Lessons From '1984"
By: Doug Busselman, Executive Vice President
As a wayward youth pursuing symbolism of political in-correctness for the sake of it being its own end, I once attempted to read George Orwell’s “1984”. For whatever reason, perhaps the motivation for reading it in the first place, I wasn’t able to get very much from the read (I don’t even recall that I was able to finish).
Over the past several months, with new technology and lots of opportunity for alone time, looking through a windshield, I’ve adopted a practice of downloading audio books to a MP3 player and “reading” while traveling down the highways and bi-ways of Nevada. Through this approach I’ve managed to consume a wide variety of unabridged literary works, from “Barack Inc.” to “The Rights of Man” (portraying how our current President created and successfully used his mystic to get elected) to (providing Thomas Paine’s view of the French Revolution and how government dominated by a ruling class with excessive taxes ran counter to the principles of how mankind should live).
A recent 10 hour round-trip outing provided the chance to revisit Mr. Orwell’s fictional account of a world run to serve an all-powerful government, where Big Brother sees and knows all. While listening to the audio book “1984” there were more than one occasion where the fiction of Orwell’s imagination seemed extremely real, given our current conditions…The operations of “The Ministry of Truth” – where propaganda of the Party reworked the present through control of what was known of the past; the operations of “The Ministry of Plenty” – where what would otherwise be bounty was rationed and caused to be scarce; and, “The Ministry of Love” – where unbelievers were assisted in their adjustment to see their folly in not conforming to the will of the Party.
Insight from “1984” offers not only the understanding into how the means of freedom from reality can provide greater opportunity for central planners to gain control over daily life – but, also how the pursuit of power for power’s sake – as an end to itself – is such a natural inclination for those at the helm of government. In listening to the book it was also noteworthy to come to understand how the vilification of capitalism serves desired outcomes where the populace is convinced to allow for the collective good of the whole to override the freedom and rights of the individual.
Double-Speak, the language which says exactly the opposite of the true intent...sounds very much like what we see in news clips featuring our current elected leaders. Double-think, the ability to consider and limit understand to only ideas within political-correct boundaries (orthodoxy as explained in “1984")…appears very much to be the manner which we should consider today’s issues of debate, falling into line with those perspectives as detailed by the leaders of the majority party. “Big Brother”, as covered by the explanation described in “1984” was the embodiment of the all-powerful party, intended to be worshiped, glorified, exalted appears to be represented by someone currently appearing repeatedly across the spectrum of an all-adorning public media.
Perhaps we all need to revisit “1984” with each of us considering whether we are seeing the fiction emerging to reality. As is identified by the comment button below, we offer every opportunity for those who disagree with the ideas (or “Crime-Think” that I have engaged) here – to comment back in response. Helping us to understand why our support for individual liberty and limited government is out-of-step with the direction of government we should be more accepting to follow.
As a wayward youth pursuing symbolism of political in-correctness for the sake of it being its own end, I once attempted to read George Orwell’s “1984”. For whatever reason, perhaps the motivation for reading it in the first place, I wasn’t able to get very much from the read (I don’t even recall that I was able to finish).
Over the past several months, with new technology and lots of opportunity for alone time, looking through a windshield, I’ve adopted a practice of downloading audio books to a MP3 player and “reading” while traveling down the highways and bi-ways of Nevada. Through this approach I’ve managed to consume a wide variety of unabridged literary works, from “Barack Inc.” to “The Rights of Man” (portraying how our current President created and successfully used his mystic to get elected) to (providing Thomas Paine’s view of the French Revolution and how government dominated by a ruling class with excessive taxes ran counter to the principles of how mankind should live).
A recent 10 hour round-trip outing provided the chance to revisit Mr. Orwell’s fictional account of a world run to serve an all-powerful government, where Big Brother sees and knows all. While listening to the audio book “1984” there were more than one occasion where the fiction of Orwell’s imagination seemed extremely real, given our current conditions…The operations of “The Ministry of Truth” – where propaganda of the Party reworked the present through control of what was known of the past; the operations of “The Ministry of Plenty” – where what would otherwise be bounty was rationed and caused to be scarce; and, “The Ministry of Love” – where unbelievers were assisted in their adjustment to see their folly in not conforming to the will of the Party.
Insight from “1984” offers not only the understanding into how the means of freedom from reality can provide greater opportunity for central planners to gain control over daily life – but, also how the pursuit of power for power’s sake – as an end to itself – is such a natural inclination for those at the helm of government. In listening to the book it was also noteworthy to come to understand how the vilification of capitalism serves desired outcomes where the populace is convinced to allow for the collective good of the whole to override the freedom and rights of the individual.
Double-Speak, the language which says exactly the opposite of the true intent...sounds very much like what we see in news clips featuring our current elected leaders. Double-think, the ability to consider and limit understand to only ideas within political-correct boundaries (orthodoxy as explained in “1984")…appears very much to be the manner which we should consider today’s issues of debate, falling into line with those perspectives as detailed by the leaders of the majority party. “Big Brother”, as covered by the explanation described in “1984” was the embodiment of the all-powerful party, intended to be worshiped, glorified, exalted appears to be represented by someone currently appearing repeatedly across the spectrum of an all-adorning public media.
Perhaps we all need to revisit “1984” with each of us considering whether we are seeing the fiction emerging to reality. As is identified by the comment button below, we offer every opportunity for those who disagree with the ideas (or “Crime-Think” that I have engaged) here – to comment back in response. Helping us to understand why our support for individual liberty and limited government is out-of-step with the direction of government we should be more accepting to follow.
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