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The Comparison Of Newspeak In 1984 And George Orwell's 1984

Decent Essays

1984 is a constant argument in today's society. There is a constant debate whether or not 1984 is similar in the 21st century, there are many reasons this topic is debated today. Although many people believe the book 1984 is not similar to the 21st century, a reading of Orwell’s novel demonstrates that in America today, the United States government is just as intrusive, the upper class citizens have more benefits, and newspeak is hastening the degradation of the English language just as the author foresaw. The use of “newspeak” is very common in today's society, “propagandistic language marked by euphemism, circumlocution, and the inversion of customary meanings.” (Merriam-Webster). In other words it's the dumbing down of in essence of words already limited in meaning and scope. How is it relevant in today's society you ask? Teens start texting at a very young age, and the use of social media is very crucial in our time. Snapchat is a very powerful social media giant, we are speaking through pictures, which in essence represents hieroglyphics. Words are continually shortened and are bereft of their deeper meanings. the downfall of all of this is the dumbing down words through texting. The use of newspeak in 1984 was used to limit the freedom of thought, and expressions. Thoughtcrime was when you did the opposite of so called Newspeak you undermine the authority of Big Brother and or Ingsoc. “Don't you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of

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