Nineteen Eighty-Four
by George Orwell
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Book Reviews of Nineteen Eighty-Four
Book Review: A life altering experience
Summary: 5 Stars
The year was 1974 and I was a twelve year old Puerto Rican boy living in The Bronx where I would often see some of the older kids carrying this book around as part of their class reading assignment. I was immediately fascinated by the title. There was nothing particularly spectacular about the book's appearance, merely the numbers 1984 in a font that was rather friendly looking with only the tiny black silhouette of a running man printed along the spine indicating only the vaguest hints of what was written within.
I had recently discovered science fiction and my interest was piqued by a title set that far into the future (to a twelve year old boy anyway) and I reasoned that it must surely have been a science fiction novel and evidently a good one I reasoned since it was an assigned book in school.
Those were the days before we had VCR's (never mind DVDs and playable computer files) and as a twelve year old growing up in the Big Apple in that era I was pretty much at the mercy of adults as to what movies I saw and the few TV stations we had back then in regards to what science fiction they saw fit to broadcast. Since Star Wars and Alien were three and five years into the future you can imagine that there was a dearth of science fiction, most especially good science fiction. At that time I had only caught glimpses of 2001: A Space Odyssey at very inconvenient moments.
Anyway I could not wait for it to be assigned to me, if at all (that year I got Shane instead) so on one of my many visits to my aunt across town I went around the corner from her apartment to The Grand Concourse where there was a tiny mom and pop book store (this was before the rise of mega bookstores as well) that kept a pretty good selection of sci-fi. To my surprise there were a couple of copies of 1984 not in the Sci-fi section but in the literature section and a few more in the classics section. Well excuse me.
Remember that this was before Star Wars so my view of science fiction was not limited to space operas, in fact I was completely unaware of that kind of science fiction with the possible exception, later on, of Dune. The first science fiction book I ever read was Philip K Dick's The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, a great book but quite possibly the worst book you could choose to introduce a 10 - 11 year old to sci-fi, but the point is that I was not naïve enough to have any expectation of ray guns and the like. Anyway I read the synopsis on the back and for a moment I almost considered not spending my allowance on it but I went ahead anyway.
By the time I finished this book I was not the same person I was when I started it.
To this day there is no doubt in my mind that the course I was on in life prior to reading 1984 was no longer the course I found myself on after reading it. I was still a twelve year old boy with all the concerns of all twelve year old boys at the time (toys, summer fun and increasingly girls, who started becoming more interesting to me) but suddenly all of the real world concerns that I was largely shielded from became part of my conscious landscape and I began to experience a burgeoning appreciation of the apprehension the adults around me felt during times of national or world crises.
George Orwell painted a picture of a world so horrific, so utterly devoid of hope (unless you reckon differently by considering the appendix as part of the story) and yet so seemingly plausible that its impact in the world of politics as well as the inclusion of phrases such as "Orwellian", "Big Brother" and "Double Think" into the lexicon should come as no surprise.
While it is true that ideology of the state described in 1984 is labeled INGSOC "English Socialism" one should keep in mind that George Orwell was a Social Democrat and references are made in 1984 to some past betrayal, via the incoherent ramblings of a background character, that may be taken as a suggestion by Orwell as the primary reason as to why the state exists as rendered in 1984. I mention this lest one may assume that George Orwell may have viewed Socialism as inherently flawed for I truly believe he made the adopted ideology of the state in 1984 his own so that readers could not construe it as an attack on any particular ideology.
I make this case not as a socialist or communist for I am not either, but rather to assure those readers that may find themselves avoiding this book because they fear that it may be a distortion and attack on their own political ideology. Rest assured that this novel is less a treatise on the evils of any particular ideology and more of an expose on the extreme measures undertaken by a totalitarian state to subject its citizen to whatever means are necessary to totally bend them to its collective will, right up to the point of not just breaking an individual's will but to the point of inverting it as well.
