Ministries of Truth
How do modern authoritarians bend reality without firing a shot? From Orwell’s 1984 to today’s digital echo chambers, this piece explores how truth is quietly rewritten through manipulated language, algorithm-fed confusion, and endless information noise. Figures like Trump, Putin, Modi, and Netanyahu don’t just lie — they build entire alternative realities that feel more real than truth itself.
In a world where facts are buried under spin and reality becomes a loyalty test, the question isn’t just “what’s true?” — it’s whether we’re still paying attention.
Strongmen and Soft Words
Authoritarianism doesn’t always arrive with a snarl — sometimes it smiles. This piece explores how modern strongmen use soft, comforting language to mask hard realities, wrapping repression in words like tradition, security, and family values. Through euphemism, repetition, and emotional appeal, they don’t just seize power — they make us feel good about giving it away.
If you want to spot authoritarianism before it takes hold, learn to listen for what isn’t being said — and question the words that feel just a little too reassuring.
The Meaning Wars
How does power reshape reality? This piece explores how modern authoritarians—from Putin to Trump—weaponise language to blur truth, shut down debate, and make the unacceptable seem necessary. Drawing on Orwell, Wittgenstein, and Saussure, it shows how words like freedom, security, and truth are emptied of meaning and repurposed for control.
If you want to understand how democracy erodes without a shot being fired, start by listening to the words—and questioning who’s shaping them.