This expression is a companion to a review about Homage to Catalonia written by George Orwell. Orwellian describes situations or conditions destructive to a free society. It refers to control of society by propaganda, surveillance, misinformation, and lies. His ideas about personal freedom were developed when he was a British administrator in Burma, and he was fascinated with the effect of colonialism on individuals. Orwellian can mean many things, to include invasion of personal privacy, government control of daily life, and revising history in favor of the government’s interpretation. My favorite is the use of a euphemism to describe an agency that is the opposite of the actual purpose of the agency. For example, the department overseeing the waging of war is called “Ministry of Peace” or “Ministry of Defense.”