Which "Orwellian" World : 1984 or Animal Farm? by Chris White

With the recent disclosure that Uncle Sam has your internet and phone use under constant surveillance there has been resurgence of using the terms “Big Brother is Watching You” and “Orwellian”, both related to George Orwell’s 1949 novel  about a future surveillance state entitled 1984.  If you’ve read the book, you realize 1984 has been slowly emerging with the development of the internet and the overall death of privacy that the ever ubiquitous social media has engendered.   And can we really blame our government for “spying” on us, when we willingly volunteer all sorts of information about ourselves and our activities several times a day?  Although I’ve nothing to hide from my government, I don’t think my skepticism about our government’s ability to control their reach and not intrude upon our civil rights is completely unwarranted.  But that said, there is another George Orwell novel that is lesser-known but is far more applicable to the world we live in today.  Animal Farm was a dystopian novel that Orwell wrote in World War 2 England that points out the flaws of atheistic communism that were found in states like the U.S.S.R. and China.  Popular lore about the book is that no publisher in the UK was willing to put out the book until the conclusion of the war for fear that Russia might be offended and not help Western Europe conclude the war against the Nazis.  Clearly the book is about false promises that communism offers (freedom from tyranny, equality for all) that quickly turns to hypocrisy and falsehood as those in charge set themselves above the proletariat little by little until they become the tyrannical self-serving aristocracy that they overthrew during the revolution.  Space doesn’t allow me to rehearse all the details of Animal Farm but basically what happens is a cruel farmer is overthrown by his farm animals in a revolution.  They declare themselves all equals but because nature abhors a vacuum, the pigs take the reins of leadership because they are the smartest in the barnyard.  Because all people need to be guided by laws they set up their 7  animal commandments (don't sleep in beds, don't drink alcohol, don't live in a house, etc,etc.) and their two great ideals: “All Animals are equal” and “4 feet good, 2 feet bad!”.  As time passes and memories fade, the pigs begin to manipulate the laws and their history especially through their educational system but also their oratory.  The animals of the farm intuitively feel something is wrong, but they can’t put their finger on it.  Surely, their government wouldn’t be doing something that is not in everyone’s best interest.  When things begin to fall apart on the farm (because everyone doesn’t have a thumb and can’t work that well) an external enemy is found and scapegoating and purging of undesirable members becomes routine.  When the cycle is complete, the pigs start walking upright on two-feet under the pretense of being superior to the rest and declare “all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others!”  I see America’s drift from its constitutional foundation and the plasticity of our laws and history as very “Orwellian”.  While I’m not a conspiracy theorist, I would like to make the observation that this recent NSA scandal is all in the name of fighting our outside enemies, all the while it is mining details that can be used against people and thus solidifying the power of the elite in our country.  But beyond the present day, Orwell has tapped into the reason all human governments eventually degenerate, corrupt and decay.  For when God created man in His image and put him in charge of caring for the Garden of Eden, man was tempted by the devil to reach for something that was not his to take.  The devil made the false promise that Adam and Eve would become just like God (an arrogant pretense) if they violated his law and became a law unto themselves (See Genesis 2-3 for details).  Just like the pigs in Orwell’s Animal Farm who pretentiously (and ridiculously) began walking on their hind feet and acting like they were humans, so mankind has repeatedly sought to play the role of God instead of humbly serving Him in our finite humanity which is the purpose for which we were made.  When we are askew in who we really are as persons, the civilizations and governments we create are as sure to fall as the fallen and broken people who made them.

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