Since George Orwell's dystopian tale "Nineteen Eighty-Four" was published in 1949, those who read it have feared that politicians would someday impose complete control over society through media manipulation and brute force. While this is sadly and demonstrably evident in various cases (for a homegrown example, note the draconian deathgrip that the African National Congress currently holds over South Africa's state broadcaster, the SABC) there is a much more insidious form of authoritarian rule gradually infecting the global populace, all in the guise of moral righteousness.
What I'm talking about here are the concepts of language and thought-policing, both of which are already having a tangible impact on everyday life. As you read this, you may call me a paranoid loony, but stop and think about it for a moment; it's become almost commonplace to read articles about people's entire lives being destroyed by the backlash of a single foolhardy social media post.
Generally, this occurs when intolerant people are stupid enough to make their views public, but there are also a growing number of cases wherein even innocuous comments with no malicious intent can lead to serious real-world repercussions (sometimes as severe as criminal charges) if the person is deemed to have transgressed the accepted bounds of political correctness.
The most terrifying aspect of this societal sickness is that the ones driving it are not greying old men in business suits, but a mob of entitled, narcissistic 20-somethings who wear trendy clothes and massive toothy grins. They claim to stand for human rights and "social justice", but dare to point out hypocrisy or silliness in their purportedly progressive ideology and they will become a crazed lynch mob, hellbent on revenge regardless of whether the punishment they wish to mete out is proportionate to the so-called "crime".
I don't know where all of this will lead. but it certainly does not bode well for freedom of expression or artistic creativity.
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