What is key here, in spite of the compelling main story of a doomed and forbidden sexual affair, is the exhibition of engineered and finely tuned misery via endless war deliberately waged, not for the purposes of destroying a factual or imagined enemy, but rather for the dual purpose of wasting resources to keep the population in abject poverty and also to instill (or at least to coerce the appearance of) strong feelings of patriotism via nationalism which of course makes a foreign enemy necessary.
Orwell also deftly illustrates that a dystopia of this kind cannot rely solely on a foreign enemy to maintain its Iron grip on the populous as this does not allow sufficient reason for the state to wage war against those citizens who would question it and undermine its authority. A common domestic enemy is also necessary; one that may actually be in league with the various foreign and interchangeable enemies and who, by virtue of their proximity within the state, are also in a position to sabotage the country's war efforts by the use of terrorist's tactics or by fomenting the rot of rebellion from within.
Some citizens might actually suppose that they could benefit from losing the war, surely life could not be worse than it already is and they may consider taking their chances with an enemy invader; enter Emmanuel Goldstein the big domestic terrorist boogeyman who is largely an invention of the state and therefore a tool to entrap "thought criminals" as well as serving, along with his anonymous followers, as a focal point for patriotic rage the expression of which is mandated by a necessarily public ritual called the "two minutes hate".
Orwell creates (in his fictitious state of Oceana) an endless logic loop in which the state relies on notions of patriotism and in which all citizens without thinking feel the need to protect their now antiquated notions of the nationhood (as opposed to the state). This is in spite of the fact that the state has drifted far from when such patriotism or any sense of duty to country actually made sense. As it is there is no real escape, for Oceana's deadly "enemies" Eurasia and Eastasia are similarly governed, indeed they cannot exist as is without each other.
1984 is a world of near constant and near inescapable surveillance even within the confines of one's home. What is being attempted here however is not necessarily the documentation of any activity you or I would consider a crime for the purposes of prosecution but rather an attempt to discern any possible hint that the citizen may be committing a "thought crime", that is harboring any negative feelings toward the state or its titular head "Big Brother", for the purposes of "correcting" the citizen as the state cannot allow dissidents or martyrs.
It is a world in which parents fear their children who are the primary agents of the state responsible for the capture of more thought criminals than any state agency.
It is also a world in which there is an active state program laboring to narrow the range of thought by reducing the English language year by year to the final aim of a converting it to some sort of rudimentary drone-speak. Why have the word "bad" when "good" already implies its opposite and the word "un-good" will suffice? Why stop there? There would eventually be no need for phrases such as "great", "marvelous" or "fantastic" or any variation of such when one can merely say "good" "plus good" and "double plus good". The reasoning is that if you strip language down to its most elementary stage, stopping just short of interfering with society's ability to function you can do away with entire concepts such as freedom and civil rights.
In Orwell's nightmare sex for pleasure is a punishable crime not for any of the usual reasons of morality but because the state wants you to channel all your energies toward being a productive citizen of the state for the sake of the state.
In 1984 society has been dived into three classes.
1. The poor, or "Proles" who are deliberately kept dumb and poor rendering them incapable of rising above their station and yet are largely left alone so as to enjoy the baser joys of life such as pornography strictly as a means of mollifying them. All of which combines to make them incapable of rebellion.
2. The ruling class or "Inner Party" who remain un-incentivized to enact any changes not just out of fear of reprisals by their fellow inner party members via the state but also out of fear of losing the few petty privileges they enjoy.
3. And finally the middle class or "Outer Party" relegated to actually carrying out the will of the state thereby bearing witness to all the lies and totalitarian tactics employed by the state which ironically makes them the primary targets of the "miniluv" or the "Ministry Of Love" that is responsible for law enforcement which in this book means oppressing, torturing and "re-educating" those Outer Party members accused of thought crime.
Essentially 1984 presents a juggernaut state that has become unmoored from whatever benign ideals once berthed it and has drifted off beyond site of a reassuring oasis-like coastline. A state in which its inhabitants no longer strive to achieve their original goals be they based on economical, religious or political ideals and have allowed the state to become a living entity in itself with the destruction of the human spirit as its sole aim.
