Like in Orwell’s 1984, Society Seems To Be Losing Its Grip On Reality

By Bryan Hyde

Ever get the sense that our commitment to reality is being tested?

One of the most disturbing aspects of George Orwell's novel 1984 was its depiction of an entire society that was forbidden from embracing reality. 

Every person lived under a kind of intellectual bondage where their own understanding of the world was subject to the direction of someone in authority.

Anyone who resisted or even hesitated to participate in their leaders’ delusions risked severe punishment for what Orwell called Thoughtcrime.

The citizens of Oceania were not allowed to use their own intellect but were expected to defer to the external guidance of the Party.

Looking around us today, a similar mindset is threatening to take hold…if we let it.

How can we maintain our connection to reality? We might want to consider the advice of German philosopher Immanuel Kant who wrote:

“Nonage is the inability to use one’s own understanding without another’s guidance. This nonage is self-imposed if its cause lies not in lack of understanding but in indecision and lack of courage to use one’s own mind without another’s guidance.”

We cannot allow the fear of being labeled as wrongthinkers to override our willingness to live in reality and exercise our own understanding.

Our minds are the last real measure of freedom we can still exercise without being surveilled and directed.

Willingly allowing ourselves to become intellectually enslaved in the pursuit of someone else’s agenda is not an option.

-- Hyde In Plain Sight is written by KDXU personality Bryan Hyde. Catch his daily HIPS vignette at 7:50-ish every weekday morning on KDXU and listen to Bryan's show weekends at 7 p.m. Saturday and 6 p.m. Sunday nights.