Who Owns the Truth? On Dialogue Through ‘Colonialism’ of Math and Time

In a recent PragerU book club review of George Orwell’s masterful book 1984, Michael Knowles and Dave Rubin discuss the parallels between one of the most iconic dystopian novels and present reality. Speaking to the relationship between community and language, Rubin remarks on how today the meaning of words themselves are under interrogation, adding that “everything is up for question…all of the things that should be settled are no longer settled.”

While in most dystopian literature it’s the state that’s an agent of oppression, in our current reality it’s the dominant ideological narrative that’s used to reshape how we understand ourselves, including (but not limited to) the emerging narrative of decolonization.

What makes 1984 a classic and at the same time a profound commentary on our times moves beyond a sense of inescapable surveillance, peer policing, censorship and the lack of free speech — things we all feel we’re dealing with in some way right now. Orwell’s work stands out because of how he’s able to cultivate a deep disorientation in the reader (something South American playwright Griselda Gambaro also does exquisitely well in “The Camp”). Orwell’s protagonist and we in the immersive experience of 2020, are both dislodged from our spheres of comfort, but also dislodged us from our sense of…