“Orwell as prophet” is an idea widely accepted by literary enthusiasts over the years. Now again it is highlighting itself, in a conflict too close at home.
It happened in early May 2025. Pakistan and India engaged militarily from the 7th to the 10th of May. This conflict was triggered by a terrorist attack in Pahalgam (Indian administered Kashmir) on April 22. And the conflict was put to an end by both sides negotiating. And of course, it wouldn’t be an international conflict if Trump didn’t claim that he was responsible for the ceasefire.
A couple of things here.
First, how utterly bizarre it was to wake up and realize your country is at war. Like that sort of thing can never actually register in your head. In that moment, I thought like, “We aren’t a superpower. Why are we trying to play like the big kids?”
And forgive me, really do forgive me, but in the middle of it, I actually found it to be quite comical. I saw it like two little kids, childishly fighting with each other. In my head, it was like
1st Child: My feelings were hurt. I hate you. You have to pay for it.
(a chubby little fist throws a punch) or (here’s Operation Sindoor for you)
2nd Child: Hey, that wasn’t nice. I didn’t hurt your feelings.
(a retaliatory little chubby fist is thrown) or (let’s see how you like the taste of air strikes)
1st Child: Yes, it was you. You have to answer for your actions.
(Boom. Air strikes, missile raids)
2nd Child: Now you’re hurting my feelings
(my air space is closed for you. And here’s Operation Bunyan al-Marsoos)
Now, I understand that it is a very questionable sense of humor.
More so, I do understand that the actual death toll of this crisis is no joke. The 27 dead in the Pahalgam attack, and the civilian death toll of both sides during the conflict, was needless bloodshed. It was a point of deep shame and poignant reflection that in this modern age, our governments are still capable of being so irrational and so petty that we will physically engage in a military conflict.
A conflict that had no purpose to begin with, that achieved nothing, and that cost so much loss to not just property, but also human life. As in any military conflict, all industries are affected. These are the damages inflicted upon the people. The people who never wanted any part of this in the first place.
And second,
2. The Actual Mind-Boggling Amount of Misinformation
Dude, you need to understand, when I say my mental infrastructure was shaken when I browsed the internet during that time, I mean my understanding of the space-time continuum was almost rattled to dysfunction.
The news channels that I used to religiously watch, and the outlets that I had previously trusted with all my gut, spewed out misinformation.
Personally, this was the most disturbing part for me, for ‘living in a country that is actively engaged in a military conflict.’ It turns out you have to be at the center of an international conflict to really classify news outlets based on their credibility.
Here I was, watching the news on our television, and there was my Father (a journalist) beside me, on the phone, getting the latest news. Then there was this news anchor on my laptop screen, the same woman I had listened to and believed in all the previous international news, that same woman, sat in the same wonderful clothes I admired her for dressing in, and on the same set. She spewed out a narrative completely different from what my Father or my local news outlet was saying.
This was extremely disturbing for me. I actually cut myself off from watching mainstream media because I was genuinely confused about which narrative to trust. I mean how can you? You weren’t there to see where the drones hit. You weren’t there to see local kids die. And both sides are supporting their narratives with apparently compelling evidence, which you have no resources to fact-check.
This maddeningly frustrating state of mind was, in my view, no different than being preached the slogan:
“War is peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength.”
And what really pissed me off was that I couldn’t trust a single piece of news now. I mean, doublethink would literally be imposed upon me if I choose to take in any news.
The fact that my perception of an event can completely be controlled by a government that is using this psychological weapon (doublethink) to not just control actions, but thought itself, is well…. quite maddening.
The narrative will be whatever they make of it. And just that will be our present, just that will be our history. Or as Orwell prophesied in his words:
“Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.”
Although this conflict is a relatively old one, the “Orwellian Prophecy” is gaining traction again. With Putin’s full-on invasion of Ukraine, Xi Jinping regularly repeating China’s intention to ‘reunify’ with Taiwan, and Trump’s adamancy of ‘freeing’ Venezuela and ‘acquiring’ Greenland for security purposes, people are looking again at 1984’s fictional model of global affairs as ‘prophetic’.
A Bloomberg report on the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska, August 2025, was headlined:
“It looks like a Trump-Putin-Xi world, but it’s really Orwell’s.”
Anne Applebaum noted the dangerous desire of some people for “An Asia dominated by China, a Europe dominated by Russia, and a Western Hemisphere dominated by the United States.” The American journalist and historian wrote in The Atlantic that:
“Orwell’s world is fiction, but some want it to become reality.”
I will not be commenting as to whether these ‘some people’ include fanatic literary enthusiasts with a bleeding sense of humor like me, or dictators or totalitarian leaders.
All I can say is whether we like it or not, we are all living in Orwell’s world today, and I really can’t decide where my love-hate relationship is with this reality.
For now, thank you for your reading time. I wish upon you peaceful democratic skies and access to reliable news.