A literary guide to our Orwellian nightmare
By Marc Fitch, The Federalist.
Our current age was prophesied—not necessarily by any Biblical figure, but by several writers and philosophers working in the aftermath of World War II, where technology such as radio and film had enabled a new form of propaganda. In these writers we can find some very startling truths about our own condition now. Imagine the shock and horror had these writers been brought back to life in this day and age?
Their day was the beginning of what became known as Mass Society. Technology had advanced to a point where we could all be pulled together into the glow of a television screen or the baritone voice of a radio broadcaster. We stared at machines rather than people. Today we stare at computers. The idea that such mass dissemination of information would bring us together and make the world a better place actually led to the feelings of alienation, incompleteness, and loss rather than the futuristic panacea envisioned by past generations. These writers were trying to come to terms with a Nietzschean existence in which “God is dead,” and man had anointed himself the god of reason. That being said, it would do us well to look at some of the things these writers had to say.
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