What it means to call something 'Orwellian'

Orwell warned readers about how abuse of language can lead to dystopias

In his 1946 essay "Politics and the English Language," Orwell argues that language is the primary tool of political control and is "designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind." The essay warns readers that how they use and consume language will dictate what they permit—or prohibit—in society.

George Orwell's '1984' is one of the most famous dystopian works

Orwell's life experiences, from living among the poor to witnessing the rise of authoritarian regimes, deeply shaped his worldview. His iconic works, "Animal Farm" and "1984," offered stark warnings about power, control, and propaganda, making him one of the most enduring voices against totalitarianism.

'Dystopia,' explained

John Stuart Mill introduced the term "dystopia" in 1868 to critique harmful policies, calling it the opposite of utopia, or an ideal world. The concept grew as industrialization and totalitarian regimes exposed societal flaws, inspiring works like George Orwell's "1984" to warn against oppression and moral decay.

Browse a fan-made 'Newspeak Dictionary'

In Orwell's "1984," citizens of Oceania are expected to use Newspeak, a form of English that limits abstract thought and reinforces the government's version of reality. This satirical dictionary of the language demonstrates how Orwell constructed a lexicon for his fictional world.

George Orwell: What is fascism?

This 1944 article by George Orwell attempts to answer the question, "What is fascism?" Orwell's book Animal Farm was published at about the same time at the article, and he penned 1984, a book with anti-totalitarianism sentiments, a few years afterward. In this article, Orwell argues that the term "fascism" has become near "meaningless" due to being essentially demoted to a swearword.

Political science professors say dystopias are defined by government coercion

Shauna Shames and Amy Atchison, two political science professors and the authors of "Survive and Resist: The Definitive Guide to Dystopian Politics,” argue that defining a real-world dystopia depends on whether a government is using coercion to protect its citizens or to control them. Shames and Atchison seek to provide a more nuanced understanding of the word “dystopia,” one they note they began hearing more and more as the COVID-19 pandemic progressed.

Why school boards ban dystopian books

Journalist Ali Velshi analyzes the lasting appeal of Lois Lowry’s "The Giver" and George Orwell’s "1984," two dystopian novels that have courted controversy since their publications. Beyond his interpretations, though, Velshi wants to understand why school boards perennially ban these books—and what makes them so fascinating for adolescent readers. In his search, he talks to Lowry about the lasting influence of her novel and to Orwell expert James McCallister about the prescient political portrait in "1984."

Why Orwell called Dalí a 'disgusting human being'

Writer George Orwell took offense at the disturbing actions described in Dalí's salacious autobiography "The Secret Life of Salvador Dalí." In a 1944 essay, Orwell described the cruelty and moral degradation of Dalí—while also admitting the artist's undeniable talent.

Dystopian literature is a form of speculative fiction

The classification includes any fiction that "speculates" about how society might operate in the future or in contexts different from the present reality. The genre is an umbrella term for science fiction, fantasy, alternative historical fiction, dystopian and utopian fiction, and apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction.

Famed poet TS Eliot rejected the manuscript for George Orwell's political fable 'Animal Farm,' writing that its criticism of authoritarianism was not 'the right point of view.'

Authoritarian regimes sometimes used film dubbing to censor ideas

Dubbing rose in popularity in the early 20th century because of relatively low literacy rates, which made subtitles impractical. Totalitarian regimes—including Mussolini's Italy, Franco's Spain, and Hitler's Germany—used dubbing to remove or alter unflattering or countercultural dialogue.

What it means to call something 'Lynchian'

David Lynch was one of American cinema's most influential directors. He brought a singular, unsettling vision to the silver screen. Critics, however, have trouble pinning down what it means when other artists try to recreate that vision. This essay untangles his influence, tracing the word "Lynchian" back to its earliest utterances and attempting to define a notoriously slippery term.

The history of brainwashing in America

"Brainwashing" refers to a coerced shift in worldview, often associated with cults or oppressive totalitarian governments. Though such processes are not well understood on a neurological level, they hold an outsized role in public imagination, particularly in science fiction and dystopias. This article reviews the history of the term, first popularized by Edward Hunter in 1950, and the subsequent use of the approach in pop psychology, the CIA, and more.

Defining the use of 'Third World' in geopolitics

The term "Third World" is mostly out of use today for its limiting connotations, but in light of a reordering of geopolitical alliances amid the Ukraine war, historians are reevaluating the term's usefulness. Read the history of the term starting from the 1950s, and learn what several experts claim about its contemporary efficacy.

'A word after a word after a word is power.'

- Author Margaret Atwood (1939-present)

Brutalism's definition has shifted over time

The term originally referred to a modernist style popular in Great Britain following World War II. They were large, optimistic projects that often facilitated community. Later, though, brutalism came to mean buildings primarily made of concrete that appear sinister or authoritarian.

Critics often use the word ‘Shakespearean’ to describe a dramatic story

Calling something “Shakespearean” often denotes a high-quality work of art or a story that recalls one of the Bard’s plays.

Lord Byron lives on through the Byronic Hero trope

Brooding introspection, rebelliousness, and a troubled past define the Byronic Hero, named after an archetype made famous by Romantic poet Lord Byron. This video dives into the romantic rebel's origins, why he’s so compelling, and how the character type persists in modern media.

