After an evening at the amazing Headlong, Nottingham and Almeida Theatre production of 1984, the timeless warning of the danger of unchecked power and the futility of resistance invited thoughts about the state of society in other areas of power, control and fear.
The passive aggressive comment, the staring down to intimidate, the proclamations of intellectual superiority, cultural, religious or racial bias uttered from a monocultural, bigoted point of view instils fear in the targeted individual, reverberating with the mental torture Orwell’s character, Winston Smith undergoes.
Sleepless nights, dreaded days, endless bouts of nausea, skulking in the shadows away from penetrating eyes, questions about questions.
The long day’s journey into another sleepless night becomes relentless. Guilt, self-questioning and a whittling away of self-confidence reeks of the fascism of workplace politics.
Competitiveness of the narcissistic ladder climbing co-worker or the sadistic joy in pulling others down is yet another corrosive dimension of inhumanity.
Systemic torment dims the light of the once vibrant, optimistic individual, the light is interrupted as dark days take over. Winston Smith tried to hang onto the waning light in Nineteen Eighty-Four.
With every knock…
The eroded self-confidence and panic attacks sends the tormented individual hurtling into a bottomless pit of mental anguish …
Each act of power and control, topples the victim blow-by-blow…
BUT
While the message is bleak, while it might not seem possible, there is a light at the end of the long, dark tunnel, the light of strength.
Fear is thy strength when compassion and love grow from the depths of pain.
In fear, there resides hope.
Hope is the light — fiction and poetry hold the power to transform fear to courage as all struggles pass, they exist in the now—the page turns as truth lifts its head to the sun.
George Orwell predicted a future that has become a reality today, not only within the realm of politics and governance but also serves as a cautionary note to take a closer look in the mirror to decide if our souls are indeed supportive or destructive of each other.
A dark message sheds light on what should be rectified to save ourselves and the ‘unborn’, the next generation, from even darker inhumane acts.
What will you do today to uplift someone from the quagmire of human cruelty?
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