Good post. This book is now on my To-Read list.
Agree that Orwell is indeed a prescient genius. Recently reread “1984”. During the chapter where Winston Smith is brain-washed by the State to believe that 2+2=5, I had an epiphany. This part of the book illustrates the power of the State to make the individual believe the unbelievable.
Most people would like to believe that such coercive power is pure science fiction. Yet we can see something similar happening today with the Trans-sexual debate. Many people now profess to believe that a Trans man or woman IS actually of the sex they claim to be, instead of their true (biological) sex. Thus, IMHO, this proves that Orwell was exactly right about the power of the State (including the media) to make people believe the unbelievable.
Orwell was extremely smart.
But we have not moved so much toward 1984 as we have moved toward Huxley’s Brave New World.
In Brave New World, the state does not rely on harsh Orwellian stomping on faces. Instead, it controls all the institutions of society, and people are raised to believe all is well, right, and moral. They never have a means of suspecting anything different.
We are moving much closer to Brave New World than to 1984.
Of course, the problem is that the State has to control nearly everything. Our digital technology has made that control both more difficult, and easier, if the State aggressively censors the Internet.
I had an epiphany. This part of the book illustrates the power of the State to make the individual believe the unbelievable.
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I do agree with you to an extent. The emotionally stupid walk along in lockstep. Those who disagree are punished by the state through Human Rights Tribunals.
It is interesting, that behind closed doors people talk about how much of a lie the whole trans thing is. The state and the tribunals have instilled such fear.
Bingo on the contemporary brainwashing. We must call upon literature (the Emperor’s New Clothes) and Alinksy’s Rule 5 (mockery). Outrageous beliefs require enormous energy and maintenance to be sustained for very long periods.
“Agree that Orwell is indeed a prescient genius. Recently reread “1984”. During the chapter where Winston Smith is brain-washed by the State to believe that 2+2=5, I had an epiphany. This part of the book illustrates the power of the State to make the individual believe the unbelievable.”
We’ve “progressed” so far past 1984 in 2018 that people now believe that men with penises are women, women with vaginas are men women can be husbands, men can be wives, you can be black if you’re white, math, logic and science are social constructs, and reality is whatever you’re delusional mind desires it to be.