Emerald Isle, N.C.
Aug. 12, 2020
TO THE EDITOR:
Preface to the 1984 Edition of the novel 1984 by Walter Cronkite:
American reporters, given a glimpse of Ayatollah Khomeini's Iran at the End of 1982, were saying that it was like 1984. It's Orwellian, one added.
Big Brother has become a common term for ubiquitous or overreaching authority, and Newspeak is a word we apply to the dehumanizing babble of bureaucracies and computer programs.
Those coinages have come into the language with lives of their own. They are familiar to millions who have never read 1984, who may not even know it as a novel written thirty-five years ago by English socialist Eric Blair, who became famous under the pen name George Orwell.
Seldom has a book provided a greater wealth of symbols for its age and for the generations to follow, and seldom have literary symbols been invested with such power. How is that? Because they were so useful, and became the features of the world he drew, outlandish as they were, also were familiar.
They are familiar today, they were familiar when the book was first published in 1949. We've met Big Brother in Stalin and Hitler and Khomeini. We hear Newspeak in every use of the language to manipulate, deceive, to cover harsh realities with the soft snow of euphemism.
And every time a political leader expects or demands that we believe the absurd, we experience that mental process Orwell called Doublethink. From the show trials of the pre-war Soviet Union to the dungeon courts of post-revolutionary Iran, 1984's vision of justice as foregone conclusion is familiar to us all. As soon as we were introduced to such things, we realized we had always known them.
What Orwell had done was not to foresee the future but to see the implications of the present -- his present and ours -- and he touched a common chord. He had given words and shapes to common but unarticulated fears running deep through all industrial societies.
George Orwell was no prophet, and those who busy themselves keeping score on his predictions and grading his use of the crystal ball miss the point. While here he is a novelist, he is also a sharp political essayist and a satirist with a bite not felt in the English language since Jonathan Swift.
If not prophecy, what was 1984? It was, as many have noticed, a warning: a warning about the future of human freedom in a world where political organization and technology can manufacture power in dimensions that would stunned the imaginations of earlier ages.
Orwell drew upon the technology (and perhaps some of the science fiction) of the day in drawing his picture of 1984. But it was not a work of science fiction he was writing. It was a novelistic essay on power, how it is acquired and maintained, how those who seek it or seek to keep it tend to sacrifice anything and everything in its name.
1984 is an anguished lament and a warning that vibrates powerfully when we may not be strong enough, nor wise enough, nor moral enough to cope with the kind of power we have learned to amass.
That warning vibrates powerfully when we allow ourselves to sit still and think carefully about orbiting satellites that can read the license plates in a parking lot and computers that can read into thousands of telephone calls and telex transmissions at once and other computers that can do our banking and purchasing, can watch the house and tell a monitoring station what television program we are watching and how many people there are in a room. We think of
Orwell when we read of scientists who believe they have located in the human brain the seats of behavioral emotions like aggression, or learn more about the vast potential of genetic engineering.
And we hear echoes of that warning chord in the constant demand for greater security and comfort, for less risk in our societies.
We recognize, however dimly, that greater efficiency, ease, and security may come at a substantial price in freedom that "law and order" can be a doublethink version of oppression that individual liberties surrendered for whatever good reason are freedoms lost.
Critics and scholars may argue quite legitimately about the particular literary merits of 1984. But none can deny its power, its hold on the imagination of a whole generations, nor the power of its admonitions . . . a power that seems to grow rather than lessen with the passage of time.
It has been said that 1984 fails as a prophecy because it succeeded as a warning -- Orwell's terrible vision has been averted. Well, that kind of self-congratulation is, to say the least, premature.
1984 may not arrive on time, but there's always 1985.
Still, the warning has been effective; and every time we use one of those catch phrases . . . recognize Big Brother in someone, see a 1984 in our future . . . notice something Orwellian . . . we are listening to that warning again.
This was written by Walter Cronkite in 1983. Both Orwell and Cronkite saw the writing on the wall. In the novel, Big Brother (big government) uses fear, oppression and hate to control and manipulate every aspect of people's lives. This includes what you can say, what you can think, and even who you can love.
I think it is especially pertinent today given that we seem to be edging ever closer to 1984. I sincerely hope that Orwell's 1984 is still required reading in our public schools.
