Ingsoc Condition Alert System
Current Condition:
Doubleungood

Students for an Orwellian Society

Because 2016 is 32 years too late.

What is SOS?

Students for an Orwellian Society (SOS) is a nationwide student group. Although SOS has always been a nationwide student group, there is evidence to suggest that it first appeared at Columbia University. The mission of SOS is to promote the vision of a society based upon the principles of Ingsoc, first articulated by George Orwell in his prophetic novel, 1984.

As an Oceania-wide organization, SOS has a number of local chapters. For a partial listing, see our contact section.

George Orwell

Doubleplusgood Book Collection Activity

Students for an Orwellian Society is proud to co-sponsor a book collection activity wherein copies of the prophetic novel 1984 will be sent to members of the U.S. House and Senate who voted for the plusgood bill, the Military Commissions Act. This offers the Innner Party members a token of our thanks for their good work and guidance for their future activities. The Ministry of Love is organizing the project.

Successes

As to be expected, SOS has been quite successful. Since the events of 11 September, we have been able to convince a number of figures in national and local politics to help forward our aims. How could they do otherwise?

Our successes can be shown to fit into the three major ideals of Ingsoc as expressed by Orwell:

War Is Peace

Oceania (commonly called the US and Britain) is at war with Afghanistan Iraq. Oceania has always been at war with Afghanistan Iraq.
Eurasia (commonly called Russia, Pakistan, etc.) is allied with Oceania in war against Afghanistan. Eurasia has always been allied with Oceania.
US Congressman Charlie Rangel has been arguing for a return of military conscription (“The Draft”) as—so he tells the public— a way of reducing war.
It's not easy to capture someone killed the year before—until you harness the power of Ingsoc. When you've got Ingsoc on your side, though, it's so easy that the US did it again.
Three cheers for Homeland Security drone patrols!
In order to fight terrorism, we must cause it, says Donald Rumsfeld.
It's okay that there were no “weapons of mass destruction” in Iraq; that's not why we went to war. It's equally okay that there are so many of them in Oceania.
The Nobel prize committee has been considering nominating George Bush and Tony Blair for their prestigious Peace prize.
Just like in 1984's Room 101, the Miniluv operations in Guantánamo Bay were authorized to “exploit[] a prisoner's phobias, sometimes using muzzled dogs in interrogations.” Doubleplusgood!
According to the Bush administration, the Duelfer report which conclusively showed that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq actually justifies the war in Iraq.
“I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we're really talking about peace.” — George W. Bush, 43rd President of the United States
“Protecting [an] Islamic cultural center” involves fighting a war inside it, as the New York Times on the Web shows.

Freedom Is Slavery

The Anti-Terrorism Act ensures US citizens' freedom by ensuring the FBI's ability to examine their activities.
Security cameras have been placed around the Columbia campus and around the island of Manhattan.
If you are buying postage, do not ask for stamps without flags on them. Such would clearly be a sign of lack-of-patriotism, and we at SOS are glad to see that the Post Office is cracking down on it.
We encourage all true citizens of this country to join Operation TIPS, which, we promise, will help further an Orwellian society in ways that we at SOS cannot even begin to fathom.
There's really nothing we can say about DARPA's Total Information Awareness project except to thank them for all their hard work.
While Victory Gin is not (as far as we know) yet available, the sale of freedom fries is an important first step; freedom fries and freedom toast are also now available in Congress. Also, check out Victory Beer, and W Ketchup
The truly Orwellian and praiseworthy Transportation Safety Administration gets our thanks for spotting anti-Americanism in passengers' baggage.
Flying while wearing certain buttons may not be permitted. It is, apparently, okay to wear a button saying, “Hooray for Tony Blair,” though.
Similarly, carrying a note stating that you do not have a bomb in your bag is equivalent to saying that you do have a bomb.
When flying, you may use the toilet. However, if it is occupied, do not wait in line for it to become free. Only a terrorist would do that.
We've been notified that Apple Computer company, which once made public anti-Orwellianism pronouncements, is now coming around to our side. (Note: Link contains a quicktime movie.)
The Junior Anti-Sex League is offering grants to organizations which support its work.
In London, feel secure beneath the watchful eyes of Transport for London.
We're pleased to see the subpoena of the National Lawyer's Guild and other anti-war activists. It's time to keep those activists in their place.
In the UK, the wrongly convicted are charged for their “food and lodgings” while in prison.
A student in Washington state was disciplined and questioned by the Secret Service for drawing ungood pictures of the President.
On surveillance cameras: “The value we gain in public safety far outweighs any perception by the community that this is Big Brother who's watching.” — Ron Huberman, Executive Director, Chicago Office of Emergency Management
Wearing a t-shirt which says “Protect Our Civil Liberties” is, of course, obscene, and will get you kicked out of Bush campaign rallies.
George Orwell Plaza, in Barcelona, has continuous closed-circuit television recording.

