“Would I rather be feared or loved? Easy. Both. I want people to be afraid of how much they love me.” This iconic quote from Michael Scott could not relate more to George Orwell’s renowned novel, 1984. In the book, The Party toys with the citizens of Oceania’s fears in order to maintain their power. Playing on fears to show superiority is prevalent in today’s society, specifically with North Korea. North Korea has incited fear amongst not only their own citizens, but on an international scale as well. Based on examples of modern society and 1984, it’s clear that using fear to gain control is detrimental for society as it ultimately leads to the loss of one’s self and the creation of a stagnant society.
When reading 1984, it was clear that Winston’s overarching goal was to never submit to The Party and not lose himself the same way that the rest of Oceania had. The rest of Oceania was in a state of “unconsciousness”, where they weren’t thinking, or needed to use the ability to think (Orwell 53). The Party takes advantage of this fact because they know that if the people conform, there’s no way that they’ll rebel or pose a threat to The Party. This is extremely harmful for us as human beings and a society as a whole, as we’ll end up lacking individuality, and losing the parts of us that make us “human”. This act of “unconsciousness” parallels with the issue with fake news today. Too often will people see a post on Facebook, and automatically believe everything the article is saying, without fact checking. Despite the fact that the technological advancements of the 21st century have provided us with many benefits, such as easily accessible information and the ability to communicate with people no matter the distance, it has also played a large role in making us as a society, much more lazy as we simply accept what’s given to us just the same as we click to accepting the terms and conditions of giving our private information to some social media app. This is extremely dangerous because people aren’t thinking for themselves and will so easily digest whatever the internet, or in the case of 1984, what The Party feeds them.
Besides the loss of one’s self, depriving people of their natural human instincts also leads to the creation of a stagnant society. Singapore is a country known for its strict laws and no-gum policy. They’ve incited fear amongst their citizens and any foreigners who pass through the country, especially when it comes to being in the possession of drugs. The death penalty punishment has scared people from even thinking about bringing in anything close to drugs into the country, that Singapore actually has the lowest drug use rate with a whopping 0.005 percent. In this case using fear has proved to be quite beneficial for society, and ultimately leads to the better health and happiness of the society. But causing people to be afraid to even speak their mind or form a single thought in their mind, causes people to lose the ability to challenge what they’ve been told. As a collective, they’ve ultimately become ignorant. For them “Ignorance is strength” in the sense that by being ignorant, no questions are asked and the government gains strength because of that (Orwell 4). For people to no longer challenge and express their own opinions leaves society little to no room to grow. Today, people are challenging the Second Amendment and what the right to bear arms truly means, because if they don’t question, more and more human lives are going to be lost. At the end of the day, a society can’t continue to grow and become stronger without a form of opposition.
From Orwell’s infamous 1984, and by taking a look at modern society, it’s clear that using fear as a form of manipulation to gain power, causes the losses to be much greater than the benefits. At the end of the day, using fear to gain control leaves individuals at a much greater loss as they end up losing themselves and living in a society where the word progress doesn’t even exist.
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