Much is made about the last four words in 1984 but for me the most horrific line in the entire book is Obrien's revelation to Winston Smith as to what is in store for humanity.
"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face -- forever."
Book Review: A timeless classic that anyone can enjoy.
Summary: 5 Stars
In 1948, on the island of Jura in Scotland, a middle-aged and gravely tubercular man pen-named George Orwell (real name Eric Arthur Blair), began writing his sixth novel. Orwell, an extremely influential journalist and author who was known for his adroit ability to craft with the English language, his strong opinions on political issues such as totalitarianism, and his satirical novella Animal Farm (1945), sent the final copy of his sixth and final novel to his publisher on 4 December 1948. On 8 June 1949, the novel hit the shelves of bookstores, bearing the name Nineteen Eighty-Four. Seven months after his book was released, on 28 January 1950, Orwell passed away because of complications with tuberculosis. Over 60 years later, people still enjoy this grim, enigmatic tale of a futuristic society gone horribly wrong. The edition I am reviewing is a 328- page reprint by Signet Classics, complete with the story, an appendix with the principles of Newspeak, and an afterword by Erich Fromm.
In the futuristic super-state Oceania, which consists mainly of the Americas, the Atlantic islands, Australia, and the southern portion of Africa, the story takes place in what used to be called Britain, but is now known as "Airstrip One". One could infer from the title that the story takes place in the year 1984 (although the government's falsification of history has created some uncertainty regarding what year the story really takes place in). Oceania itself is governed by a three-tiered totalitarian party, separated into an Inner Party, an Outer Party, and a large proletariat population, all of which are led by a mysterious dictator named Big Brother. Winston Smith, a member of the Outer Party who works in one of the ministries of the Party, takes the main role in this story. Because he possesses a mind unlike many of those within the Party, a mind full of resistance and hate towards the Party, Winston regularly does things that would be considered a crime in Oceanic society, a society in which the truth is censored, the actions of people are closely monitored, the thoughts of people are controlled and altered, and peoples' individuality has been removed.
At the opening of this story, we find that Winston works in the Ministry of Truth, a large governing ministry which is responsible for rewriting historical documents and media and changing facts to fit Party doctrine and make it seem like the Party is absolute and never wrong, in essence turning most news media, and even some books and some forms of art, into propagandist media (and also turning the name of the ministry into a lie). Normal Party members are oblivious to falsification because their minds have been trained to simultaneously accept two contradicting beliefs as correct (this is referred to in the story as doublethink). However, Winston is different. He begins to see through the party, their abuse of power, their lies, and their hate, and because of this, he seeks psychological freedom.
Winston seems to recall a time in his life when things were much better. However, he doesn't quite remember when that time was, or what it was really like. This mere feeling causes Winston to ponder whether or not there was a time before his where life was much better; a time without perpetual war, political unrest, or harsh living conditions. Because of this, he seeks a way to bring down Big Brother and the Party. He finds hope in rumors of an underground organization known as the Brotherhood, created for the purpose of overthrowing the party. He also finds hope in the proles, theorizing that with the size of their population, if they realized that their life could be much, much better (though how can you do that when this is how you have lived since the day you were born?), they might band together and overthrow the party.
He also finds hope in a fellow employee, Julia, who Winston at first believes is an agent of the Thought Police. However, an encounter at work changes his mind when she reveals to him that she loves him. They begin an affair, rendezvousing in remote locations to make love; not just because of love, but also for rebellion against the Party. They then make a home in an antique shop in a proletarian quarter of Airstrip One. Another fellow employee of Winston's, O'Brien, displays discontent for the party as well, and upon Winston and Julia meeting with him in his flat, he reveals that the Brotherhood really does exist, and he allows Winston and Julia to be a part of it, so long as they understand that the change they desire will not happen in their lifetime.
