Breaking Big Brother

Breaking Big Brother - Introduction

WAR IS PEACE.
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY.
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.

These are three tenets of George Orwell’s famous dystopia, Nineteen Eighty-Four. The slogans are plastered upon buildings, thrust into consciousness at every possible moment. They are almost as ubiquitous as Big Brother himself, the emblem of the governing power of the “Party,” whose stern mustachioed face looms threateningly over the population and whose eyes seem to always follow you no matter which angle they stare at you from. A person cannot enter a room, walk down the street, or count the change in their pocket without a reminder that they are always being watched.

George Orwell writes of a class-stratified society. An elaborate bureaucracy governed by an idea instead of an actual leader. A nation suspended in a perpetual state of artificial war designed to maintain the status quo. A population under constant surveillance, to whom words mean their opposites and people unquestioningly swallow lies as truth.

Sound familiar?

Nineteen Eighty-Four was George Orwell’s magnum opus. It is the culmination of everything that Orwell believed in—all of the themes that he carried with him throughout his career. It makes sense that it should be this way. The novel was written at the end of Orwell’s life, and published less than a year before his death. Perhaps he knew on some level that the novel would be his last word on the topics he’d committed his life to exploring.

Given this fact, it is perhaps unsurprising that virtually every major theme in Nineteen Eighty-Four was touched upon earlier in Orwell’s nonfiction:

• Propaganda

• Language manipulation

• Falsification of records

• Surveillance

• Fear-mongering

• Perpetual war

• Bureaucratic government

In this book I will dissect each of these topics, analyze how they evolved throughout Orwell’s lifetime, and examine why, in our modern world, we should care about them.

One of the most common ‘myths’ about Orwell that I’d like to dispel is the idea that his work was ‘prescient,’ and that Nineteen Eighty-Four was a work of political prophecy. It is more accurate to classify the novel as a work of political satire.

This is an important distinction—if the work is viewed as prophecy, then the reader is compelled to examine what Orwell got ‘right’ and ‘wrong.’ This misses the point of the novel completely. I do not believe that Orwell was trying to predict exactly what would happen in the future. It is more likely that he was trying to satirize what was already happening, and to illustrate what could happen if a would-be despot utilized all of the tools which were already at his disposal. This is true whether or not Orwell was privy to some sort of insider knowledge (a suspicion which will also be examined over the course of this project).

Though I did not know it at the time, the seeds for this book were planted during my last semester of college, in an undergraduate Renaissance philosophy class. Something the professor said really stuck with me. He remarked that during the Renaissance, the approach to art was different than ours today. People did not treat a work of art as an isolated entity; they approached a novel, poem, or painting with the intent of connecting with the artist on a personal level, understanding who they were as an individual and what message they wished to convey. The goal was to form a relationship with the artist—a type of intimacy that crosses time and space.

Once you ‘know’ an author well, this knowledge adds color to all of their work. Statements start to take on double or triple meanings; the true implications of each point are brought to light. I hope that this project will acquaint you with Orwell in the same way that I have been acquainted.

Orwell had an interesting life—it is no wonder that he had such a keen understanding of the world around him. He was born in British colonial India and educated in some of the finest schools in England. He graduated from Eton, a famed English ‘public school’ which boasts many notable aristocrats among its alumni. Instead of going to college (something he had been ‘groomed’ for his entire life), he went to Burma to work as an Imperial Police Officer. Appalled with what he was doing there, he came back home to become a writer. He immersed himself in a life of poverty; lived on the street, worked menial jobs. He got shot in the neck fighting in the Spanish Civil War. He spouted propaganda for the BBC, wrote book reviews for magazines (‘hackwork,’ as he called it), and toiled for years before eventually enjoying great success as an author.

There’s a kind of morality, a kind of optimism that shines through when reading Orwell’s work. Even when highlighting the dangers of totalitarianism, he never gave up his hope of creating a better world. If anything, he was too optimistic—something that may come as a surprise to readers of Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm.

This project is, at its core, a search for truth—both the truth about Orwell himself and the truth contained within his works. It is a search for the truth about our world—something which becomes increasingly clear when viewed through the lens of Orwell’s ideas.

Big Brother is an idea. This is true in our world just as much as Winston Smith’s.

In Orwell’s novel, the citizens of Oceania all lived in fear, deferring to the power higher up on the chain of command. However, at the top, there was nobody. Only a figurehead which everyone willingly bowed down to. If everyone stopped bowing, his power would be lost. This is why totalitarians try so hard to keep everyone fighting amongst themselves.

A shadow is being cast upon our world—one which closely resembles the looming figure of ‘Big Brother’ which governed Oceania. People are censoring themselves in deference to an orthodoxy that they may or may not believe in, but which they fear they must pretend to. Individuality has made way for the collective; the vast majority of people feel unhappy and absolutely powerless.

I do not mean to say that our world is terrible. We have it pretty good, at least in the United States. We can say what we want, publish what we want, do what we want (for the most part).

Do not take this for granted—if you believe yourself to be unfree, it will not be long before this becomes a reality.

If Orwell’s work elucidates anything, it’s the need to hold fast to the freedoms we have, lest they disappear. We mustn’t be afraid to speak, and we mustn’t fall prey to the many distractions which prevent us from truly examining the world around us. Deceptive ideologies rule through fear and ignorance.

Big Brother cowers when you look him in the eye. His only defense is the mob that stands behind him; on his own, he is powerless.

With knowledge, we can break him.

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Since this is a work in progress, I may be coming back to old posts to update them. Typically, I note when I edit my posts. I will not do so here.

There are two reasons why I’ve decided to write this book in ‘real-time’ on Substack. The first is to hold me accountable—I publicly started writing this book, so I’ll have to finish it now.

The second and far more important reason why I’m publishing this thing in installments is to invite your feedback. Feel free to correct me (I’m sure I’ll be wrong more than once), to add information I don’t know, to suggest articles I may not have read.

I am not a scholar or a biographer. I’m just a regular person who’s read a lot of Orwell, and think it will be worthwhile to share the conclusions I’ve drawn from it. If you’re interested, welcome aboard. I hope you find the information valuable.

As always, thank you for reading.

Read Chapter One: