10 Strangest Fictitious Countries

There are so many references to George Orwell's seminal novel in political think pieces, Facebook and Twitter comments, memes and other quick delivery systems for blanket fascist terminology that it might do well to examine Oceania devoid of all that.

Set in the futuristic dystopian society in which civilization has been brutalized by war and revolution, Oceania is one of three central super-states that rules what's left of the world. It is ruled by a political ideology known only as "The Party" that believes strongly in English socialism and is overseen by the mysterious Big Brother. There is no actual law in Oceania, but social pressure and Big Brother's cult of personality enforces what's popular. Despite this, most citizens are impoverished, unable to speak out due to strict controls on vocabulary.

At the heart of the novel and Michael Radford's film adaptation is Winston Smith, who edits history text to conform with modern policy.

In short, we've surpassed most of the obvious signs we're living in 1984 long ago, including textbooks edited by committees in Texas with questionable educations. If anything, Orwell was too generous in assuming we were so far away from his totalitarian nightmare. In reality, it just took a few app installations.

All the cliches and talk of "thought police" are 100 percent present in Orwell's work, and it's easy to see why Oceania and the various ministries of thought, love, peace, plenty and truth serve as a catchall for any accusations of fascism.