What is the Overton Window?

The concept of the Overton window is an excellent framework through which to analyze why politicians talk (or avoid) certain topics and policy positions, and how ideas change over time as societal attitudes evolve.

Tech giants like SpaceX and Meta are increasingly behaving like sovereign powers

Companies now make unilateral decisions once reserved for nation-states, such as controlling satellite internet access in active war zones and influencing global information flows. Lawmakers and the international order are struggling to keep up with technological developments, let alone regulate them.

Lenin’s “dictatorship of the proletariat” meant power held by workers, not elites

Lenin argued that capitalism concentrated power in a small ruling class, and only transferring authority to industrial workers could eliminate exploitation and class hierarchy. This five-minute explainer outlines how he envisioned that revolutionary shift.

'Genericide:' Learn how too much brand awareness can hurt a company's trademark

When a brand becomes so popular that consumers regularly call the product by the brand name like a noun or verb, that trademark becomes generic because consumers no longer associate a specific brand with a certain product. A generic product can hurt a company's right to trademark or even cause companies to lose it. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

Robber barons, the monopolistic business people of the 19th century, explained

“Robber baron” was a term used to describe 19th-century businesspeople who engaged in monopolistic business practices and didn’t face much business regulation, resulting in significant wealth.

Satirists sometimes use ironic personas

Satirists often embody a character to mock the kind of person who would believe what they argue are ridiculous ideas. One famous example was Stephen Colbert on “The Colbert Report,” who satirized right-wing pundits like Bill O’Reilly through a bombastic persona. When O’Reilly asked whether that meant he was owed money, Colbert responded with more satire: “There’s a difference between imitation and emulation … If you imitate someone, you owe them a royalty check. If you emulate them, you don’t.”

Defining 2025's internet slang

The internet is a slang factory, and new terms regularly crop up. This list breaks down some of the newest terms to hit social media, including "aura farming" (the cultivation of charisma to attract others) and "clock it" (an encouragement to remember something important).

In the US, 'organic food' is defined by the USDA

Food products can only be classified as “organic” if they meet the standards defined by the US Department of Agriculture. For crops, that means avoiding prohibited substances and genetic engineering, among other requirements. For livestock, that includes a minimum number of grazing days.

Browse a detailed visual analysis of over 200,000 similes—comparisons that often use 'like' or 'as'—from popular fiction to see how frequently writers the same idiomatic expressions.

Existentialist writer Jean-Paul Sartre coined the famous phrase 'Hell is—other people' in his play 'No Exit'

Some researchers have labeled nomophobia, the fear of being without your phone, as 'the phobia of the 21st century.'

Ebola is a filovirus, meaning it resembles a thread under a microscope, though it sometimes twists and can resemble a bowl of spaghetti.

The first robot in literature may have been a 'mechanical man' in 1907's 'Ozma of Oz,' a book in L Frank Baum's 'Wizard of Oz' series.

Gerrymandering works through two techniques: cracking opposing voters across districts to dilute their power, and packing them into a few to waste their votes in lopsided majorities.

In 2025, four executives from large tech companies were given positions in the US Army Reserves—including Palantir Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar, which reinforced Palantir's ties with the US military and its role as a leading defense partner.

Watch how algorithms can be designed to train themselves and self-improve without human input, to the point where the optimized code is too complex for programmers to understand.

The hormonal disorder PCOS was renamed PMOS in 2026, a move designed to improve care and research by shifting the focus to the hormonal causes of this condition that affects 1 in 8 women.

According to the physics of black holes, our 4D reality may be a hologram—a projection of information coded on a 2D surface on the edge of the universe.

An investigation suggests a Scottish island became awash in forever chemicals via seafoam and seaspray—raising questions about what that means for the safety of other coastal areas.

The story of Dollree Mapp, whose legal challenge over her 1957 conviction for possessing "obscene material" led to a major strengthening of the Fourth Amendment

Before writing 'Walden,' transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau nearly burned down his hometown with a campfire that grew out of control.

The US Constitution is widely regarded as the longest-standing written national constitution still in force—see how it has influenced rights worldwide.

Chaos theory—informally known as the butterfly effect—is the reason why weather forecasts are presented with probabilities rather than certainties.

The idea for the Federal Reserve was conceived in secret in 1910—with bankers donning duck hunt gear for disguise while traveling to a remote country club on Georgia's Jekyll Island

Legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed the SC Johnson headquarters in Wisconsin, aiming to make a cathedral-like workplace

In 2019, a laptop loaded with six of the worst malware in history and described as 'an exhibit of historical weaponry' sold for $1.3M.

Corals are themselves not coral reefs—the term refers to the tiny marine invertebrates that build the rigid reef.

A 2019 Facebook event called on attendees to "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us," resulting in countless memes, the creation of a music festival, and eventually the arrests of those who did try to approach the area.

In 1945, Surrealist artist Salvador Dalí and legendary animator Walt Disney began collaborating on a short film that was not completed until 2003, years after both men had died.

Double world record holder Hunter Ewen helped conquer his fear of balloons, called globophobia, by training to win Guinness World Record titles for balloon inflation.

An initial public offering or 'IPO' is the process of a private company becoming public by putting shares of the company on the stock market for purchase.