1984 and the Battle Against Censorship

“And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed – if all records told the same tale – then the lie passed into history and became truth. ‘Who controls the past’ ran the Party slogan, ‘controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.”

If you recognized the above as a quote from George Orwell’s 1984, then kudos are in order. Today marks the 63^rd anniversary of the novel, but the issues of censorship and creativity it raises are no less relevant – in fact, they are more significant than ever.

The goal of censorship is control. Orwell’s Party regulated language and policed thought in order to control the people of Oceania. Winston’s rebellion against the Party’s iron-fisted tyranny is to keep a journal of all the types of thoughts the Party does not permit him to think. The lesson we can learn from 1984 is this: there is freedom and power in creativity.

In the world of 1984, creative writing had the power to alter history and set a course for the future. In our world, writing and imagery has the power to forge a connection between people and history. Would we still have the same appreciation for the suffering of migrant families during the Great Depression without Dorothea Lange’s photograph, Migrant Mother? Could we even begin to comprehend what the Jewish people endured in Germany during World War II without The Diary of Anne Frank? Censorship is a threat to this connection and to the art that will one day connect our present with people of the future.

In Oceania, censorship was enforced by a political party. Today, censorship comes from far more plentiful and varied sources. Online, people are free to criticize one another anonymously, and to stifle the expression of others through increasingly cruel and hateful commentary without fear of retribution. Watchdog groups take offense at content intended as harmless humor and attempt to slander comedians, actors, and radio personalities into silence. By allowing censors to stifle creativity, we risk losing the truth and repeating history. Creativity frees us from this cycle.

So on this, the 63^rd anniversary of 1984, I invite you to be creative and share your creativity with the world. Arm yourself with a pencil (which, as we know, is mightier than a sword) and defend your right to expression with a poem, a short story, a doodle, or a sketch. Fill a page with your honest thoughts, feelings, and hopes for the future. Support others who are doing the same, and ignore the naysayers. In short, pick up a pencil and make George Orwell proud.