There’s been a lot of talk about this being Orwellian and that being Orwellian. I want to dive in and give my take. Before we get started, my credentials . I have a BFA and a MFA in Creative writing with a concentration in Fiction. I’ve taught college for 16 years.

I’ve also taught “1984” to freshmen college kids for five years. I’ve read the book ten times.

First, Orwellian usually means the changing of meaning of words. Doublespeak is what that usually means. For example: There is no word “bad” in Oceania. There is only “ungood.”

That matters because, in “1984”, nothing is bad. There are only levels of good.

The concept of making people believe falsehoods is the core idea of “Orwellian.” Like, for example, telling millions of people that you won an election that you actually lost. That is very Orwellian.

And, before we get too deep, there could be a case for calling Trump, “Big Brother” but I don’t buy that. I’ve written about it here. https://jayslacks.medium.com/the-accidental-big-brother-1fc090cc3a00

Another example from the book is the torture scene with Winston. In it, O’Brien attempts to force Winston to believe that 2+2=5, (Yes, like the famous STNG scene THERE ARE FOUR LIGHTS). Every time Winton refuses to believe the lie, he is tortured.

I find it interesting that Trump enablers like @tedcruz became angry when others refused to believe Trump’s lie. Cruz knows it’s bullshit, but he really wanted to FORCE the lie on others.

Repeating the lie over and over again did work on many Trump supporters, so that’s another good example.

The obvious question: Is removing Trump for Twitter “Orwellian?” Let’s study it.

Trump is the President of the fucking United States. So, I mean, he’s pretty powerful. The idea that the most powerful person in the world is censored by some nerds in San Fran doesn’t really make much sense.

If anything, Twitter attempted to stop Trump from using Twitter to brainwash more people. Trump really wanted to use Twitter to spread more of his doublespeak, but Twitter didn’t allow him to do that.

Hawley’s book not being published by Simon and Shuster could come close to Orwellian. The destruction of information and the changing of facts and data is in the book and fits with the Orwellian concept.

But, Hawley could publish his book himself. He could post it on Medium. He could go on TV. Hawley is mad he’s not going to make money off his lies. So, again, it’s almost like these people are upset that they can’t use modern tools to spread misinformation.

Lastly, let’s not forget “The Three Minutes Hate.” It is when a television show rails up people and makes them angry and afraid of the mysterious Goldstein. And, yes, in the book, is is alluded that Goldstein is Jewish.

Goldstein isn’t a real person, not in my interpretation. He is a fake villain created to make people afraid. Big Brother is shown to be the only person to protect the population from Goldstein.

We have seen Trump do this countless times. Brown people flooding our borders, Antifa, Black Lives Matter, blah blah blah. Even in his Republican nomination acceptance speech, Trump says, “I Alone Can Fix It.” That’s very Orwellian.

Trump is too dumb to purposely do any of this. That’s the danger. He has authoritative tendencies in his bones. Keeping him away from social media is a good thing. It’s stopping him from using Orwellian tactics.

“1984” was a warning against Fascism and Communism. And, Trump has fascist tendencies. That’s clear. Getting a mob to try and storm the Capital of the United States? That fascism.

And Trump Supporters saying this and that is “Orwellian” is an example of them trying to make us disbelieve the truth. They are Orwellian, not Twitter for banning them from the platform.

So, no, Twitter banning Trump from Twitter isn’t Orwellian. It’s stopping Trump from using Orwellian tactics to gain power.

Don’t take my word for it. Read the book. It’s short. It’ll take you three days. https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=30373577897&cm_sp=SEARCHREC-_-WIDGET-L-_-BDP-R&searchurl=kn%3D1984%2Bgeorge%2Borwell%2Bpaperback%26sortby%3D17

You should also read his collection of essays. https://www.amazon.com/Facing-Unpleasant-Facts-George-Orwell/dp/0156033135/ref=sr_1_6?dchild=1&keywords=essays+George+orwell&qid=1610218526&sr=8-6