Read Banned Books: 1984

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Read Banned Books

Read the books "the man" says are dangerous. Be a rebel! Read banned books! Think dangerous thoughts! Read 1984.

Previous entries in this series:

• Between the World and Me

• A Wrinkle in Time

• Fahrenheit 451

• Internment

• The Outsiders

• It Can't Happen Here

• The Hate U Give

• The Diary of a Young Girl

• Bag of Bones

• Lock In

• Animal Farm

• Kindred

• Sold

Read Banned Books: 1984

I recall reading 1984 in high school English, many, many moons ago. I enjoyed it. How could I not, as a sci-fi and fantasy nerd? It's a dystopian masterpiece, perhaps the granddaddy of all dystopian novels. Reading 1984 today, I enjoyed it more than ever, and its warnings hit harder. 

"There was truth and there was untruth, and if you clung to the truth even against the whole world, you were not mad." In a world of alternative facts, fake news, and AI slop (Super Intelligence slop?), objective truth often feels lost in all the noise. Rather Orwellian, don't you think?

Orwell also predicted constant surveillance. What are the cameras law enforcement uses without warrants but telescreens? 

Then there's drone warfare. AI, or do I dare say, Super Intelligence, driven decision-making in warfare. Orwell may not have predicted drones or AI outright, but he certainly warned us of the nature of modern conflict: dehumanized, remote, constant, a means to stir up jingoism.

So why has this classic faced censorship over the years? Perhaps unsurprisingly, the novel was banned in Soviet countries from its publication in 1949 until glasnost in 1988 for its negative portrayal of the Soviet system. That's interesting, but why is it challenged in the West? Surprisingly, it's been challenged in the past for supposedly promoting communism—odd! Of course, it's faced censorship for explicit content. I wouldn't say the novel is explicit by today's standards, but sex is a theme. Supposedly, that's why 1984 was placed on a list of books requiring "parental permission" to access as recently as 2024! In all honesty, I don't think the book banners really take issue with the sex or violence depicted in 1984. They take umbrage at the ideas, namely the warning against a totalitarian surveillance state. After all, the thought police don't want you to know they exist until it's too late to resist.

Be dangerous. Read banned books.