“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command,” writes George Orwell in his visionary dystopian novel, “1984.” Set just 40 years ahead of his own time, Orwell imagined a world not dissimilar to his own postwar reality — a world made unrecognizable by totalitarianism. Suffocated by the surveillance of their dictatorial government, the protagonists struggle to find truth and meaning in a society that has rewritten history and punished free thought. In the end, both characters succumb to the futility of resistance, falling complacent. Today — and almost 70 years after the novel’s publication — this quote resonates with many Americans, with the excerpt featured in many social media posts, sometimes pasted over a photo of the bloodied front seat headrest of Renee Nicole Good’s car. 

On Jan. 7, Good, a Minnesota mother and American citizen, was fatally shot four times by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent during an operation in Minneapolis. At least three different videos taken by bystanders captured the murder from different angles, which have since become scathing evidence against the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) claims that agent Jonathan Ross acted in self-defense. Eyewitnesses to the murder have corroborated that Good was attempting to drive away rather than hit the agent who fatally shot her. Despite the evidence, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem has labeled Good as a “domestic terrorist,” stating that she deliberately tried to “run over” Ross with her vehicle and that Ross “did what he was taught to do” in the situation, using his firearm in an act of self-defense. President Donald Trump posted a Tweet calling Good a “professional agitator,” claiming that she “viciously ran over the ICE officer,” and he finds it “hard to believe that he is alive.”

These statements have turned the videos and eyewitness accounts of Good’s murder into contestable material, weaving a portrayal of Good as an agitator and the ICE agent as an American hero. By vilifying a victim of murder in order to cover up its own mismanagement, the Trump administration’s defense claims have sparked outrage throughout the country. 

Many have since associated the current government with the oppressive regime of Orwell’s premonitory novel, and while Americans might not be in as dire a situation as the citizens of Airstrip One, we all ought to see this comparison as a wake-up call. As our government begins to carry out the same actions as the quintessential literary example of authoritarianism, we have a duty to call out these injustices for what they are before they get worse. ​ 

Since his first term, when Trump denied the veracity of a leaked “Access Hollywood” clip that recorded him joking about sexually assaulting women, the president has constructed narratives in direct conflict with the factually-provable ones. Consider the president’s claims that “there is virtually no inflation” in the U.S. despite continued inflation, or that gas prices went down to $2 in some parts of the country, with no supporting evidence. These contradictions resemble the “doublethink” of Orwell’s novel, in which The Party — the novel’s authoritarian government — lays out two opposing facts as both true despite the obvious cognitive dissonance. The Party’s claim that “War is peace” feels eerily similar to the DHS’s deployment of ICE to “make America safe again,” even as these agents injure and kill innocent Americans with no repercussions. 

Reputable news sources have debunked plenty of Trump’s contradictory claims since his time in office, but his continued spread of falsehoods clearly demonstrates that, for him and his Cabinet, objective truth has no importance. As the book shows us, when figures of authority can lie about important truths without consequence, they wield the power to distort reality in dangerous ways. 

Frighteningly, many Trump supporters believe the false narrative regarding Good, denying the evidence in favor of a palatable storyline that reinforces ICE’s innocence and avoids criticism of our government. Orwell’s quote warns against this very phenomenon — namely, people rejecting all evidence that weakens the regime and blindly trusting their leader’s incongruous narratives.

We must remain vigilant against the tirade of misinformation brought on by our current administration, using our own eyes and ears to discern facts from convenient distortions of the truth.

It is absolutely a scary time to speak out; there’s no denying that. But there has never been a time when it is more important to bear witness, to document the truth as lies run rampant. Though it may be easier to rely on one person or source for our information, we instead must fact-check, cross-reference, and question the origins of the news we read. Factcheck.org is a great nonpartisan website that can be used to check the veracity and bias of news sources. 

We must continue to make our voices heard through protest, voting, and even spreading awareness online, especially as our administration continues to silence protestors and deny evidence of ICE’s misconduct. Recording officers is also our constitutional right, and has proven to be helpful in holding ICE accountable and counteracting the administration’s attempt to control information. 

And above all else, read. Reading novels like “1984” makes us aware of the totalitarian leanings of our government through comparisons to the imaginary worlds of writers who lived through fascism and foresaw the trajectories of unchecked power. At this pivotal and uncertain time in our country, we must rely on our eyes and ears to prevent Orwell’s prophecy from becoming reality.