All governments want immense power. Orwell depicted it in his novel 1984 with the Party. It manipulated the population through fear, constant monitoring, and depriving the public of information. Totalitarian governments destroyed people’s sense of self because they consolidated their personalities and purpose into a single thing, their love for Big Brother. Some aspects of this are similar to our society today. In 1984 the government’s ability to maintain power is due to the disinformation, and the ignorance that it promotes. A similar tactic has been used by Donald Trump and Kim Jong-Un. The slogan “Ignorance Is Strength” is the central idea of the ruling government (Orwell, 4). The Party is trying to make its citizens ignorant of the happenings around them. Orwell (96). There are evidences that people who had “confessed to intelligence”, had “vanished from the public eye for an entire year, making it impossible to know whether they had died or not, before suddenly being brought out to accuse themselves. Winston, for example, is aware of how to control his intellectual thoughts or thoughtcrimes to avoid death. Also, this is why the citizens act like they have no idea what’s going on. It is inevitable that the disinformation of 1984 will lead to a change in information about Oceania’s past. Winston is employed by the Ministry of Truth. This is similar to erasing history. North Korea’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un has a dictatorship that is very similar to other dictatorships. There are still “absolute controls on public information flow” in North Korea. Kim Jong Un took this measure to maintain the loyalty of his people and ensure their ignorance. Kang Cheol Hwan from North Korea, a local journalist stated that Red Star is an iOS-like operating system in his article on “North Korea Censorship”. The products are designed to control, monitor and manipulate information. It was stated in the novel that Winston turned his back on the telescreen. Orwell explains that the North Koreans are also being watched through this new technology by their “Big Brother”. Kang informed the public that Red Star version 3.0 contains surveillance features, and Kwangmyong interface is designed so as to give the illusion that a user has access to full internet. This extraordinary fact prevents the North Koreans from receiving information they should have, like the Oceanians (Jerreat). North Korea has a striking parallel to Orwell’s 1984 society. Donald Trump doesn’t have the power of Orwell to mind-control or to constantly monitor Americans, but he has an influence over “fake stories”. Trump is similar in that he likes to rewrite history and use it as a basis for his “alternatives facts” (Charles). Trump’s recent power has been unchecked and he was able to fire important people. In this period, he has also completed the prototypes of the wall that surrounds Mexico. Stormy and Karen McDougal sex controversy has made a big splash in the public. Leaders are known to lie to get power, loyalty or to achieve other goals. Big Brother, as seen from the novel’s perspective, had complete control because of fear. “In conclusion, the Party announced that two plus two makes five, and it was up to you to believe” (Orwell 102). In modern society, fear is no longer the dominant factor, but instead, loyalty and pride are. For example, Donald Trump supporters believe in him because they love their country. Trump’s supporters have an undeniable sense of pride and are ignorant. This is what keeps a man without credibility at the top. To control the future, the Party used its total power to change the past. In many ways, 2018 reminds us of 1984, with its technology, wars that never end, doublethink and newspeak. Newspeak is a text-based language that is “used to restrict free thought”. OMG, are you serious? It’s a fuckup. LMAO” (Beale). In their world, reality was non-existent. The facts were changed to manipulate and control the people, to gain their loyalty, to have them follow their orders. Oceania fought Eastasia. Eurasia was a friend” (Orwell, 146). The Party is rewriting history to keep the people from knowing the truth, and they are going to believe everything Big Brother tells them. Oceania is a land where the people are ignorant and only know to follow orders. The people of Oceania are in danger of losing their lives if they refuse to remain ignorant. In any case, it is not the fault of the people that they are ignorant and unable to access information. The governments are designed to control the people economically and socially. Orwell presents this altered version of a government that uses fear of punishments and death to make people more controllable. Big Brother’s “ignorance” slogan is the truth of how you can survive the unknown.
