Question

Orwell states that “Who controls the past, controls the future; who controls the present, controls the past.” Do you believe in our era, it is possible for the government or a single entity to have such control? If so, give examples of how this might be accomplished, or when it may have already happened. If not, explain why.

Answer 1

Nowadays, it remains possible to exercise such control over population. This might be accomplished by exercising control over information.

Any organization that controls media has power over what people do and how they perceive and think about the world they live in, since they can easily manipulate the information people receive.

By manipulating this information, governments and institutions can gain power that results in control of everything that is being thought, said and done, and thus, they can manipulate past events as well as future events moved by their own individual interests, especially economic interests.