Winston had finally found paradise in a collectivist hell. Not only that, but he had also become part of the force that was going to bring down the Party! He knew he had people on his side! Although this seemed very, very promising, this proved to be nothing but a lie. Winston receives a book from O'Brien regarding oligarchical collectivism that was written by Emmanuel Goldstein, a co-founder of the Party who ended up betraying it and, because of this, becoming the primary object of hate in Oceania. Shortly after this, Winston and Julia are betrayed by the owner of the antique store they lived in, who turns out to be an agent of the Thought Police. Shortly after this, they are both taken away to the Ministry of Love.
During his captivity in the Ministry of Love, Winston is beaten, abused, neglected and periodically interrogated by members of the Inner Party (his treatment being indicative of yet another misnomer of a ministry that specializes in interrogation through torture). O'Brien, who revealed himself to be a member of the Inner Party, interrogates Winston several times, and at one point reveals to him that the Party wants more than just confessions from people who are considered "thoughtcriminals". The Party needs to be certain of every citizen's love for Big Brother and the Party because they simply want every citizen to believe in Big Brother and the Party. They don't want to exterminate those who do not believe. Rather, they want to go to the fullest extent to force them to believe. With this as their motive, what will happen to Winston? Will he continue to resist the Party? Will he end up just like every other brainwashed, orthodox citizen of Oceania? The conclusion of this story reveals all of this and more. What O'Brien revealed to Winston shows that in a totalitarian regime the top priority of the party is to control everything they can possibly control. Even your own mind. This book clearly illustrates for the reader the dangers of totalitarianism and how this political system dramatically affects the quality of life for the citizens held within it.
Late teens to adults of any age who have strong opinions on political issues or enjoy dystopic fiction or social science fiction will enjoy this book. However, people who are sensitive to sexual content or violence might not like certain aspects of this story, because there are points where topics like this are either hinted at, or sometimes even elaborated upon. Also, a recommended prerequisite to this book is to possess a rather advanced vocabulary, that is to say that if your reading level isn't quite at the college level, then you may have some difficulty getting through this book. I enjoyed this book. I actually enjoyed it a lot. The ending, however, I did not exactly enjoy because this book did not end the way I wanted it to or the way I thought it would. However, by no means does the ending negate the book's appeal; the book is sure to be a great choice for anyone who enjoys complex characters, an enigmatic storyline, and outstanding, elegant usage of the English language.
Book Review: Big Brother Is Watching You.
Summary: 5 Stars
_Nineteen Eighty Four_, first published in 1949 by George Orwell (pen name of Eric Blair), is a horrifying dystopian novel of a world in which the individual human being has been completely degraded and deprived of his fundamental humanity that reflects the totalitarianisms of the day, particularly communism and Stalinism. George Orwell (1903 - 1950) was the pen name of the British author Eric Blair, who developed an early enmity towards those in power and their abuses of power. Orwell was a socialist but came to witness the horrors of the Soviet state and the betrayal of his ideals by Stalinists. As such, Orwell came to loathe totalitarianism in general and wrote novels showing the degrading effects such societies had on people. Throughout this book, one can witness the underlying hatred of Orwell and those imprisoned by the system for the totalitarian state and bureaucracy which completely controls their lives and existences. This book in particular shows that rage in the main character of Winston Smith, a mere pawn in a totalitarian society. Orwell's books are indeed prophetic and show us a world in which the very life-force has been sapped out of mankind by those in power. Orwell imagines a highly efficient totalitarian state, capable of enforcing political correctness at the highest levels, tampering with the memories of men, and maintaining a total disregard for the truth. Orwell shows how under such regimes the very notion of truth becomes suspect and the individual can no longer distinguish between fact and state propaganda. This particularly applies to the Soviet Union under Josef Stalin, which is the primary setting for Orwell's stories. However, Orwell's books are also applicable to the West of today, where the constant menace of totalitarian ideology exists.
_1984_ gives us a whole slew of new terminology to describe the situation as it exists in a totalitarian state in which political correctness is enforced. The book introduces such terms as thought police, thought crime (and thought criminal), doublethink, memory hole, Ingsoc, and Newspeak. Such terms reflect the complete disregard of the totalitarian state for the truth and the active promotion of propaganda within society. They have also largely entered into our culture as expressions to describe the enforcement of political correctness.
