Almost the entire western world is going authoritarian. Very worrying trend. It has to be stopped.
this post was submitted on 06 Aug 2025
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the only thing that can really stop it IMO is mainstreaming decentralized social media and messaging services.
You'd need to effectively replace Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Whatsapp etc.. The only thing that totally keeps us from 1984 is that all these platforms for now have decided to be relatively free and impartial (compared to how bad it could be). But that could change at any time if the powers that be decide to on a whim. They could completely ban all privacy, pacificsm or any kind of political opposition tomorrow.
No it won't stop it. Blood and violence is needed but we are sheep.
From the fact Britain produced Orwell, Huxley's Brave New World, and Alan Moore's V for Vendetta, I figure the UK has always been some shade of "Orwellian".
Historically, the UK has always been very self assured in their goals and never looked for outside input while disregarding the people that they were upending. Anyone who wasn't helping them was viewed as an enemy to be controlled, oppressed , or destroyed. If that isn't a non-political explanation of rightwing authoritarianism, I'm not sure what is.
We are living in Orwellian society, it's just the news catching up with reality.
The news has been trying to obfuscate this awareness for as long as possible.
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Old enough to remember how Europeans smugly thought that they lived in some sort of an enlightened and free society.
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The UK would be one if anyone could be bothered to run it properly.
They're looking to install Nigel Farage as their prime minister. The island is derelict.
Not quite.
Farage keeps running around saying "Pick me! Pick me!" and the press keep asking "Is farage a viable candidate?" while not offering the same credence to anyone else.
The British public are "We're fucking sick of this bollocks from the establishment" and a lot of them are falling for the privately educated ex city trader Farages nonsense that he's a "man of the people" because all the centrist parties are saying "aren't immigrants awful?" in an attempt to distract from their own incompetence and quite frankly, the left is 10 years behind in offering a coherent alternative to all the bullshit.
a lot of them are falling for the privately educated ex city trader Farages nonsense that he’s a “man of the people”
This parallels Trump, but I think it's mostly not that people are really fooled into believing these wealthy politicians are just like them. I think the attraction is more that the current system isn't working for a lot of people and hasn't been for a long time. Someone who offers to tear it down can attract a large following even if they don't have a good proposal for what to replace it with.
It took a while for me to see that because I find the racist and nationalist beliefs of the likes of Trump, Farage, and the AFD so appalling it's hard to see anything else.
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Not even close to the horrors of an Orwellian society and saying it is is an insult to the characters in those books. It isn't great though, and it's heading in a troubling direction
I think the characters in the book will forgive as that's a work of fiction and they are not real. That's like saying I insulted Bugs Bunny for having big teeth. We'll get through this calamity. ✌🏻
I'm the guy that gets offended on behalf of what ever I want.
and it’s heading in a troubling direction
I'd say it's heading in an orwellian direction...
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Orwell never could have imagined society as it exists currently.
The EU is using genocide censorship as an excuse to abort all "freedom" laws. A hillarious twist.
As an American it's nice to see were not the only ones in a complete downward spiral.
EDIT: wild that there are users pretending to be butthurt by this obviously joke comment so they can farm upvotes from the tens of users on Lemmy
As an American, no it's not nice. Why would I want more of this shit elsewhere?
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Nice? I wish it was just the US so getting to another country would make it safe for us. This is awful.
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how will this "client side scanning" be implemented?
it's, not only worrying, but very confusing.
For the age verification is it possible to sign a petition? I think is not too late to join forces… or anything but not letting them go further.. as of the chat control probably only contacting the representatives. I really hope lawyers and businessmen try to fight it…
Have you already written to your members of parliament about chat control, and possibly other matters? Seriously, do it. There is very little you can do, but this might actually help. Slightly. Maybe.
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