4 ms·

I just happen to have read an article complaining about how “Orwelian” is almost always used in ways that seem to have little connection to Orwell’s writings; e

I just happen to have read an article complaining about how “Orwelian” is almost always used in ways that seem to have little connection to Orwell’s writings; even more so with invocations of 1984. Early in this article we encounter “culture’s increasingly Orwellian allegiance to social media ”. I have no idea what this means. The word “allegiance” confuses me here. Is it what he really intends? Because I’ve never met anyone with allegiance to Twitter, etc. Even people I know who use them obsessively don’t have any allegiance to them. I guess some of their employees do, but I don’t think that’s what the author has in mind. And what is “Orwellian” doing there? This was even more puzzling.

benjaminwootton 5y ago
Allegiance: “loyalty or commitment to a superior or to a group or cause.” The phrase almost works. People spend half their lives feeding the beast of social media by documenting their movements, having their divisive arguments and giving them eyeballs and attention. At the same time, the god they serve has plenty of the themes of 1984 - constant surveillance, total control of the message, incredible degree of power over your business/personal life and ability to deplatform you. Big Brother had to use a network of Telescreens. Now we just give it all up for free in glorious technicolour. This feels especially stark having been at the “skeptic” end of the covid debate this year.