_1984_ focuses on the main character Winston Smith, a member of the Outer Party who lives in England and works for the Ministry of Truth. As it turns out, the Ministry of Truth ironically is responsible for spreading propaganda, and as all ministries mentioned by Orwell has a purpose exactly opposite to its stated purpose. The world of 1984 is a very bleak one indeed, run by a single party and its ruling leader "Big Brother", in which all individuals are subject to surveillance by the state should they commit a "thought crime". All expressions of individuality in 1984 have been wiped out and the human being is totally degraded living a pathetic existence of total subservience to the party. Sexuality has been suppressed as part of the "Anti-sex League" as well as religion. Truth itself is highly malleable and memory is constantly distorted, reflected in such ironical and oxymoronic sayings of the party as "War Is Peace", "Freedom Is Slavery", and "Ignorance Is Strength". Further, the nation of Oceania is constantly at war with either Eurasia or Eastasia, varying from day to day and reflected in the official propaganda of the state bureaucracy. All party members revere their leader "Big Brother" (perhaps reminiscent of Josef Stalin or other totalitarian dictators) and despise the rebellious "Goldstein" (perhaps reminiscent of the Soviet hatred for Leon Trotsky). Further, the party exists in a caste system in which the "proles" (the proletariat) live underneath the party members (who are divided into the Inner and Outer Party). Winston Smith works for the Ministry of Truth but begins to keep a diary (which is strictly forbidden to party members) in which he reflects his hatred for "Big Brother". His work involves developing propaganda for the party. At work he meets up with Julia, who he initially believes is a strict orthodox member of the party. However, eventually he comes to realize that Julia is in love with him and they have a secret encounter in the countryside. Eventually Julia expresses to Winston her complete loathing for the party, though she publicly maintains a persona of utter obeisance and orthodoxy and belongs to the "Anti-sex League". Together they find a new hiding place in a shop in a part of the city where the "proles" live and attempt to re-discover the past of England. Throughout this period, however, the two live in constant fear of the thought police, should they catch onto their affair. Eventually, Winston meets up with O'Brien at work, a man who he believes is a member of the Resistance, and is given a copy of Goldstein's book which explains the rise of the party and the need for perpetual war. Orwell quotes extensively from Goldstein's book which reflects much of the social thinking of the time, in particular the theory of managerial elites. However, Winston and Julia are captured by the party and it turns out that O'Brien is in fact a member of the party. While taken captive, both are tortured and made to recant their original beliefs about the party. In a particularly disgusting scene, Winston is taken to Room 101 where he must face his worst fear. There he ultimately betrays Julia (as she has already betrayed him) to save himself from being tortured by rats (the worst torture that he can imagine). Eventually, Winston is completely re-educated and made to love "Big Brother" while his relationship with Julia is forever changed after their mutual betrayals of each other. Thus, ends in the most horrifying of manners Orwell's classic novel. Orwell concludes with an appendix on "The Principles of Newspeak" which effectively shows how even the language itself can be put to the purposes of propaganda within a totalitarian state.
_1984_ remains a classic dystopia reflecting the darker side of human existence within the Twentieth Century as it played out in the totalitarian dictatorships of the age. Throughout this novel, the very notion of truth remains problematic, as the party re-defines history to reflect its own agenda and thus even memory itself becomes distorted. Orwell shows the sheer degradation that the human being undergoes within such a surveillance society, to the eventual point where a man can be tortured by the powers that be to such an extent that he will eventually even renounce his love and embrace the figure he hates the most. While the novel is made to reflect Soviet society and Stalinism in particular, it also reflects the modern world in general, in which large-scale and efficient bureaucratic structures rob man of his humanity. Orwell's novels prove particularly prescient warnings to mankind to avoid the dangers of totalitarianism. As such, they should be read by all thinking individuals who seek to understand the horrors that can be inflicted upon the human being through totalistic societies.
