Is Orwellian the new political topic

[Jet Cash]

I keep seeing 'Orwellian' cropping up in various political posts, and I did a search on YouTube for posts in the last month. This is what it reported

About 737 filtered results

So is this the new buzz word for the EU and various other regimes?

[The Sceptical Chymist]

I don't watch news anymore and haven't for years, but I've definitely heard "Orwellian" used as an adjective quite a few times.  When some cities in the United States started installing cameras at traffic intersections (presumably to catch red light runners), some journalists said we were moving toward an Orwellian existence.  And man, if you read 1984 and look where we're at today, he was right on the money about some things. 

The media do tend to latch on to some phrases, and normally I cannot stand when they do it ("shot across the bow" is one that immediately comes to mind), but if they're using Orwellian as a descriptor in current affairs, I'm all for it.  We've definitely become a society where we're under constant surveillance and engaged in unrelenting warfare.  There's never any peace.

[seoincorporation]

From my point of view, it is not surprising at all.
The first time I read 1984 was 20 years ago, and this is awesome how the world is taking the shape Orwell described in his book. To me, Facebook (and others alike platforms) is the key that will lead us into an Orwellian world (again, "Orwellian"!), but even George Orwell in his worst nightmare couldn't foresee how the people will behave, and how happy they will be willing to share anything related to their lives, as well as their relatives ones, into several public platforms in the service of the state surveillance.
At the same time, I read "A brave new world", by Huxley, and this is scary how right he also was.

"Orwellian" is still the best adjective I can find to describe the surveillance nightmare we are living today, though. So, no, I'm not surprised at all of this word being used for many people, besides, it seems like a good sign to me, for, at least, demonstrate that some people have read the book, despite the growing ignorance that is mastering the world.

[BQ]

What's spot on in terms of 1984 in my opinion, is that primarily, people are accepting it.
Just as in the book, and as earlier poster mentioned 'Brave New World', is that people are not in the least straining against it - it's welcomed.
(as in, people are supporting the government to find the 'wrong-doers').
If this is the case, can we truly say it's wrong? People are clearly aware of what's happening - maybe not in depth, but generally - people know privacy is long gone.
People are instead ridiculing those who are trying to bring up the issues.
Oh, it's to prevent terror attacks? Is that a valid reason to log all types of internet traffic for millions and millions of people?
It's always portrayed as to protect the people, while it's rather a way to gain more power, seemingly.

It's like this quote from Snowden: “Arguing that you don't care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don't care about free speech because you have nothing to say.”
While I agree with this; how many people today actually need to 'watch' what they say, or what privacy they share?
It's an issue, because there's not going to be any sort of reaction before it's 'too late'.
What if Hitler or Stalin had access to these insane amount of information regarding each person?

This recent Facebook news seemingly came as a surprise for people, yet really nothing changes.
What Facebook does is nothing different to what Google, Twitter, or any other company like them are doing.
It's easier to call people a conspiracy theorist, rather than addressing the actual issue - that people are the product.

It's clear that data gathered from Facebook is used for marketing, yes.
Same goes for Google, since Google can display 'interest-based' ads.
This obviously means that there's some process of basically automatically building profiles based on each user, which then can be used to find relevant content.

Now, this is concerning because very few people think about what they're doing online, what they're searching, putting on their profiles,
even data not actually submitted - more like, at what times someone searches for specific things -
it can lead to very advanced profiling of people.

This also follows everyone everywhere, since any site with Facebook login or Google ads and such, can immidately tie your IP to whatever account, or not even an account - just your general internet presence.
Even with IP changes, cookies follow. Sure, it's possible to defend oneself, but the vast majority doesn't do that.

Therefore there is insane amounts of data I'm sure most people can't imagine, all built based on the data willingly provided by themselves.

So essentially, what could happen in the future, with all this data?
What if we reach a 1984, or rather, 2084, where we have a totalistic government, that actually has this depth of data available?

While that doesn't really address the governmental issue, it's an important aspect.
In general, society has always been where there's the large 'flock', who act the same way.
That's exactly what leads to any thing such as a 1984, Nazi-Germany, etc.
As can be seen today in society, there aren't as many 'big' problems, compared with for example a World War.
With a large issue, people are united under a cause, much like what's happening 1984. An external threat.
However, without a large issue, people are instead divided into smaller categories, thus easier to control.

But, final point is, if this is what people 'want', as in - willingly submit to this, what's the point in 'fighting' against it?
If people don't care about being tracked, everything being logged, always being known and identified - then who are we to say otherwise?
Maybe we're wrong.

[RodeoX]

The only thing Orwell got wrong was the date.  

[NadiaHel]

But, final point is, if this is what people 'want', as in - willingly submit to this, what's the point in 'fighting' against it?
If people don't care about being tracked, everything being logged, always being known and identified - then who are we to say otherwise?
Maybe we're wrong.

I understand your point, for it is one of the thoughts I`ve had the most. But, after reading again 1984, I found that it was precisely what Orwell meant: the people is so used to the system, so into it, that, even when it is insane, they happily participate on it.
I believe this is more about the feeling of belonging most of the people have rather than a personal oppinion. If the majority uses Facebook, then don`t having a Facebook account makes you an outcast, and people don`t want to feel outcast or creep: they want, even need, to belong.
So, finally, Orwell was again right in his insight. As RodeoX pointed out, he maybe was only wrong about the date.

[paxmao]

Oh may be just the trend of the moment, next month it may very well be Kafkaian or SheldonCopperonian ...who knows.