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A minor nitpick, I would say that the main difference between what's happening now and the Orwellian model is that the coercive pressure for maintaining ideological conformity is mostly not government power (yet, in the US). Instead, it's corporate and similar organization power (such the organizing board of a popular conference).

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When people say "orwellian", they're often thinking "1984".

I'm thinking "Animal Farm". It's a process, a takeover of the mind. It doesn't start with government and doesn't end at government.

To be fair, it's not "orwellian" in literally every sense of the word, that was just a figure of speech.

Some smart people think that you may be more right than I realized: https://blog.simplejustice.us/2017/08/10/walter-olson-a-circ...

Effectively they're saying that the "Hostile Work Environment" clause is used to pressure corporations to limit speech of their employees. Evidence also suggests enforcement is ideologically biased.

No doubt the US govt has its levers to pull in media and business. And I venture that as regards our use of the term Orwellian Orwell was discursive of power in general, rather than governmental power in the specific.

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