A False Sense of Moral Progress

by Camryn Elizabeth Schatzlein

George Orwell’s novel, 1984, exemplifies the dangers of ignorance in a utopia. While reading 1984, I couldn’t help but feel as if it were a foreshadow of my own future. One of the biggest red flags seen in the story was the Ministry of Truth. I believe that Orwell included The Ministry of Truth as a fundamental part of his novel because he wanted to warn his readers of the possibility of authoritarian governments being able to control how much information is given to its citizens. Suppression of history and facts gives the characters an ‘illusion of moral progress’, as we discussed in lecture this week. Orwell shows us that the regime that exists in his world wants to erase the past so that it can form a perfect history and seemingly glittering present. The oppressive government censors what information goes out to the public and changes, better yet, re-writes history to alter their citizen’s reality. With the altercation of information, characters in Orwell’s world cannot make educated opinions and form beliefs. It is a stark warning to the powers we give to our own governments in the real world. In Biden’s speech this past week, he discussed how truth was a fundamental principle of life. Without real facts and information, we can be led astray and are doomed to repeat the mistakes of our past. When our governments hide actions and information from us, we cannot vote informatively and therefore are bound to make mistakes. Even in today’s world, what is written in our textbooks and what is taught in school is only a fraction of the truth and it is only the story that the US wants to give. Today’s education system in the US gives its students a false sense of moral progress and places the US on a pedestal. While our modern-day education system is unmatched to the fictitious Ministry of Truth in Orwell’s novel, it is still a good comparison to analyze how we give out information to the public. While our current government does not control all of the information taught in public schools, it wasn’t until I got to college where I learned more about the darker moments in our own past, like slavery and immigration. I felt as if I had a false sense of accomplishment and was proud to be American because all throughout school, I was only told how great we were as a country. Until recent years, and in college, I’ve learned about oppression that still goes on in our country and what we really do in other countries as well. We don’t have a perfect past but I believe that erasing and hiding it allows us to become ignorant of our current actions and a county and we are bound to make mistakes. Just like in 1984, I think that they could teach their citizens about the mistakes of history to convince them of the correct way to coexist with everyone instead of creating the false reality of perfection by hiding the truth.