JEFFREY WARD
Read this article:
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Lessons from 1984 | Letters To Editor | carolinacoastonline.com - Carolinacoastonline
- Principles of Genetic Engineering - PMC - National Center for ... - March 28th, 2024
- Historic Overview of Genetic Engineering Technologies for Human Gene ... - March 28th, 2024
- 20.3: Genetic Engineering - Biology LibreTexts - December 10th, 2023
- Genetically modified organism - Wikipedia - November 16th, 2023
- Genetic engineering - DNA Modification, Cloning, Gene Splicing - November 16th, 2023
- 18 Human Genetic Engineering - Clemson University - April 7th, 2023
- Pros and Cons of Genetic Engineering - Benefits and Risks - April 7th, 2023
- Genetic Engineering - Meaning, Applications, Advantages and Challenges ... - March 12th, 2023
- Genetic Engineering Principles of Biology - December 27th, 2022
- Engineering the Perfect Baby | MIT Technology Review - December 27th, 2022
- What is CRISPR? | Live Science - November 24th, 2022
- To modify or not to modify? Genetic Modification and Gene Editing - A divergence by the UK - Lexology - October 13th, 2022
- DNA and the impossibility of research in isolation - Morning Star Online - October 13th, 2022
- Genome editing technologies: final conclusions of the re-examination of Article 13 of the Oviedo Convention - Council of Europe - October 13th, 2022
- Approval, Commercialization Highlighted at Cell & Gene Meeting on the Mesa - Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News - October 13th, 2022
- Dissatisfaction and New Articulations - Discovery Institute - October 13th, 2022
- In 'The Cultivar Series,' Uli Westphal Gets to the Root of Crop Diversity and Agricultural Modification - Colossal - October 13th, 2022
- Genomic Research Aids in the Effort to Understand How Best to Treat Deadly Infections Caused by a Fungus - UMass News and Media Relations - October 13th, 2022
- Synthetic Biology Market is Expected to Report a CAGR of ~21% from 2021 to 2029: Industry Size, Growth & Forecast at Douglas Insights - Yahoo... - October 13th, 2022
- Farmers, consumers will embrace GMOs if they understand them - The Standard - October 13th, 2022
- Emily Whitten: The limits of science and human intelligence - WORLD News Group - October 13th, 2022
- Behind this Nobel prize is a very human story: theres a bit of Neanderthal in all of us - The Guardian - October 13th, 2022
- Earth materials in technology The National - The National - October 13th, 2022
- Gene therapy brings hope to people with sickle cell, HIV - Monitor - October 13th, 2022
- Eligo Bioscience Receives FDA Orphan Drug Designation (ODD) and Rare Pediatric Disease (RPD) Designation for EB003 for the Prevention of Hemolytic... - October 13th, 2022
- Skin Grafting, Cryopreservation, and Diseases: A Review Article - Cureus - October 13th, 2022
- Cultured meat could help solve the climate crisis. Heres what it will take to move it from the lab to the dinner table - Fortune - October 13th, 2022
- Ignore scary messages: We've never had it so good & that's not manure - West Side Index & Gustine Press-Standard - October 13th, 2022
- Global Phosphoramidite Market Report 2022: Increasing Synthetic Nucleotide Applications in Therapeutics Drives Growth - ResearchAndMarkets.com -... - October 13th, 2022
- Enzymes Market worth $16.9 billion by 2027 - Exclusive Report by MarketsandMarkets - Yahoo Finance - October 4th, 2022
- Experts Sound Alarm Over 'Growing Threat' of Genetically Engineered Trees - Common Dreams - October 4th, 2022
- Scientists are manipulating the DNA of mosquitoes to fight the spread of malaria - Euronews - October 4th, 2022
- Smile Coffee Werks upgraded its coffee beans to Fair Trade and USDA Organic - Vending Market Watch - October 4th, 2022
- COVID mRNA Jabs and Testing Kicked Off This Industry of Drug Development: Here's What You Need to Know - The Epoch Times - October 4th, 2022
- 22nd Century Group (Nasdaq: XXII) Expands VLN Distributor Network with the Addition of Specialty Distrib - Benzinga - October 4th, 2022
- Researchers are seeking to develop spuds that resist harmful nematodes - FreshPlaza.com - October 4th, 2022
- Synthetic biology has the power to cure and kill. How will we use it? - Big Think - September 25th, 2022
- SPECIAL REPORT: Bioengineered food labeling: 'They kind of shot in the middle and missed every constituency' - FoodNavigator-USA.com - September 25th, 2022
- Yeast-Fermented Chemo: Now We Can Brew Anything - Medscape - September 25th, 2022
- September 23, 2022: The Integrity of Marius Mason WFHB - WFHB News - September 25th, 2022
- 2 Risky Cathie Wood Growth Stocks to Buy and Hold for 5 Years - The Motley Fool - September 25th, 2022
