When did the Orwellian age begin and when will it end?

For me it began with an illustrated article in Life magazine about 1949. It was introducing America and the world to 1984 and it showed Big Brother glowering at a mob of desperate souls marching around a monument with the watchwords: War is peace, Freedom is slavery, Ignorance is strength. I couldn't grasp at that early teenage time what Orwell was getting at since I was already enslaved by the sultry looks and voices of Peggy Lee and Doris Day. At first the only way to describe the Cold War was Orwellian, but as time went on it became the only way to describe the modern world. The MX missle was called the Peacemaker (War is Peace) Fox New (Ignorance is Strength) Wiretapping and waterboarding (Freedom is slavery). You'll see Orwell's name pop up over and over today with no end in sight. James Wood did a long profile on him in the April 13 issue of the New Yorker called "A fine rage". Of course Orwell wrote many other things that were not sinister including an essay on how to make a perfect cup of tea and his ideal British pub. The only other political genius of the 1950's era was Walt Kelly's cartoon character Pogo Possum. When Pogo went looking for evil in the swamps with his friends Winston Churchmouse, Waterhole Nehru and Mousy Tung they came upon themselves and Pogo uttered, "We has met the enemy and he is us".