1984 has been my favorite book since the grand ol’ times of AP English Literature in my senior year of high school. There’s something so haunting about the classic plot lines that literature lovers know all too well: a worshiped but clearly corrupt authority figure, mass propaganda glossing over the state of a broken country, a constituency that all but celebrates the demise of their humanity.
Last week, as I was watching the State of the Union address, I couldn’t help but feel deeply, disturbingly reminded of my beloved book.
Early in every calendar year, the president of the United States addresses poltiicians and citizens in this hour-long speech, letting the country watch as they boast of their successes and assure potential voters of the greatness of the nation under their leadership.
Up until the mid 2010s, I felt that this event was appreciated, respected and fairly bipartisan.
In recent years, however, it’s almost become a joke, a spectacle, something that I now have to watch through the gaps between my fingers. I beg through my television: “Please, please, don’t say that.” Outrageous displays of professional immaturity, blatant disregard for protocol (looking at you, Marjorie Taylor Greene) and partisanship are now the dominant features of the State of the Union address.
With all that said, something much more disturbing dominated my opinion of last week's address.
From the moment President Joe Biden entered the room to the moment he left, his supporters were on their feet, clapping, cheering and chanting “four more years” at the top of their lungs, the slogan that has come to dominate the Democratic Party in the wake of the new election.
I was instantly reminded of a famous ritual in 1984 called the “Two Minutes Hate,” in which the entire country gathers to scream their hatred for their enemies and rejoice in their love for Big Brother. Overcome by blind support, nearly every citizen falls for the trap of collective effervescence and adopts the dangerous principles touted by their leader.
Watching the Democratic representatives cheer and praise an ancient, war-mongering, divisive political figure resembled this dystopian government perhaps more than anything I’d ever seen. I am about as left as they come, a registered Democrat, a staunch oppositionist against war, the current justice system, social traditionalism and the like. This is a message to my fellow Democrats, my fellow liberals, my fellow leftists and progressives, those who have gone “woke,” those who rage about conservative politics as much as I do: stop drawing your loyalty around party lines.
