Yearly, political discussions evoke George Orwell’s 1984 as a relevant cautionary tale for the current moment. Like clockwork, various camps emerge at this argument: some agree that the world is slipping into a hellish dystopia, while others dismiss the notion as a ridiculous slippery slope. In 2013, Edward Snowden’s uncovering of NSA surveillance had Americans posting images of Big Brother all over social media, seeing the connections between eavesdropping cell phones and the novel’s telescreens. On January 22nd 2017, when Kellyanne Conway, one of President Donald Trump’s advisers, referred to the administration giving “alternative facts,” sales of Orwell’s novel spiked and forced Penguin to order thousands of new copies to be printed. Over the past year and a half since then, the presence of the term “fake news” in the public eye has prompted 1984 to be mentioned over and over again. Sure, it’s an intriguing quip to quickly point out how this idea relates to the novel, but just how much does the notion of fake news relate to 1984 as a whole? Also, can the novel help us understand not just why some people create fake news, but why some now refer to nearly everything as fake news?

What is Fake News?

Before delving into how this idea appears in Orwell’s 1984, the question of what exactly fake news is must be addressed. This is a particularly troublesome question since the definition has transformed over time (particularly in the last two years) and even now people interpret the term in various ways. Before 2016, “fake news” was simply a noun with an adjective added, whereas it is now a unique term in its own right. Usage of the term spiked in late 2016 after the presidential election when Facebook was lambasted for harboring news articles and media links that were not true. This was literally fake news: articles focusing on current events that were made up and completely false. In 1984, Winston Smith’s job at the Ministry of Truth is to create fake news. He sits in his cubicle and receives messages that refer “to articles or news items which for one reason or another it was thought necessary to alter, or, as the official phrase had it, to rectify” (35).

However, the usage of the term “fake news” has expanded since late 2016, mainly due to the widespread usage by President Trump. On December 10th, 2016, Trump tweeted about fake news for the first time: “Reports by @CNN that I will be working on The Apprentice during my Presidency, even part time, are ridiculous & untrue — FAKE NEWS!” Here, the term seems to have retained the previous definition; Trump is claiming that CNN is incorrect. However, the term then began flooding his feed, including on February 6th 2017 when he tweeted, “Any negative polls are fake news, just like the CNN, ABC, NBC polls in the election. Sorry, people want border security and extreme vetting.” Here, there is a shift in the definition. Trump is referring to two things as fake news: 1) any future polls that are negative, and 2) the election prediction polls that said Trump would not win the election. These are not necessarily outright fabricated news stories: they are reactions and predictions that have a certain point of view.

Through 2017 and 2018, this expanded definition became so widespread that, at the time of writing (August 2018), the term “fake news” is almost meaningless. It is still sometimes used to refer to bogus news stories and false reporting, but some politicians deem anything that goes against what they believe as “fake news,” and it is difficult to determine what their intended definition is. Are they saying the news outlet is lying, or are they saying the station’s opinion differs from their own? The muddling of the definition is confusing, but it also has a strong connection to 1984.

Creating “Fake News”: Why Alter The Past?

A key part of the dystopian society of 1984 is the control of the past by altering media. It should be noted forthright, however, that in 1984 this whole process is controlled and carried out by the Party, the totalitarian leaders of the society. Winston spends his days going through old records and changing them to the whims of his leaders. Orwell explains why the Party takes the time to do this:

“This process of continuous alteration was applied not only to newspapers, but to books, periodicals, pamphlets, posters, leaflets, films, sound tracks, cartoons, photographs — to every kind of literature or documentation which might conceivably hold any political or ideological significance. Day by day and almost minute by minute the past was brought up to date. In this way every prediction made by the Party could be shown by documentary evidence to have been correct; nor was any item of news, or any expression of opinion, which conflicted with the needs of the movement, ever allowed to remain on record. All history was palimpsest, scraped clean and reinscribed exactly as often as was necessary.” (36)

Some fake news exists merely for the sake of being fake, but much of the fake news created, particularly spread through the Internet, serves some purpose or ideology. It is meant to exists as concrete evidence for someone’s idea. Obviously, the huge difference between reality and 1984 is that in our world there are a multitude of parties attempting to benefit through fake news, ranging from American political parties to foreign powers. Although 1984 evokes the danger of the presence of fake news, the novel actually gives an even more compelling argument regarding the danger of regarding everything as fake news.

