- f) Provide examples of cancel culture in 1984.
- g) Do you believe society should be able to cancel someone?
- h) Who is Withers and who is Ogilvy?
In the novel 1984, there are examples of cancel culture (though it is not called cancel culture, rather it is called “Vaporizing”) some example of cancel culture in 1984 would be Withers who was a member of the inner party until he mysteriously disappeared and was presumed killed by the party. another example would be Emmanuel Goldstein who was a member of the inner party on a similar level to Big Brother until he showed opposing views and was ejected from the party, though he is not dead as far as we know, he has become the enemy of the people of airstrip one and is generally hated by all.
I think that having the ability to ruin someone’s career based on something they say is a very substantial power and I believe even in a perfect world, people will find ways to be offended by something and have the ability to destroy lives over something mildly offensive is a bit excessive. that being said I do believe that horrible people should not be given power and influence if they have been shown to do horrible things, i think that with cancelling someone the best approach is to be reasonable and not overreact.
in the novel 1984, Withers was a man in the book who was a member of the inner party before showing some form of opposition to the government and therefore was wiped from all databases and erased completely. the government was also believed to have executed withers. Comrade Ogilvy was a made up soldier working for the military whom died in combat evading eurasian jets. Ogilvy was created to replace a contradicting speech made by big brother