Ignorance Is Strength

Osama bin Laden's messages will no longer be shown in Oceania. This will improve the strength of the bloc.
There is no dissent in this country. Those who disagree with President Bush are merely confused.
The New York Times published an excellent piece of doublethink in its magazine section on Sunday 18 November. It is bad that Al-Jazeera fails to take American positions seriously. It is good that American media doesn't take Arab positions seriously. And all this from an Arab-American scholar who President Bush the First once called “more anti-Arab than the Israelis.”
Government agencies are requesting that certain government reports be removed from public libraries. An excellent indication that SOS is having influence at the highest levels!
The Guardian reports that PR firms have begun creating false citizens to try and shift the debate on certain key issues. Big Brother is certainly pleased!
Do not wear a “Give Peace a Chance” t-shirt at the mall, or carry a protest sign when passing through. It may be illegal.
It's good to know that the recent pro-war rallies have been sponsored by Clear Channel—we wouldn't want people expressing their opinions without the help of media conglomerates!
We're pleased to learn that the government has been removing information from websites which do not agree with the current administration's policies. For example, the CDC's website no longer points out that condoms are an effective means of stopping sexually transmitted diseases.
Thanks, Time Magazine for removing articles from your website!
Reading an article critical of the government is a serious form of thoughtcrime—and, fortunately, the FBI takes such things seriously!
Do not email President Bush.
Youths in Arabic-speaking countries are encouraged to read Hi Magazine.
A recent study showed that thanks to Fox News and other Minitrue news sources, most Americans believe untrue things about the war in Iraq.
We are proud to present a special report on a specific instance of doublethink in the New York Times.
The FBI urges you not to carry almanacs, lest you be labeled a terrorist.
The Civil War will not be taught in US History courses in Georgia.
“Those who cast the votes decide nothing; those who count the votes decide everything.” — Stalin, a man truly ahead of his time.
In the grandest pro-Orwellian tradition, science is (fortunately) no longer a tool for objective truth, but rather one to promote an agenda. Huzzah!
The UC-Davis Aggie has published an excellent article on SOS.
It's a good thing that the Department of Homeland Security has asked its employees to be on the lookout for good photo-ops for the President.
It's okay for the government to lie, according to the General Accounting Office.
Students who publicly and personally question the Vice President's wife are guilty of a crime.
A teacher was arrested in Tampa, Florida because a bookmark she was carrying is a concealed weapon.
Thank the Department of Homeland Security for not forgetting Poland but instead protecting us from dangerous 12-year-old Polish choir boys.

Failures

Any reports of failure are almost certainly lies, the work of thoughtcriminals. Kindly ignore them. SOS does not fail.

T-Shirt Design Contest

We're considering printing SOS T-Shirts. Please email Minitrue with your designs. If we like one of them enough to print up a bunch, we'll send the artist a free shirt or two, as well as some other incentives if we come up with any. We're more inclined to print designs that use a small number of colors (one or two). The rules and entries thus far have been posted.

Posters

It is the duty of all citizens to print out 300 posters weekly and place them around campus. We may be monitoring you at any time. For your convenience, we provide posters here. You need Acrobat Reader, version 5.0 or later, to view them. This product is made by Adobe, a company which we greatly admire.

The folks at SOS-Davis have well over 100 different posters if you like.

Flyer

SOS is pleased to present a special flyer about ROTC, the Reserve Officer Training Corps and a truly Orwellian organization. We know you find it useful.

News Service

The SOS chapter at Berkeley has constructed a goodspeak news service which will “translate news pages about the present peace conflict in Eurasia into standard, Ministry of Truth-approved goodspeak”. You can also view the goodspeak versions of The International Herald-Tribune, CNN, or FOX News.

Sticker

Sticker production is up 300% for the year.

Events

The Empty Space Theatre in Seattle and the Catalyst Theatre Company in Washington, DC held productions of 1984. Both productions started in late January, 2004, and continued through the end of February. While not directly sponsored by SOS, these productions will help spread the word about Ingsoc, and for this, we salute them.

Similarly, The Orwell Project is presented performances of 1984 and Animal Farm in February and early March at the Connelly Theater in New York City. Party members who attended a performance highly recommend it.

The 1984 + 20 Project organized public readings of 1984 on April 4, 2004. See their website for more information.

The National Council of Teachers of English is sponsoring a similarly-named but otherwise unrelated event called 1984+20, in which students will relate the issues raised in Orwell's work to the modern world.

Contact Us

We already know what you're thinking. There's no use hiding. To report incidents of aberrant behavior or thought among your classmates, please email miniluv@studentsfororwell.org. Also, our group is so successful that sometimes we miss reports of our own success. If you find one, please email minitrue@studentsfororwell.org. If our other ministries wish to hear from you, they will contact you directly.

For local contacts, the MSCD, UC-Davis, and SUNY Stony Brook chapters have their own web sites.

SOS chapters are also active at Columbia, Oberlin, Penn State, NYU, UMass, Minuteman High School, FSC, CalTech, UVA, RIT, Murray, JHU, UC-Berkeley, MSCD, SUNY-Stony Brook, UC-Davis, Bellevue CC, Trinity Chrisitan Academy, St. John's College, BSSC, Brandeis, Hopkins High, YIHS, and a number of other schools. However, while we of course have a complete list of schools available, we do not list them here until we are contacted with information of their existence.