Putin takes Orwell's ‘1984’ as guide

From now on, Russians get less for murder or rape than for calling a criminal a bandit or a rapist. 

The Russian parliament passed laws on criminal and administrative punishment for publicly discrediting militants: offenders face up to 15 years in prison.

This is a typical feature of dystopia: criticism of the government and its adherents is considered a crime against the state and is severely punished. At the same time, violent crimes, such as murder, are downplayed due to the lack of government accountability to citizens.

“This is a typical sign of dystopia: criticism of the government and its adherents is considered a crime against the state and is severely punished.”

In the novel ‘1984’ by Orwell, there is a term called 'thoughtcrime': Smith, an employee of the Ministry of Truth, is capable of independent thinking and critical attitude towards society, which makes him dangerous for the state. It is for such 'thoughtcrimes' that numerous Russians are now being prosecuted.

A court in Yekaterinburg arrested the former mayor of the city for posting extremist symbols on VKontakte, although the oppositionist is not even registered on the social network.

In Moscow, a court arrested a citizen for 'disseminating extremist materials' after a subway passenger who spied on his phone denounced him. The denunciations are made by neighbors, work colleagues, and 'activists.'

The government controls the entire Internet and mobile communications, and now it has obliged companies to store data on internal user activity, including each user's IP address and browsing history.

Soon, people will be imprisoned for not having a social media account (as if they already know what you're keeping silent about).

“Soon, people will be imprisoned for not having a social media account (as if they already know what you're keeping silent about).”

I can give you a few more quotes from the novel "1984" in which you will recognize modern Russia.

“War is peace, freedom is slavery, and ignorance is power” is the ruling party's slogan.

“Whoever controls the past controls the future. Whoever controls the present controls the past,” is a quote that shows how Big Brother changes history to make citizens believe what it wants them to believe.

I wonder if the Fuhrer realized that Orwell was writing a dystopian story, not a manual.

Source

About the author. Orest Sohar, journalist, editor-in-chief of Obozrevatel. 

The editors do not always share the opinions expressed by the authors of the blogs.