The Orwellian use of the word Orwellian

George Orwell is one of the most critically acclaimed writers of his time. His writings have created a new adjective to describe authoritarian regimes—Orwellian. This term has been misused by conservatives for quite a while. Conservatives use it as a synonym for authoritarian or totalitarian, which is only partially correct. To really examine how the word is used incorrectly, we must analyze its use and discuss Orwell’s own political leanings.

Former Press Secretary Kaleigh MacEnany has called vaccine mandates “Orwellian.” However, this statement implies many contradictions. How is forcing federal workers to be vaccinated a contradiction? Is it because the ruling class is forcing the working class to get the vaccine? Well, no—senators and Presidents also got the vaccine. Where is the euphemism? How is forcing college students to get a vaccine before coming to campus in any way euphemistic of an upper elite forcing a lower class? It’s simply not.

Is it Orwellian because the vaccines don’t work? No—the vaccines are effective enough, depending on the variant. Depending on the vaccine, there is an efficacy rate ranging from 70-90% effective. There is simply no contradiction or euphemism here—therefore, the vaccine is not itself Orwellian.

This consistent undermining of the mandate as “Orwellian” shows how the identification of the vaccine mandate as Orwellian is highly contradictory.

Stepping away from the use of this word, we must now discuss the political thoughts Orwell held. Orwell was not a conservative—far from one, actually. Orwell was a socialist. He wrote most of his books and essays about democratic socialism, even saying in his essay titled “Why I Write,” “Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for democratic socialism.” 

Orwell’s socialism should not come as too much of a shock, as most of his books weren’t really subtle in addressing this fact. In Animal farm, animalism is an obvious stand-in for socialism. The Animal Farm only fails once they abandon all the principles of animalism, so that they are no different from the humans. Yes, the party in 1984 was founded on “English Socialism,” but it is said several times in the book that it’s not real socialism and the only way to have socialism is to overthrow the government with a socialist revolution. 

Furthermore, Orwell seemed to honestly believe that conservatives did not exist. From his essay about Rudyard Kipling, he concludes by talking about Kipling’s personal beliefs, saying “Kipling was a conservative, a thing that doesn’t exist nowadays. Those who call themselves Conservatives are either Liberals, Fascists or the accomplices of Fascists.” This contrast is almost hilarious, considering the kind of people who misuse the term Orwellian.

Orwell is deeply regarded as an incredibly talented and smart man. Co-opting his name and influence for a conservative agenda doesn’t help anyone and it certainly doesn’t make anyone look smart—in fact, it is very “Orwellian” for conservatives to use.