I think that with people on the internet being able to share to others and find like minded people who agree with and perpetuate their hateful, racist and misguided opinions, it has become such a normal thing to see hate comments about women and people of colour that rarely anyone would say to someone's face- and yet with the distance and anonymity the web provides people are less afraid and less shameful when engaging in that kind of behavior. this perpetuates the normality of this and creates an environment where companies and social media outlets would rather make more money any way they can than ban accounts that are posting hate speech. this influences a dystopian narrative where these online tools of oppression move to a face to face platform and being to be echoed in the real world and how we engage with others.

This line made me think of the saying "history repeats itself" and the rebooting of the same issues we as a people have been through time and again - such as the rise of facism in globally powerful countries to the inhuman treatment of people of color in "progressive" countries such as America. The fact that there is always an "us against them" narrative and a need to expose and exploit minorities puts the wrong people in charge and creates a loop where they can hold the power indefinitely unless there is some kind of mass awakening to the tools of oppression in play worldwide.

The OED explains Hysteria as, "a state of extreme excitement, fear, or anger in which a person, or a group of people, loses control of their emotions and starts to cry, laugh, etc." in this case, Winston drops the façade beings to release a part of that pent up feelings of anger and fear- and as is clear in his writing, he is aware of the potential cost but does it anyway.

Joan Didion wrote a collection of essays about her time in 1960s California titled "slouching towards Bethlehem". This is a writer which I very much admire and had the chance to read some of her early work. This collection a first hand account of the darker side of San Francisco and the anti-establishment movements at the time.

This reminds me of some of the influential poets and writers I admire, and their own perspective on social activism and global change. it makes me think of how we write things in hopes of inspiring change in people and to spark a fire of rebellion in certain cases . And yet by the time a piece of literature has made its way around the world, the actions of those who hold the same beliefs yet were more keen to pursue them through a practical sense have already made some kind of change. I think literature is meant to aid people as a whole- for generations to come- and I think what makes a piece of writing so strong is that it still holds meaning no matter what time you are in and that it captures the human existence.