It was awful! I don't mean it was badly written, it certainly wasn't - I found it hard to put down, but I don't think I have ever read a book that left me feeling so melancholy as this one did. Not to go into the details, but it is about the struggle of an ordinary man against the overwhelming, invasive power of the State - Big Brother.
Part of Big Brother's ability to control is based on how he redefines words so that they no longer mean what they used to mean, indeed, sometimes they mean the very opposite. This redefinition means that people are cut off from history, they can no longer evaluate things properly, they have a skewed idea of what words of virtue like love, peace, truth and tolerance mean. Also, Big Brother can arbitrarily change things that seem obvious and everyone has to buy in to this change on pain of torture, banishment and death, so 2 + 2 = 5 in Oceania, and you must accept that.
I wonder what George Orwell would have made of the way things are going in the West? Marriage used to have a meaning, it used to be the word that described a unique relationship that was the foundation of a society, which conferred benefits and provided stability to a society in a way that no other relationship could. Now this has been redefined, so that marriage is no longer the union of a man and a woman committed to each other for life, it no longer entails a husband and a wife. Marriage is now just about two people who love each other getting together. One of the reasons the State got involved in marriage in the first place is to make it harder for a man and woman to separate - all cultures realised the need for a man and woman to stay together for the sake of the whole society, but there is no such need for two people of the same sex to stay together if they don't want to. If all same sex couples split it would not create any hiccup, much less havoc, in society, but if all natural marriages split, society would disintegrate, indeed, it is disintegrating due to the attack on marriage. And make no mistake, more redefinitions are on the way, because once you forget the reason for state involvement in marriage (uniting a man and a woman together and to any children the union produces, thus building a stable society), and make marriage just about "love", then there's no reason not to redefine it to include any combination you care to imagine.
We also used to be defined by our sex - male and female, but apparently now you can redefine if you want, so if you feel "trapped in the wrong body" then you can just self-identify as the opposite sex. People have to refer to you by the pronouns of your new gender or else! Repeat after me, 2 + 2 = 5, say it!!! Common sense, nature, reason all rebel against this confusion, but you have to get on board.
There are a few things worth remembering here, first, if someone feels trapped in the wrong body then they are implying there is more to them that the physical body, that is, they are saying there is a soul, a non-physical reality, but of course that doesn't fit in an atheistic worldview, that is only at home in a theistic worldview, so it would be an accusation that God has wrongly assigned the soul to the body. Secondly, if someone feels a mismatch, and yet they have a perfectly healthy body then maybe the problem is with their mind and not their body? Maybe they should seek help to adjust their thinking rather than mutilate their body. Thirdly, on the view of the person who wants to change their sex, what is a man and what is a woman? If a man says he is really a woman on the inside, what does that mean? How would he define what a woman is? Is a woman someone who likes to wear make-up and pretty dresses? Well, there are many women who don't do that, does that mean they aren't women? It seems it is a very stereotypical and exclusive view of what makes men men and women women. Fourthly, a man can undergo operation after operation, he will never become a woman, all he will be is a mutilated (and confused) man. Remember, every cell in his body is male, if he commits a crime and police find DNA, they will put out the word that a male committed the crime, you cannot change your sex.
1984 was so depressing, chiefly because Big Brother won the day, there was no one above the State. If there is no God then the Government is the ultimate authority, free to do what they choose and change what they like and there is no hope. But God is still on the Throne, and as another has said, we have to live in God's world whether we believe in Him or not, and reality has a way of bruising you if you don't take it seriously.
With all these redefinitions, there will be a separation of the wheat from the chaff, a refining of the gold from the dross, because Christians are called to be faithful and stand for God's truth. May God help us, have mercy on our society and grant repentance.
