SHOCK: Orwell’s ‘1984’ Slapped with Trigger Warning
Author's iconic novel update proves woke ideology won't go away
The term “Orwellian: has gotten a workout in recent years.
Elements of George Orwell’s “1984” kept coming to mind as the woke revolution rolled on.
- Cancel Culture
- Comedians under fire for … jokes
- Sensitivity Readers
- Trigger warnings
- Apology ToursTM from celebrities
Author Walter Kirn of “Up in the Air” fame revealed a shocking new example of the woke mob’s attack on culture and the arts. And, sadly, it involves Orwell’s landmark tome.
Kirn discussed a new edition of “1984” with his “America This Week” co-host and journalist Matt Taibbi. The two revealed a new foreword by literary giant Thomas Pynchon included in the updated edition before revealing the shocking part of the story.
“This version of ‘1984’ has trigger warnings,” Kirn said on the podcast.
America This Week, Live on Monday 6-2-25 https://t.co/Lc1K4WEGC1
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) June 2, 2025
The 75th anniversary features an introduction by Dolen Perkins-Valdez, author of “Take My Hand.” She explains why some new readers might find Orwell’s masterpiece upsetting.
“I’m enjoying the novel on its own terms, not as a classic but as a good story, that is until [the main character] Winston reveals himself to be a problematic character,” Kirn reads from the trigger warning text.
Taibbi starts to laugh as Kirn continues.
“[Winston] dislikes nearly all women, and especially the young and pretty ones … Winston’s views on women are at first despicable to the contemporary reader … he’s the kind of character who can make me put a book down,'” he continues with her text.
“How many books have you thrown away by Hemingway, by Tolstoy?” Kirn asks as an aside before continuing from Perkins-Valdez’s introduction.
“When I was younger that’s exactly what I would have done, but I’m a more seasoned reader now and I know the difference between a flawed character and a flawed story. I remind myself that this is a dystopian novel and Orwell is suggesting misogyny is likely in a totalitarian society and Winston is a product of that environment.”
“Thank you for your trigger warning for ‘1984,’” Kirn said. “It is the most 1984ish thing I’ve ever f***ing read.”
RELATED: TRIGGER WARNINGS WE ACTUALLY NEED!
Kirn summarizes the rest of the trigger warning, which includes suggestions that the book is racist.
Taibbi piles on.
“There is a huge bureaucracy now whose whole purpose is to suffuse everything with Rightthink everywhere … the algorithms dial down those speakers who are problematic, who have Oldthink … the thing that scared me the most about this whole digital censorship thing is the idea of [Perkins-Valdez] editorialists being everywhere, like little spiders in our brains,” Taibbi said.
Editor’s Note: It’s a brutal time to be an independent journalist, but it’s never been more necessary given the sorry state of the corporate press. If you’re enjoying Hollywood in Toto, I hope you’ll consider leaving a coin (or two) in our Tip Jar.
Wow, I have the paperback version of this new 75th anniversary edition; I have yet to read it, but I think it might be fun to remove the new introduction and run it through the shredder… or perhaps burn it, as a tribute to another novel about dystopian uselessness, “Fahrenheit 451”.
A trigger warning for 1984…. LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL… Wait… wait. a minute… let me process this….
ok…..
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Tell me you didn’t understand the book without telling me you didn’t understand the book. Winston Smith has been subject to the Party’s brain washing his entire life, and that includes the anti-sex propaganda. Julie, as I remember, wears the sash of the Anti-Sex League and then she seduces Winston.
Orwell’s point is that the Party is involved in everything; even the most basic desires are turned to serve their interest.
I could go the rest of my life without hearing the word “problematic” and still die a happy man.
Walter Kim. I’ve seen him numerous times on Gutfeild just thinking he must be a comedian. Thanks for the info.
Sign I saw in a photo of a protest: “I was born in 1984. I dont want to die in ‘1984’.”
You’re a disgrace to the literary Canon. if you want your nouveau riche overlords to look on you kindly, they’ll do so when they smash your face into the dirt for being a true believer. You spread vitriol and misery, reconsider your life choices.
We live in an era where high school graduates can’t read or write. We are celebrating being stupid. No surprise there’s a trigger warning on this book. They don’t want anyone to read it so they make sure the stupid people among us will be put off by this introduction.
Perkins-Valdez apparently majored in African-American Studies and East Asian Studies at Harvard.
What’s worse? A literal totalitarian dystopia, or a male character who has unpleasant views of women?
To her credit, she says that she did keep reading, even though she wanted to stop. I guess there’s that.
Still, what an appalling editorial decision to include such a parochial introduction!