The Danger of Calling Everything Fake News

In 1984, the Party controls every aspect of life in Oceania, from the media to surveillance. To hold and keep this control, the Party employs various methods to create a perfect totalitarian machine. As a bit of a preamble to this section, I am compelled to mention that there are many aspects of 1984 that are not addressed in this piece of writing. One who is not familiar with the novel and reads these excerpts may assume I am saying we are currently living in the world of 1984, which would be absolutely ridiculous. As stated earlier, I am trying to find connections between this idea that exists in reality and the notions in the novel.

On February 17th, 2017, Trump tweeted that “The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!” This tweet in particular garnered controversy: many saw this as an attempt to discredit most outside media outlets and turn the populace against independent journalism. Over the next year, this sentiment would be repeated over and over again. Towards the conclusion of 1984, Winston acquires a copy of The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism, which explains the motives and methods of the Party. The section entitled IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH zeros in on why past records are adjusted and why the media is controlled. It is explained how:

“The more important reason for the readjustment of the past is the need to safeguard the infallibility of the Party. It is not merely that speeches, statistics, and records of every kind must be constantly brought up to date in order to show that the predictions of the Party were in all cases right. It is also that no change of doctrine or in political alignment can ever be admitted. For to change one’s mind, or even one’s policy, is a confession of weakness.” (175)

The notion of “the readjustment of the past” is applicable to discrediting a news source: flagging a past news story as fake is an adjustment to anyone who believes the claim. This attempt to discredit could be interpreted as a way to garner control; to safeguard the infallibility of President Trump.

At a Kansas City rally on Tuesday, July 24th 2018, President Trump said “Stick with us. Don’t believe the crap you see from these people, the fake news. … What you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening.” A jump is made here from “don’t believe the fake news” to “don’t believe your senses.” This bold statement is shocking in its own right, but many pointed out the Orwellian nature of the comment, and for good reason. In 1984, Winston explains how:

“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command. His heart sank as he thought of the enormous power arrayed against him, the ease with which any Party intellectual would overthrow him in a debate, the subtle arguments which he would not be able to understand, much less answer. And yet he was in the right! They were wrong and he was right. The obvious, the silly, and the true had got to be defended. And yet he was in the right!” (69)

When Winston later finds The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism, he reads:

“Past events, if argued, have no objective existence, but survive only in written records and in human memories. The past is whatever the records and the memories agree upon. And since the Party is in full control of all records, and in equally full control of the minds of its members, it follows that the past is whatever the Party chooses to make it.” (176)

The truth can be found in writing and in the human mind. The danger of referring to everything as fake news can affect both of these; by deeming (nearly) every written source untrustworthy, legitimate concrete evidence can cease to exist. Additionally, causing full distrust of everything surrounding a person affects the way a person thinks and perceives.

Are We Living In 1984?

By Josh D. Jackson

In short, no. George Orwell’s 1984 is a perfect storm of totalitarian, dystopian horror that magnifies and expands upon various aspects of society gone awry. Even the most despicable regimes of the past and present do not hold a candle to the world of the Party, yet in almost all of them there are certain similarities. In 1984, we are privy to the inner workings of the powerful ruling class, an insight that most people may never have. All connections between reality and 1984 require a bit of reading between the lines, and those readings are most certainly up for interpretation. However, the novel has been used as a litmus test of the state of the world for years. So, what is the possible end result here? As Winston describes,

“Everything faded away into a shadow-world in which, finally, even the date of the year had become uncertain.” (37)

All quotes from 1984 cited from the 1961 Signet Classics edition.