And in 2020, isolationism has been added to protectionism, fueled by dire myths about the coronavirus. Some states blame others for all their troubles (coronavirus, economic recession, interference in elections, popular unrest). As we can see, Huxley's script ended. Orwell's script begins. There are no hot wars yet, but the verbal skirmishes of statesmen are heating up the atmosphere. On the Internet, we already see pictures of battles (probably Hollywood products, but you can't always tell where the shooting is in the studio, and where - from nature).
I recall the novel by the American writer Larry Beinhart, published at the end of the twentieth century, "The tail twists the dog" (the original title was "American Hero"). In 1997, based on the novel, the film Cheating was filmed in the United States (directed by Barry Levinson). The satirical film shows how a war is being "created" in the film studio of film producer Stanley Motss by the order of a certain Konrad Breen, an adviser to the American president. Then this dramatized war is shown to millions of Americans. America believes that this is real hostilities, it is worried, indignant, frightened … The presidential administration needs this to distract the country from the scandal that has arisen around the president (sexual harassment), preparing for new elections.
The change in dystopian models is not limited to a return to the polycentric world. The period of calm stay of mankind in a state of relative comfort, fueled by the promises of the authorities that "tomorrow will be better than today" has ended. Now the authorities do not promise this, and the people felt it. Methods of "soft power" before our eyes change to hard power. And this is already the model of George Orwell, in his novel "1984" there are several departments, but the most important is the Ministry of Love, behind which the police and special services are hiding. In the very building of the ministry - cameras, interrogations, sophisticated torture.
Several months of the stay of mankind in a state of quarantine have shown that, relying on hard power, it is possible to put all people behind bars. Dwellings of people became cells of confinement. Those who do not want to be under house arrest are fined and even transferred to real prisons. As we know, in 1984, an important means of party power is Newspeak, which replaces the old, familiar language. Many words are euphemisms that distort the meaning of old words. So the euphemism "voluntary self-isolation" appeared instead of the old rude "house arrest".
People, being in a state of comfort, became so relaxed that they began to forget about the existence of the Big Brother. This year he reminded of himself, and the reminder was very sensitive. "Big Brother is watching you!" - such posters were hung in London by George Orwell. The surveillance of Big Brother under the pretext of fighting COVID-19 began to increase dramatically in London, New York, and other cities around the world.
First, the "party" called on everyone to fulfill their civic duty. In 1984, denunciation flourished and was encouraged. People did not trust each other, were openly afraid of neighbors and colleagues at work, controlled not only their actions and words, but also their facial expressions. The current coronavirus has triggered a massive wave of denunciations. Here is just one example. On March 30, New Zealand authorities introduced a quarantine. In this regard, the local police created a website where anyone could leave information about citizens violating quarantine. Hours after launch, the site received so much information that it froze hopelessly, New Zealand's Interior Ministry reported. “We received 4,200 reports of violations. This proves that our fellow citizens want everyone to comply with the quarantine,”said Police Prefect Mike Bush.
Secondly, external surveillance of citizens has been strengthened. In 1984, the inhabitants of London are surrounded by so-called TV screens. These are flat-panel monitors through which news and “educational” information is transmitted non-stop. At the same time, they work as transmitters that track every movement of a person. Plus there are countless hidden microphones. The protagonists of the novel Winston Smith and Julia, who fell in love, agreed on dates outside the city, in the woods. And even there they spoke in whispers, for they could be heard through hidden microphones. Today, in 2020, there are reports that tens of thousands of additional cameras are being hung in London, as well as in other capitals of the world. What for? It turns out to identify those infected with COVID-19. Methods for such identification were developed even before the pandemic. China has advanced especially far in this direction.
The 2020 world has surpassed the world that George Orwell drew in 1984.
