I live in Poland, a post-communist country. Just yesterday I heard an interview on (public) radio with some (state-sponsored) university professor arguing that life was better under the previous system. No one cares.
There is proper thoughtcrime, like racism, or denying holocaust that can get you in trouble, fired, even arrested. But that is still really mild compared to 1984 or 1984.
It is just a small step from there to be arrested, as we saw before.
Even today, if you have the wrong name you can be disallowed from flying in the "land of the free". Because the government put your name on the list.
Some woman fought against this list, but the government even played tricks, that the trial could not go on. Where is there democracy or freedom?