- Bananas threatened by devastating fungus given temporary resistance - New Scientist - September 25th, 2022
- 'What Hath God Wrought' - Today, Luddites Are Concerned About Weedkillers Like They Once Were The Telegraph - Science 2.0 - September 25th, 2022
- Children should be educated about oral health and hygiene - Star of Mysore - September 25th, 2022
- Id rather eat an actual burger: why plant-based meats sizzle fizzled in the US - The Guardian - September 25th, 2022
- Health Tech startups are booming. These 11 VC investors are behind some of the hottest deals - Fortune - September 25th, 2022
- Last Chance This Fall to Tell the NOSB To Uphold Organic Integrity - Beyond Pesticides - September 25th, 2022
- Cambodian PM begins official visit to Cuba - Khmer Times - September 25th, 2022
- Researchers develop method to prevent spread of melanoma to brain - Xinhua - September 25th, 2022
- I'm allergic to the cat, what can I do? - Surinenglish.com - September 25th, 2022
- Researchers Propose a New Way of Regulating Engineered Crops - Modern Farmer - September 16th, 2022
- Purple Tomato is first genetically engineered plant to be deregulated through USDA's new regulatory status review process - Lexology - September 16th, 2022
- Genetically Modified Feed Market to Hit $135 billion by 2030, says Global Market Insights Inc. - Yahoo Finance - September 16th, 2022
- Africa, GMOs and Western Interests - DW (English) - September 16th, 2022
- The science behind the oil supply breakdown in 'Last Light' - Syfy - September 16th, 2022
- Inside the controversial plan to bring extinct animals back from the dead - The Independent - September 16th, 2022
- Star Trek Actor Says Their Trek Hero Is Just Like Their Marvel Character - Giant Freakin Robot - September 16th, 2022
- Scientists closer to making blood stem cells in the lab - Cosmos - September 16th, 2022
- Oncolytic Cancer Therapies Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 33% by 2032 | DelveInsight - Digital Journal - September 16th, 2022
- Don't call it waste - it can be turned into hydrogen if you handle it right - Innovation Origins - September 16th, 2022
- Can gene editing ease the cost of living crisis? - The Grocer - September 8th, 2022
- Gene editing could revive the American chestnut tree and help fight climate change but familiar anti-biotechonology activist critics will have none... - September 8th, 2022
- Colossal to de-extinct the Tasmanian tiger. Is it a safe thing to do? - Cape Cod Times - September 8th, 2022
- The Future of Nanotech, the World's Tiniest Industry - Entrepreneur - September 8th, 2022
- Viewpoint: The 'natural food' sham 'Effective communication on the ethics of science may be hindered by appeals to naturalness' - Genetic Literacy... - September 8th, 2022
- Toray says it has developed the worlds first 100% bio-based adipic acid - Biofuels Digest - September 8th, 2022
- Chinese scientists claim to have engineered the world's first mouse with fully reprogrammed genes - Interesting Engineering - August 30th, 2022
- Century Therapeutics Receives Study May Proceed Notification from FDA for CNTY-101, the First Allogeneic Cell Therapy Product Candidate Engineered to... - August 30th, 2022
- Living Carbon: The startup setting down roots from 9 to 5 | Greenbiz - GreenBiz - August 30th, 2022
- Novavax Nuvaxovid COVID-19 Vaccine Granted Expanded Conditional Marketing Authorization in the United Kingdom for Use in Adolescents Aged 12 Through... - August 30th, 2022
- Genetics in fiction - Wikipedia - August 14th, 2022
- Weeds superpower could help feed the planet - Freethink - August 14th, 2022
- POSEIDA THERAPEUTICS, INC. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations. (form 10-Q) - Marketscreener.com - August 14th, 2022
- Novartis Confirms Deaths of Two Patients Treated with Gene Therapy Zolgensma - Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News - August 14th, 2022
- How Arkeon Biotechnologies is turning CO2 into food: 'Excuse my language, but this is next-level cool' - FoodNavigator.com - August 14th, 2022
- Synlogic Announces Synthetic Biotic for Gout Developed in Partnership with Ginkgo Bioworks - PR Newswire - August 14th, 2022
- THE SAD STORY OF THE REJECTION OF SCIENCE - Sp Supplements - DAWN.COM - DAWN.com - August 14th, 2022
- Global Genome Editing Technologies market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 15.96% by 2032: Visiongain Reports Ltd - Yahoo Finance - August 5th, 2022
- I Got Critiqued by YouTuber Gutsick Gibbon - Discovery Institute - August 5th, 2022
- CRISPR Technology in the Agricultural Industry: Patent and Regulatory Updates - JD Supra - August 5th, 2022