The Dangers of a Totalitarian Dictatorship

Soon after the conclusion of World War II in 1945, Communism posed a threat in the United States. This threat, also known as the Red Scare, was triggered because of the tension between the Soviet Union and the United States. The tension between the two superpowers led to the beginning of the Cold War in the late 1940s. Because the Soviets were a communistic country, many Americans feared Communism because of the influence that it had in America. Many intellectuals supported Communism in the U.S. which led to more concern within the country. The communistic threat presented by the Soviets in the war led to the spread of Communism within the U.S. It was a fear that many Americans spoke out against in attempt to save the American society. George Orwell spoke out against it in 1949 by warning people in his novel 1984 that the spread of Communism would affect the country negatively. In this book, he portrays how a totalitarian dictatorship corrupts and has the power over citizens through technology, psychological manipulation and mind control, physical control, and the alteration of facts about history. Big Brother, the head of the Inner Party in 1984, uses technology to control the middle-class citizens, known as the Outer Party. The government places telescreens and hidden microphones across the city in order to monitor their citizen's behavior. The members of the Outer Party have telescreens inside their houses because their intelligence creates a threat against the government. However, the Proles, who make up the lower class, do not obtain much attention because they are hopeless and ignorant and do not pose a significant threat against the government. The government uses telescreens because they want to prevent their citizens from committing thought crime. Thought crime is the law against thinking and is punishable by death. If the government charges someone of thought crime, they use machinery to torture them. If they do not follow the rules of Big