Power
George Orwell on power:
“Now I will tell you the answer to my question. It is this. The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power, pure power. What pure power means you will understand presently. We are different from the oligarchies of the past in that we know what we are doing. All the others, even those who resembled ourselves, were cowards and hypocrites. The German Nazis and the Russian Communists came very close to us in their methods, but they never had the courage to recognize their own motives. They pretended, perhaps they even believed, that they had seized power unwillingly and for a limited time, and that just around the corner there lay a paradise where human beings would be free and equal. We are not like that. We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now you begin to understand me.”
George Orwell, 1984
Doublethink
George Orwell on doublethink:
“Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them. The Party intellectual knows in which direction his memories must be altered; he therefore knows that he is playing tricks with reality; but by the exercise of doublethink he also satisfies himself that reality is not violated. The process has to be conscious, or it would not be carried out with sufficient precision, but it also has to be unconscious, or it would bring with it a feeling of falsity and hence of guilt. Doublethink lies at the very heart of Ingsoc, since the essential act of the Party is to use conscious deception while retaining the firmness of purpose that goes with complete honesty. To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing them and to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then, when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just so long as it is needed, to deny the existence of objective reality and all the while to take account of the reality which one denies – all this is indispensably necessary.”
George Orwell, 1984
Cruelty
George Orwell on cruelty:
“Do you begin to see, then, what kind of world we are creating? It is the exact opposite of the stupid hedonistic Utopias that the old reformers imagined. A world of fear and treachery and torment, a world of trampling and being trampled upon, a world which will grow not less but more merciless as it refines itself. Progress in our world will be progress towards more pain.
“The old civilizations claimed that they were founded on love or justice. Ours is founded upon hatred. In our world there will be no emotions except fear, rage, triumph, and self-abasement. . . .
“There will be no distinction between beauty and ugliness. There will be no curiosity, no enjoyment of the process of life. All competing pleasures will be destroyed. But always – do not forget this, Winston – always there will be the intoxication of power, constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler. Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless.
“If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – forever.”
George Orwell, 1984
The cruelty is the point
“Trump’s only true skill is the con; his only fundamental belief is that the United States is the birthright of straight, white, Christian men, and his only real, authentic pleasure is in cruelty. It is that cruelty, and the delight it brings them, that binds his most ardent supporters to him, in shared scorn for those they hate and fear: immigrants, black voters, feminists, and treasonous white men who empathize with any of those who would steal their birthright. The president’s ability to execute that cruelty through word and deed makes them euphoric. It makes them feel good, it makes them feel proud, it makes them feel happy, it makes them feel united. And as long as he makes them feel that way, they will let him get away with anything, no matter what it costs them.”
Adam Serwer, The Cruelty Is The Point, The Atlantic, October 2018
American politics is funny, liberal democracy is a comforting illusion. You think that by changing the people at the top utopia will rush forth. First problem, there never was and there will never be a utopia. Second problem, political elites are political elites, no matter what the party, you are simply cycling through the patrician class. By definition the patrician elites have more in common with their own class or peers than they do with the ruled. If you really want to change things in your vicinity, the best you can ask for is a devolution of state powers back to the states, return to a confederation of states with strong states and a weak federal government. Otherwise choose a strong central government model such as a China.
Thanks Bruce — if you’re feeling optimistic probably better not read the Salon interview with Chris Hedges! But on a more optimistic note, from me, yesterday my husband and joined a wonderful live webcast entitled Rage, Reckoning, and Revolutionary Love. Sometime I feel almost schizophrenic going between taking in all the horrible things going on, and yet encouraging hopeful people and event. Take care!
My fear is that Chris Hedges is right, but I think there’s an opportunity in January 2020 to change the narrative. It’s a narrow window that will require boldness and strength, big moves in the first hundred days – and taking the Senate, because if we don’t, we’re doomed.
I don’t know if Biden can carry that off. I want him to.
I still have hope.
Hi Bruce — did you put this article together (1984)? It is excellent and I want to give proper credit when I share it on Facebook.
Thank you, Rebecca
Thanks! Yup, it’s mine. I want to add one more thing that has made me more optimistic than I’ve felt in many months – a profile in New York magazine of what Joe Biden is doing now as he prepares for the fall campaign. Biden Is Planning an FDR-Size Presidency It gives me hope, and that’s been hard to come by.