In 1949 George Orwell's novel 1984 was a futuristic depiction of a world in perpetual war, inescapable government surveillance, and public mind control. He created an international world ruled by the Inner Party Elite. A group who didn't let facts get in the way of agenda. History was re-written to support policy and doctrine. The new media was slanted to promote and protect the good of the people. Truth be damned. Food production followed strict guidelines under the guise of a true friend of government, like Monsanto for example.
Words and terms coined by Mr. Orwell have become standard in today's lexicon. Do Big Brother, doublethink, Newspeak, memory hole ring any bells?
The year 1984 is now history, but Orwell's novel was still listed as number 8 in the 2003 BBC survey The Big Read. This means that for a good number of people, the conditions Orwell wrote about are deja vu experiences in today's world. Perhaps Orwell wasn't the writer of fiction we have always supposed. Perhaps he was actually a time travelling reporter who endeavored to warn us.
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