Orwellian Juxtapositions Essay

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“Orwellian Juxtapositions” It is quite easy as a society to read a Dystopian novel such as 1984 and judge those peoples’ reality. In society today citizens may stand complacent to certain similarities due to their commonplace and possibly a skewed perception of reality. These similarities can range from contemporary surveillance and police to certain governments found in the modern world. Though people of the modern world may not immediately see such similarities, they are hidden in plain sight. For instance, Turkey has several similarities to Oceania, there is surveillance at every turn, and even modern police officers have a semblance to the Thought Police in 1984. Firstly, the most disturbing of these comparisons are shown in real-life Orwellian society. Of course …show more content…

He also mentions that “Dissidence, real or suspected, will lead to punishment” (Ruben). Turkey shows many similarities to a totalitarian form of government. The definition of totalitarianism is “relating to a system of government that is centralized and dictatorial and requires complete subservience to the state” (Oxford). “Turkey’s relationship with Russia is enough to give any observer whiplash, moving from cautious trade partners to sanctions and military bluster to the tightest of allies over the course of a year” (Ruben). The use of whiplash in the previous quote is perfect for the context that it is in. It relates to Oceania’s inconsistent relationship with Eastasia and Eurasia. “[President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan has seized control of the media in order to impose narratives that change” (Ruben). Erdogan demands for the press in Turkey to pick up whatever narrative he wants to become truth. “Likewise, even though Erdogan’s coup-night narrative is full of holes, Turkish journalists and academics are not allowed to ask questions about the

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