Posted on 02/03/2021 1:05:59 PM PST by EBH
The totalitarian novel is a relatively new genre. In fact, the word “totalitarian” did not exist before the 20th century. The older word for the worst possible form of government is “tyranny”—a word Aristotle defined as the rule of one person, or of a small group of people, in their own interests and according to their will. Totalitarianism was unknown to Aristotle, because it is a form of government that only became possible after the emergence of modern science and technology.
The old word “science” comes from a Latin word meaning “to know.” The new word “technology” comes from a Greek word meaning “to make.” The transition from traditional to modern science means that we are not so much seeking to know when we study nature as seeking to make things—and ultimately, to remake nature itself. That spirit of remaking nature—including human nature—greatly emboldens both human beings and governments. Imbued with that spirit, and employing the tools of modern science, totalitarianism is a form of government that reaches farther than tyranny and attempts to control the totality of things...
...In Orwell’s 1984, there are telescreens everywhere, as well as hidden cameras and microphones. Nearly everything you do is watched and heard. It even emerges that the watchers have become expert at reading people’s faces. The organization that oversees all this is called the Thought Police.
...you can also look at how big tech companies here in the U.S. are tracking people’s movements and activities to the extent that they are often able to know in advance what people will be doing. Even more alarming, these companies are increasingly able and willing to use the information they compile to manipulate people’s thoughts and decisions.
...Winston’s job is to fix every book, newspaper, etc. that it conforms to the new truth.
(Excerpt) Read more at imprimis.hillsdale.edu ...
Just as Winston from 1984 realized the only thing that mattered was the present and the party. Even today as I listened to Rush Limbaugh's guest host it isn't the tyrant we are fearing, it is the totalitarian.
As technocrats attempt to control the narrative and what we can say or think, there's calls now from the New York Times of a Truth Czar.
Most transparent and fair election ever. Today, unfortunately.
my favorite 1984 quotes:
It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies and nosers−out of unorthodox.
“Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.”
“We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it.”
“Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.”
Excellent article. Deserves to be read in full.
How the Biden Administration Can Help Solve Our Reality Crisis
Appoint a ‘reality czar.’
Several experts I spoke with recommended that the Biden administration put together a cross-agency task force to tackle disinformation and domestic extremism, which would be led by something like a “reality czar.”
It sounds a little dystopian, I’ll grant. But let’s hear them out.
Right now, these experts said, the federal government’s response to disinformation and domestic extremism is haphazard and spread across multiple agencies, and there’s a lot of unnecessary overlap.
Renée DiResta, a disinformation researcher at Stanford’s Internet Observatory, gave the example of two seemingly unrelated problems: misinformation about Covid-19 and misinformation about election fraud.
Often, she said, the same people and groups are responsible for spreading both types. So instead of two parallel processes — one at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, aimed at tamping down Covid-related conspiracy theories, and another at the Federal Election Commission, trying to correct voting misinformation — a centralized task force could coordinate a single, strategic response.
“If each of them are doing it distinctly and independently, you run the risk of missing connections, both in terms of the content and in terms of the tactics that are used to execute on the campaigns,” Ms. DiResta said.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/02/technology/biden-reality-crisis-misinformation.html
There’s also a lot of premonition in the “Hunger Games” novels.
DC is looking more like the Capitol every day.
Really gives one great pause.
As we see the NYT calling for a Reality Czar, the censorship happening, the troops in DC this isn’t about tyranny.
It all has to stop. The question is how to accomplish that worthy goal?
Orwell was an optimist.
Thought I’d read them all on this topic, but this article is excellent. Well worth the time. Thank you.
IOW, Thought Police.
2021, feels like Orwell’s “1984” and “Animal Farm” all over again.
Our “1984” was Pres. Ronald Reagan, a patriot, anti-communist, pro-economic growth, less govt intrusion in our lives, lower taxes, and political sanity.
If we save ourselves, it won't happen through the electoral process.
Article V opponents and some proponents view the Article V COS movement through the lens of our national political parties. The time is long past to dislodge oneself from this paradigm. To remain in this mindset is unhelpful at best, and destructive at worst, because the two national parties are one Uniparty incapable of reforming the racket that serves its members so well.
The Article V COS movement stands above the collection of factions comprising the Uniparty. Just watch any YouTube, or read any transcript of common citizens testifying before state legislative committees on behalf of Article V. Their uplifting and noble appeals to the general welfare of the nation pluck the patriotic strings in every American’s heart.
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We are in 2084!
We are in 2084.
Not yet!
The good thing is my wife and I and our siblings will not be around to be abused.
Most of our direct heirs will be gone, also.
Few if any GK’s and nieces and nephews will be around.
So 2084 is not a real problem for most of us, our children and probably not our grand kids.
2022/23/24 will be enough problems for those us here.
I’m saying we’re in 2084, in essence. Almost.......
Be real interesting by 2022, I’m thinking.
Well, we’ll see.
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