Observers fear current politics is re-enacting 1984’s truth-as-casualty dynamics
Evidence
One might imagine a no less chilling exchange in the basement of the Ministry of Love in the pages of George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984. Indeed, some now worry that we are well on our way to fulfilling that dark vision, where truth is the first casualty in the establishment of the authoritarian state. — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 39
Categorization
- XREF: Orwell’s 1984 (which is in my library as 2001 by Clarke, but also evokes the dystopian lineage) — themes of falsified facts as authoritarian tools. — connects to: Erosion of truth-telling is a warning sign preceding authoritarian politics — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 228; New conspiracism dissolves shared perceptions of political reality — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying: The New…, 373; Postmodernist premises applied to politics yield post-truth reality denial — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 292 (+5 more)
- QUESTION: Worth pursuing: is the 1984 analogy actually apt, or does it obscure the more mundane market/affect-driven mechanisms the book will unpack?
Broader Connections
- Erosion of truth-telling is a warning sign preceding authoritarian politics
#corroborates(0.88) — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 228 - New conspiracism dissolves shared perceptions of political reality
#corroborates(0.85) — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 373 - Repressed historical truths resurface distorted in conspiratorial politics
#corroborates(0.80) — Naomi Klein, Doppelganger, 901 - Postmodernist premises applied to politics yield post-truth reality denial
#expands(0.75) — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 292 - Partisan false memories of real events follow ideological bias
#exemplifies(0.75) — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 83 - People preferentially form false memories consistent with their political allegiances
#corroborates(0.75) — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 82 - Speculative uncertainty is now reshaping democratic politics itself.
#corroborates(0.72) — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities, 240 - Established opinion and myths can be both symptom and cause of political crisis
#complicates(0.72) — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 881