First, on the part of lies. In the world of dystopia "1984" there was the Ministry of Truth, which was engaged in disinformation of the population (rewriting history, falsifying statistics, transmitting reports from theaters of a nonexistent war, etc.). In 2020, as it turned out, there were such ministries of truth in almost all countries of the world. They fueled an atmosphere of fear by relaying outright fakes about COVID-19. The topic is extensive, already partially covered in the media, which have not yet come under the full control of the relevant ministries of truth. Let me just remind you that at the beginning of the year the ministries of truth of most countries of the world relayed the assessment of the World Health Organization (WHO), according to which the death rate from the "pandemic" will be 3.2% (in relation to the total number of infected),and in absolute terms, on a global scale, the "pandemic" should kill more than 130 million people! Almost twice as large as the Spanish flu epidemic that took place a century ago. The latest data (as of early June 2020) shows that the average death rate from COVID-19 is 0.16%, and the upper limit is at 0.40% in three hot spots on the planet. Since the beginning of the year (as of mid-June), 433.87 thousand people have died in the world with a diagnosis of coronavirus, which is about 10 times less than the number of deaths from ischemic disease and 2 times less than from lung cancer and bronchi. Mortality from COVID-19, according to professional and honest doctors, does not correspond to the most severe seasonal flu. So, modern media fully meet the standards of the Ministry of Truth from the novel "1984". Almost twice as large as the Spanish flu epidemic that took place a century ago. The latest data (as of early June 2020) shows that the average death rate from COVID-19 is 0.16%, and the upper limit is at 0.40% in three hot spots on the planet. Since the beginning of the year (as of mid-June), 433.87 thousand people have died in the world with a diagnosis of coronavirus, which is about 10 times less than the number of deaths from ischemic disease and 2 times less than from lung cancer and bronchi. Mortality from COVID-19, according to professional and honest doctors, does not correspond to the most severe seasonal flu. So, modern media fully meet the standards of the Ministry of Truth from the novel "1984". Almost twice as large as the Spanish flu epidemic that took place a century ago. The latest data (as of early June 2020) shows that the average death rate from COVID-19 is 0.16%, and the upper limit is at 0.40% in three hot spots on the planet. Since the beginning of the year (as of mid-June), 433.87 thousand people have died in the world with a diagnosis of coronavirus, which is about 10 times less than the number of deaths from ischemic disease and 2 times less than from lung cancer and bronchi. Mortality from COVID-19, according to professional and honest doctors, does not correspond to the most severe seasonal flu. So, modern media fully meet the standards of the Ministry of Truth from the novel "1984".that the average death rate from COVID-19 is 0.16%, and the upper limit is at 0.40% in three hot spots on the planet. Since the beginning of the year (as of mid-June), 433.87 thousand people have died in the world with a diagnosis of coronavirus, which is about 10 times less than the number of deaths from ischemic disease and 2 times less than from lung cancer and bronchi. Mortality from COVID-19, according to professional and honest doctors, does not correspond to the most severe seasonal flu. So, modern media fully meet the standards of the Ministry of Truth from the novel "1984".that the average death rate from COVID-19 is 0.16%, and the upper limit is at 0.40% in three hot spots on the planet. Since the beginning of the year (as of mid-June), 433.87 thousand people have died in the world diagnosed with coronavirus, which is about 10 times less than the number of deaths from ischemic disease and 2 times less than from lung cancer and bronchi. Mortality from COVID-19, according to professional and honest doctors, does not correspond to the most severe seasonal flu. So, modern media fully meet the standards of the Ministry of Truth from the novel "1984".than the number of deaths from ischemic disease and 2 times less than from lung and bronchial cancer. Mortality from COVID-19, according to professional and honest doctors, does not correspond to the most severe seasonal flu. So, modern media fully meet the standards of the Ministry of Truth from the novel "1984".than the number of deaths from ischemic disease and 2 times less than from lung and bronchial cancer. Mortality from COVID-19, according to professional and honest doctors, does not correspond to the most severe seasonal flu. So, modern media fully meet the standards of the Ministry of Truth from the novel "1984".
Secondly, in terms of control over citizens. Much of what is available today for such control is simply not found in George Orwell's novel. Modern ministries of love have a qualitatively different level of technical equipment. These are, for example, mobile phones with special applications. On the one hand, they allow employees of the Ministry of Love to track the movement of the owner of the phone and his contacts. On the other hand, they signal that an "unwanted" object (for example, infected with a coronavirus) is approaching the owner of the phone. George Orwell has nothing about microchips, which began to be imposed as an effective means of combating COVID-19. There is nothing on the part of creating unified databases about each person (Big Data), etc. Today, the category of "unwanted" objects includes persons,having positive test results for COVID-19. Tomorrow, those who deviate from the line of the “party” or do not show proper love for Big Brother may fall into the category of “unwanted”.
The current builders of the "new world" are building a model of a totalitarian society, which surpasses the one drawn by Orwell in the novel "1984" both in terms of lies and in terms of creating technical means of controlling a person. Soon, the world will probably catch up and surpass Orwell's dystopia in terms of such a parameter as an atmosphere of fear, mutual distrust, hatred …
