Michelle Maurice

Ninja.
Not really. Sybarite, I’m told. Books & writery things - shorts & ghost stories. Given in to poetry, finally. Twitter amateur. Cheese expert.

[Michelle Maurice @MichelleMuhRees]

Look, a book! And I’m delighted to say I’m in Rodney Marshall’s Box of TV Delights, about good telly things of yore.

Thank you to @RodneyMarshall1 for including me, & thanks too to Andrew Pixley for his kind review.

#Books #BookTwitter #TV #TheOwlService #BookRecommendations

[Arthur Schopenhauer @SchopenhauerNow]

Schopenhauer wrote this paragraph more than 150 years ago, and it’s still true

[Gitana @Gitana1369877]

"We live in a world where there is more and more information, and less and less meaning."
— Jean Baudrillard

[Gitana @Gitana1369877]

"But I quite like the rain. It makes everything feel a bit more private, a bit less public."
— Haruki Murakami, Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman

[Michelle Maurice @MichelleMuhRees]

Well worth a read

#BookTwitter #booktwt #reading #GeorgeOrwell #Psychology

[Kevin Tanaka @ItsKevinTanaka]

A dying novelist predicted exactly how your mind would be manipulated not through force, but through comfort, convenience, and repetition.

He wasn't a psychologist. He wasn't a neuroscientist.

He was a man who got shot in the throat fighting fascism. What he saw afterward changed everything.

George Orwell traveled to Spain in 1936 to fight in the Civil War. But the bullet wound wasn't what broke him.

It was the newspapers.

He saw great battles reported where no fighting had occurred. And total silence where hundreds of soldiers lay dead. The truth wasn't being distorted. It was being replaced and rewritten according to 'various party lines.'

That moment revealed something terrifying about human psychology ↓

When people stop believing in objective truth, their minds become programmable.

Orwell wrote his final masterpiece while battling tuberculosis, encoding these psychological control mechanisms into a novel called 1984.

He identified 3 techniques that now operate at unprecedented scale:

1) Doublethink: weaponized cognitive dissonance

Orwell described a psychological state where people accept two contradictory beliefs simultaneously.

"War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength."

Sound extreme? Consider how easily we now accept:
• "Fair and balanced" from outlets engineered for bias
• "We value your privacy" from companies selling your data
• "Connecting people" from platforms designed to maximize outrage

Doublethink doesn't require force. It requires repetition.

2) Newspeak: shrinking the language of thought

Orwell understood that language doesn't just express thought. It shapes thought.

By simplifying vocabulary and eliminating nuance, you don't just limit what people say, you also control their thoughts.

Today's version? 280-character limits. Algorithmic feeds that reward slogans over substance. Complex ideas reduced to hashtags.

When language shrinks, critical thinking starves.

3) The Telescreen Effect: surveillance as psychology

In 1984, citizens lived under constant observation. The result wasn't just behavioral control.

It was psychological transformation.

People began policing their own thoughts before anyone else could. Self-censorship became automatic. Conformity became identity.

Now replace "telescreens" with smartphones, smart speakers, and social media accounts tied to your real name.

The psychology is identical.

Here's what haunts me most:

Orwell warned that tyranny isn't an external force. It's a human susceptibility. An innate psychological vulnerability wired into our nature.

His final message before dying at 46?

"Don't let it happen. It depends on you."

Orwell didn't predict technology.

He predicted psychology.

And he was right about all of it.

—

Thanks for reading!

Enjoyed this post?

Follow @BigBrainPsych for more content like this.

[No Context Brits @NoContextBrits]

He does not work here.

[Michelle Maurice @MichelleMuhRees]

Ah well, if I have to get another book to get me in the mood for Samhain, so be it. Daphne du Maurier’s too brilliant ❤️

#Books #WritingCommunity #writerscommunity #writersoftwitter #Samhain #Readers #BookTwitter #BookRecommendations

[Mark Rees @reviewwales]

Stephen King on the dark brilliance of Daphne du Maurier:
‘She wrote the best first line – and the most chilling stories’
https://t.co/IXzTUt5vAz

[Omid Djalili @omid9]

Thank you Michelle. Evesham always a delight! 😊❤️👍🏽😂🥳😳💕💕👊🏼👊🏼✔️🔥‼️💝🎤😇

[Michelle Maurice @MichelleMuhRees]

@omid9 Great show tonight! We’re still laughing. And here’s the emojis to prove it 😆😆

[Rodney Marshall @RodneyMarshall1]

Thank you to the dozen writers on here who contributed to our new book exploring some of the Children's TV series of the 1960s-80s: 'Shared TV' which kids often chatted about the following day at school.
https://t.co/EfKnJKKnys

[Mike Galsworthy @mikegalsworthy]

Aaaand they’ve just covered it up.

Which is just another layer of irony…

…given that this is state action against protest about state action against protest.

[Michelle Maurice @MichelleMuhRees]

Forget your 4-slice nonsense - THIS is a toaster

[Science girl @sciencegirl]

A 1920s electric toaster that still works

📹 The_ronald_eugene

https://t.co/ZALjKaFCvv

[Rodney Marshall @RodneyMarshall1]

Peter Plummer: ‘A house among dark trees, a house without electricity, but a house with more electricity than most people found comfortable.’
The Granada director describing Bryn Hall after visiting novelist Alan Garner there. Sadly, permission was not granted to film there...

[Michelle Maurice @MichelleMuhRees]

Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Sant hapus, pawb.

And I hope you’re all wearing your leeks.

#StDavidsDay #DewiSantDydd

[Mark Rees @reviewwales]

Happy St David's Day/ Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Sant hapus! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 ✨
Welsh folklore tells us that the humble leek can repel evil spirits, alleviate childbirth pains, predict the future, protect in battle, even shelter from lightning.
A handy vegetable!
#StDavidsDay #DyddGŵylDewiHapus #Wales

[Michelle Maurice @MichelleMuhRees]

This is doubleplusgood.

#booktwitter #BookRecommendation #Literature #LiteraturePost #Julia1984 @GrantaBooks @sannewman

[Michelle Maurice @MichelleMuhRees]

@Rhys_fantastico @danny_robins I’ve not heard of this! Will have to check it out. Thanks.

[Michelle Maurice @MichelleMuhRees]

@ciaranokeeffe @danny_robins @_EvelynHollow @uncannypodlive @Bafflegabble Bloody hell! Terrifying. This one & its post mortem are nearly enough to de-sceptic you. Well, me.

[Michelle Maurice @MichelleMuhRees]

Knew it!

[Bookaholic Bex @BexBookaholic]

Mind. Blown.