“The instrument (the telescreen, it was called) could be dimmed, but there was no way of shutting it off completely.”
“The patrols did not matter… only the Thought Police mattered.”
“BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU.”
The book opens as Winston climbs the stairs to his ironically named Victory Mansions apartment. Large posters of a moustachio’d man with the words BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU stare down from every wall - his eyes described as dark.
Trump’s mugshot comes to mind.
From the start, Orwell’s world establishes itself through surveillance and fear. The dystopian stage is set with posters everywhere, militaristic and terroristic in tone. Patrols march, telescreens hum, and a constant threat hangs in the air: being watched, being caught, being erased. Sound familiar?
The constant patrols, the threat of arrest, the Thought Police - they did a really good job of making people think that they’re under constant surveillance.
The telescreen reminds me of social media. The devices were put in our hands and we were given “connection.” They spent fortunes to figure out how to make you not want to turn it off. It worked.
Then, look what happened in the Philippines. Bad actors weaponized social media to spread disinformation, silence critics, and help usher in authoritarian rule. Journalist Maria Ressa exposed this machinery of manipulation - and won the Nobel Peace Prize for her fight to defend truth and democracy.
And like the telescreen, these platforms create the illusion of choice. Winston believes he’s being watched at all times; we believe we’re choosing to share. Both are systems of control disguised as participation.
The telescreen in everybody’s domicile constantly plays the most horrific brain rot to desensitize them. They constantly show political violence and the government murdering fleeing refugees. It’s eerily similar to how we can turn on our phones and watch political violence unfold every day - like the murder of Charlie Kirk and House Representative Melissa Hortman.
Winston describes how it’s the young, attractive women who are the strictest Party supporters, and how he seems to blanket hate them for that reason. It’s very similar to how today, boomers and young males are the biggest proponents of the Republican Party.
He describes how he doesn’t talk to some coworkers and has anxiety about whether or not they are Party supporters - anxiety about the people in his daily life, whether they are loyalists or dissenters.
The Two Minutes Hate was merely a Party propaganda video to rile people up, and they did a very good job of getting people to agree to hate what they described as being reduced to an object. They could be easily assuaged to switch their hatred from object to object. It was daily brainwashing. Winston described how it was so easy to be drawn into the chanting, and when they were done, it was very easy to believe that anything said about their enemy could be true. Groupthink.
Finally, Orwell described the fear of being disappeared - your entire existence erased. Winston was convinced that someday the Thought Police would get him, and that it was unavoidable.
Oceania’s Party Slogans and Modern Parallels
“WAR IS PEACE”
- Perpetual War on Terror: Since 9/11, Western nations have lived in a state of unending conflict - not against a nation, but a concept. This endless “war” justifies surveillance, interventionism, and the suspension of civil liberties.
- Militarization of Police: “Peace” now arrives armored. Domestic law enforcement resembles a standing army: tactical gear, riot shields, and tear gas in the streets.
- National Security as Virtue: Governments define peace as stability, even when that stability is enforced through violence, secrecy, and mass surveillance.
Peace isn’t the absence of war - it’s war turned inward and made permanent.
“FREEDOM IS SLAVERY”
- Surveillance Capitalism: “Free” platforms like Google, Meta, and X turn users into the product. Our personal data becomes the new currency - voluntary servitude disguised as freedom.
- Work and Hustle Culture: Economic dependence is marketed as empowerment. The freedom to work endlessly, to monetize every hobby, to compete for attention - all invisible chains.
- Social Media as Identity: Self-expression becomes self-surveillance. We curate ourselves for algorithms that reward conformity and outrage.
- Authoritarian Framing: Leaders present democracy, dissent, or journalism as “chaotic.” Obedience is rebranded as order - freedom through submission.
Dependence disguised as autonomy; control rebranded as choice.
“IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH”
- Disinformation Overload: Flooding the internet with lies, memes, and conspiracies exhausts people. Confusion becomes compliance.
- Pride in Ignorance: Anti-intellectualism thrives as identity. “Don’t trust experts” becomes a badge of loyalty.
- Erasure and Rewriting: Book bans, curriculum changes, and political censorship destroy collective memory - no one remembers how we got here.
- Media Fragmentation: Truth itself becomes partisan; fact-checking is labeled bias. When everyone has their own “truth,” no truth exists.
Ignorance isn’t a weakness - it’s engineered strength for those in power.
Remember when Trump said, “I love the uneducated”? Then got elected, put Linda McMahon of the WWE in charge of the Department of Education, and proceeded to gut the organization? That wasn’t irony. That was strategy.
Reflection
The slogans aren’t just propaganda - they’re operating systems. Each one rewires reality to sustain control.
Orwell wasn’t predicting the future; he was diagnosing a pattern. War, freedom, ignorance - all inverted until the lie becomes the law.
Reading this today feels less like fiction and more like a mirror.