Why Orwell's 1984 Still Hurts To Read?

"War is peace.

Freedom is slavery.

Ignorance is strength"

(George Orwell)

For once in everyone’s life, we have questioned or tried to relearn the meaning of everything we are taught about. The meaning of love, reality, freedom, friendship, free will, and sometimes going beyond all of that, you tried to rediscover your own self too. Most of this happens when you are faced with different outcomes or circumstances than what you have been taught. For example, you have learned your whole life that doing hard work will lead to success, but it seems to be totally opposite in your case. The harder you try to get something, the deeper the well you fall into, and the questioning phase starts.

The situation isn’t very different when it comes to the phenomenon of this world. It makes you question the meaning of everything, and to deal with this dissonance, most people would cling to a certain ideology and spend the rest of their lives under this umbrella. And if you are the one still looking for the real meaning or facts, the road is full of sharp swords. People would admit not having the full information about an incident that happened 2 days ago in the neighbourhood, but would fully believe a historical event of the past as if they were there, because that part of history support their views. They don’t leave any margin of error and are ready to even take life for it. How do you even think that seeking truth could come that easy? It’s true that in today’s world, information about anything is widely accessible, but it’s as easy to change it and mend it to support the claims of any side.

You are continuously being taught that your country, religion, and culture, is in danger and they will then come up with instructions from their pocket, that do nothing but benefit the elders of that ideology. They will tell you they will help you get freedom from people who are not letting you say 2+2=5, but the same people would not let you live if you wanted the freedom of saying 2+2=6. It’s as if two masters are fighting for whom is going to be your master, and people are happily participating in it. People are afraid of being different, when an insane person sees another he just starts mimiking him to not be labelled by someone with something. They have killed their individual selves and are just a small part of a group to shelter themselves. At times, it is justified because ignorance is bliss and necessary to stay happy, and by the time they know you know something, you are suddenly a threat to them, which they need to get rid of.