We Dodged ‘1984’ — This Time

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Allison Pearson, a columnist and chief interviewer for The Daily Telegraph, was at her home getting ready for Britain’s Remembrance Sunday when two police officers appeared at her door. She thought they may have been there to tell her that her street was being closed for the parade, which is part of the observances. They were not. 

Pearson was informed that she was under investigation for an infraction known in the U.K. as a non-crime hate incident, or NCHI for short. What triggered the inquiry? Pearson had posted something on X a year ago. Of course, she wanted to know the post to which the officers, or PCs, were referring. She was informed that the PCs were not allowed to tell her. Her next question, naturally, was who her accuser was. Again, the PCs were not allowed to tell her that, although they did correct her: the complainant was not the accuser but the victim. Writing about her experience in the Telegraph, Pearson commented:

“Today,” I began, trying to compose myself and aware of people on the other side of the street stopping to stare at the woman in a dressing gown addressing two coppers, “we are commemorating hundreds of thousands of British men, most of them roughly the age you two are now, who gave their lives so that we could live in a free country, not under the jackboot of tyranny. And you, YOU come here on this sacred day… You know, those soldiers, they could never have imagined that their country, our country, the country they died for, would ever become a place where the police would turn up at the door of a person who has done nothing wrong…”

I think that’s roughly what I said. It’s what I felt, anyway. And as I spoke, warming to my theme, which was freedom, I realised how truly appalling this was.

Pearson has followers of multiple ethnicities on X. She wracked her brain, trying to figure out what may have triggered her accuser. She recalled that a year ago, she had been immersed in the October 7 attacks and the antisemitic pro-Palestine marches. She also recalled the Essex police department’s dismissive and lax attitude toward her friend, who had reported domestic violence, coercion, and fraud by their partner to the department. She reflected on the fact that people could steal from the local shops with impunity and on the sharp increase in crime in her country, including violent crime. 

She rightfully asked the officers if they thought the visit was a waste of time and inquired as to why it had taken them twelve months to come and investigate. Pearson noted that an awkward silence followed. Two days later, she learned that the Essex police told the Telegraph that she was being investigated under Section 17 of the Public Order Act 1986, which deals with, in her words, “material allegedly ‘likely or intended to cause racial hatred.’” Pearson also noted:

I am told by a senior Home Office source that chief constables like NCHIs because they win them Brownie points from various pressure groups. “Good news, we recorded 15 NCHIs for Islamophobia this month!”

We have been told multiple times, most recently to my recollection by UK ex-pat Fr. Calvin Robinson, that Britain has fallen. The country that gave us Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain, and Churchill’s speech in which he said the country would never surrender has done just that. And nary a shot was fired. 

Pearson’s story is a cautionary tale for the U.S. Even as we sweep up the last of the confetti from election night and have our final chuckles over the meltdowns of nose-ringed women, we should not forget how close we have come in the past to the scenario in the UK. 

Does anyone remember the IRS under the Obama administration? If not, the weaponization of Biden’s DOJ should still be fresh in everyone’s memories. Of course, the Hunter laptop imbroglio remains one of the deep state’s greatest hits, not to mention the harassment of school board parents and the manipulation of social media. And finally, we have the howls of the legacy media and its allies that anyone not among their ranks spreads disinformation. Of course, we haven’t added in the accusations of “hate speech” that have filled the air like clusters of fruit flies in recent years. 

Today, there have been multiple reports of the much-ballyhooed mass departure from X under the auspices that X has become a haven for hate speech or, translated into English: speech that makes certain people feel icky inside. It frightens me, and it should frighten you, too, that so many people are willing to risk their voices, along with those of other people, to relish the illusion of safety. 

Yes, they are opting for other platforms similar to X, and they are free to do so. But such people are looking for a place where their worldview will be repeated back to them, and dissenting voices will be muted, likely by the heckler’s veto at the very least. They have made it clear that while they may be leaving X, they and their government and media counterparts intend to stick around. 

It may be too late for the UK, but with Trump’s election, we have two years, perhaps four at best, to do everything possible to prevent Orwell’s vision from becoming a reality. What is happening in the UK can happen here, and it is helpful to remember that while “1984” was set in England, the United States was part of Oceania.