“1984” is a dystopian novel forced down the throats of many students during their scholastic career.

Due to the book being assigned instead of voluntarily read, the message of the novel goes over the heads of a majority of the readers.   

The message is quite simple; don’t let the government get too much power and allow people the right to be individuals.

We see the main character, named Winston Smith, harbor revolutionary dreams due to “Big Brother” suppressing his individuality through the threat of vaporization and societal shaming. Winston is all of us.

We all want to be individuals, but the government is getting more and more control and shaming is stunting individuality.

What a shame.

If students had paid more attention to the novel and its parallels with our reality instead of being focused on their petty little social drama and minute problems, I wouldn’t have to write this article and deliver the rather frightening news that our society is rapidly distorting into a mirror image of an Orwellian dystopia.

“Big Brother” is nothing more than a symbolic metaphor for a state that has too much power and control over its citizens.

While our government isn’t as overt about their power over us, I assure you they’ve taken over the minds of the majority of people willing to pay attention to politics, and it’s dragging along those that are too focused on celebrity and manufactured fabricated personal drama into the void of the trans-humanistic authoritarian society encroaching on the horizon.  

Think about the shaming tactics and the sensitivities of the majority today.

If you dare step out of line and go against the state’s altruistic and maliciously controlling equality agenda, you’re shamed through a plethora of tactics such as social isolation, cyber-harassment and mocking.

If you dare question what you’re told, you’re instantly compared to Nazis, racists and horrendous immoral individuals that have left a disgusting mark on history.

This type of shaming makes people afraid to think for themselves or makes them so angry that they turn to extremist ideologies; which is exactly what happens to people who question the state in “1984.”

The “social justice warriors” of today are nothing more than Orwellian spies for Big Brother.

You dare question the intentions of feminists? Get ready to be shamed into oblivion and forced back into the ideological line the state has planned and the majority have bought into.

You dare question forced governmental altruism and equality?

Get ready to be shamed and slandered on practically every social media platform and possibly lose everything you’ve built due to rumors and a misunderstanding of your argument.

The “social justice warriors” usually start this shaming and decide when the shaming punishment is over.

The warriors aren’t doing it out of spite, not at all; they’ve fallen prey to the idea that what they’re doing is good, which is exactly what the government wants.

These rationalizations of justice and shaming tactics remind me of the fury Orwell described when writing about the  “two-minutes of hate.”

A full two minutes of people forced into the state’s rhetoric screaming and shouting at the top of their lungs at enemies of the state and their ideology.

Sound familiar?

All you need to do is look up left-leaning protest where somebody questions the majority and you’ll see just that.

Screaming.

Crying.

Whining.

Not a single person thinking rationally due to societal and governmental pressure.   

The worst part is, it’s starting to appear as if there’s nothing we can do about it because a majority of people are either too blinded by the piercing light of their smartphones to see the parallels between an Orwellian dystopia and our society, or have no idea that they’re merely a pawn in the state’s game.

The social media companies and applications teenagers are so addicted to collecting and storing every bit of information, who knows where all of those duck-face selfies and mind-numbingly ignorant pictures and personal information truly go.

Of course, the companies claim advertisers, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they were selling our information to the government so they can predict what will bait the masses into buying into their rhetoric and thus expand their power.

The internet is a very powerful entity, and smartphones are an extremely powerful device, it’s such a shame that people are using them to tighten their chains by consuming propaganda and focusing on extraordinarily small activities instead of freeing their minds by drinking from the waterfall of information their smartphones can give them.

But is the water pure?

We’ve seen the government slowly begin to limit what we can and can’t consume. Julian Assange’s recent arrest is a prime example of this. Julian and Wikileaks do their absolute best to expose the government and the hypocrisy they’re infamous for.

Wikileaks’ acts are in and of themselves very anti-statist.

It’s no wonder why Julian was arrested; he’s a very dangerous man with the power to expose and whistle-blow the numerous flaws of the state.

Assange’s arrest beg the questions that follow; what else is being hidden from us?

Is his arrest a fear tactic to make all of the anti-statist journalists afraid?

Is all the information we’re taking in truly correct?

Why are statistics about governmental failures so hard to find?

Why do collectives of hackers such as “Wikileaks” have to hack into government documents in the first place?

Why are we as a society okay with having information limited and hidden unless it fits a larger socialist narrative?

Why are we comfortable with being watched by the government, an institution with a horrendous track-record whenever it gets too much power.

The more you rely on the government instead of your own power and rationality to generate change, the more you take your power out of your own hands.

Instead of forcing taxes upon the masses in order to provide for people or causes taxpayers don’t care about, open up a charity and allow the people willing to give to do so.

The government likes to play the role of a hero willing to make everything right through laws and taxes and the social justice warriors are trying to advertise the genius of the government and misunderstood socialism in an effort to make everything right, but history has shown time and time again that a large government makes for pure hell on earth.

Think for yourself. Be an individual.

Think deeply.

Question what you’ve been told.

Or, “Big Brother” will be more than just a fictional concept.

Jermelle Macleod is a freshman studying journalism.