— A satirical comparison of dystopian literature vs. the far weirder dystopia we actually live in.
“In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”
— Not actually George Orwell on Twitter / X, but it might as well be.
If George Orwell were alive today, he wouldn’t be holed up in a cabin on Jura with a typewriter and tuberculosis. No, he’d be somewhere in East London, sipping cold brew in a co-working space, doomscrolling, and tweeting hot takes like:
@RealEricBlair: Surveillance capitalism makes Big Brother look like an amateur Peeping Tom. #1984WasntSupposedToBeAnInstructionManual
It’s a tragicomic thought experiment—what if Orwell had a Twitter / X account? What if the prophet of dystopia had to fit doublethink, thoughtcrime, and Newspeak into 280 characters while competing with memes, misinformation, and Elon Musk’s shower thoughts?
Let’s dive into this warped mirror.
📱 Big Brother Meets the Algorithm
In 1984, Big Brother watched you from the telescreen.
In 2025, you watch yourself—willingly—through six different smart devices while being tracked by your fridge. The Party didn’t need to build a massive surveillance state. You tagged yourself at a protest, enabled location services on TikTok, and posted your lunch on Threads.
@RealEricBlair: You wanted privacy? You gave Zuckerberg your baby photos. Voluntarily.
In Orwell’s dystopia, surveillance was imposed. In ours, it’s monetized. Orwell feared coercion; he never imagined we’d subscribe to it monthly.
🧠 Thoughtcrime vs. Cancel Culture
In 1984, you could be “vaporized” for thinking the wrong thing.
In 2025, you get ratioed, canceled, or de-platformed—then go viral the next week and land a podcast deal. We don’t have a Ministry of Truth, just algorithmic outrage machines escalating every disagreement into a full-scale culture war.
@RealEricBlair: Cancel culture is real. Ask my sales numbers every time someone misquotes me.
Thoughtcrime has been replaced by Hot Takes. No matter how bad the take, there’s always a subreddit that agrees with it.
🗞️ The Ministry of Truth Now Comes with Ads
In 1984, the Ministry of Truth rewrote history to control the narrative.
In 2025, we do the same thing—except it’s crowdsourced. Think Wikipedia edit wars, AI-generated historical images, and deepfake news from a verified account named something like @NewsReal_Freedom247.
@RealEricBlair:
“The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became truth.”
Now brought to you by sponsored content.
The Ministry of Truth had to work to rewrite facts. Today, a clickbait title and a stock image are enough.
🧬 Newspeak vs. Hashtag Culture
Newspeak was Orwell’s terrifying idea: language engineered to narrow thought.
Modern-day Twitter English is already halfway there. Behold:
- Unalive
- Gaslighting
- Based
- Doomscrolling
- Main Character Energy
@RealEricBlair: Just saw a post that said “Orwellian” to describe bad Wi-Fi. I’m going back to the grave.
Our vocab has become so cryptic, Orwell’s Newspeak Dictionary would need an Urban Dictionary plug-in just to keep up.
🤖 Orwell vs. The Algorithm
Orwell imagined omniscient dictators. He never foresaw the algorithm—an invisible, amoral force more powerful than any totalitarian regime. It doesn’t care what you believe. It just wants clicks.
Fear works. Outrage works better. Hate sells. Cats outperform them all.
@RealEricBlair:
The algorithm doesn’t care if it’s truth. It cares if it’s trending.
Big Brother wanted control. The algorithm just wants your attention. One manipulates your mind, the other your dopamine. Guess which one sells more ads?
🐖 Bonus Round: Animal Farm on TikTok
If Animal Farm were written today?
- Napoleon the pig would be an influencer with a 3 million-follower wellness brand.
- Boxer the horse would livestream his work ethic.
- Snowball would get canceled for using ChatGPT to write his manifestos.
@NapoleonInFluencer:
All animals are equal, but some have better engagement metrics.
📢 Final Tweet
Orwell feared a boot stamping on a human face forever.
We got a pop-up ad and called it progress.
But satire aside, Orwell’s genius wasn’t in predicting the tech. It was in warning us how truth, language, and power can be twisted. The scary part? He thought we’d fight back.
We mostly just retweet.
@RealEricBlair:
If you’re not scared, you’re not paying attention.
If you’re still scrolling, you might already be lost.
🏷️ Tags:
George Orwell, 1984, Dystopia, Satire, Twitter, Cancel Culture, Surveillance, Social Media, Modern Culture, Big Brother, Misinformation, The Algorithm, Newspeak