Book Review: It Happens Gradually People
Summary: 5 Stars
Bottom-Line: I implore all freedom loving people to read "1984"; it is depressing, but then again so is life in general for the most part.
First published in 1950, "1984" is a chilling, depressing, and yes, heartbreaking look into the future existence of mankind. It is a world that is at once dark, bleak, joyless, loveless and utterly without hope. Human's are as humans have always been, divided into three classes, only in George Orwell's there is no hope of movement between the three; they are static, fixed, inexorably and utterly.
Religion has been banished (not an altogether bad idea), but so too has intellectual, personal, and political freedoms; mankind has been reduced to a soulless conglomeration of empty husks who do as their told, and believe whatever they are told by Big Brother, the party. Human intellectual, social, and cultural progress in any real sense has ceased for good or ill. Music, science, art, literature, is no longer the province of self, the Party owns it all.
In the world of "1984", the world has only three nations, Oceania (North America, South America, Great Britain, and Southern Africa); Eurasia (Russian, Europe and Northern Africa); and Eastasia (China, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, India, etc). These nations are perpetually at war with one another, but, the aim is the neither gain, nor lose ground to the other; the aim is be at war so that the masses never expect too much, nor have reason the question the supremacy of the Party.
The Party controls all and is embodied in the persona of Big Brother, who is literally always watching or listening, via telescreens and microphones in people apartments, places of work & play. The Thought Police are never far from view. Privacy is a thing of the past, personal pleasure and leisure are frown upon, sex is a dirty joyless affair tolerated only for procreation (now doesn't that sound familiar), and the Party has three over-riding slogans the masses are controlled with; War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, and Ignorance is Strength. The Party has four principle ministries it uses to maintain control of the people; The Ministry of Truth, The Ministry of Love, The Ministry of Plenty, and The Ministry of Peace all of which are represented by four white monolithic building built in the heart of London where this tale unfolds.
Most of the book centers on the life, and brief love of Winston Smith, an outer Party member, who live a life of quite misery. He hates the Party and wants to rebel, but he knows Big Brother is watching, and listening, so he is forced to rebel only in his mind. But little by little, step-by-step, Winston finds way to rebel, buying a diary in which he records his thoughts, and eventually he has a forbidden love affair with a fellow party member. This leads to other flirtations and a search for the illusive Brotherhood avowed enemies of the Party.
Personal Thoughts
"1984" is an intricately woven tale of a world gone completely mad by today's standards, a world where none of use could conceive of living in, and yet there are shades of "1984" type behavior by our government darkening Republic's freedom loving horizon. After reading just a few pages of 1984, you will come away with a frightening realization; the loose of our freedoms, both intellectual and personal will not happen over night, but it will come about gradually; there will be subtle changes in the landscape, a dimming of the constitutional light that warm all of us. Already, we are at perpetual war with an enemy who can not be found, but who pops up every once in a while to taunt us, to assure us that the danger is real, just as Goldstein does in the world of "1984".
Our government, is engaged in doublespeak, bending the lies until they become the truth everyone (well at least half of the American electorate) will accept without question. This is evidenced by the fact that almost half of the America public believed (or still believe) Saddam Hussain had a hand to play in 9/11 even after the 9/11 Commission and other reports stated categorically that he did not. But Bush ties him to it right after the event, using doublespeak to mold the America mind. Already for far too many Americans Ignorance is Strength; witness the last Presidential election, the continued debate over Gay rights, school prayer, and abortion.
Politicians now seem to speak in nothing but platitudes (doublespeak) that are released like confetti at a Party Convention until the truth is swept away like so much recycling only to be reborn as a sound bite tomorrow. One Party insists that it has the lock on family values, but fails to support the family in any meaningful way, but it doesn't seem to matter to those that support the Party. And yet they, along with the rest of us are being hurt by the slow strangulation of the America family. Disheartening to say the least. And shades of Newspeak are already inserting themselves into the political lexicon; the Estate Tax becomes the Death Tax, a woman's right to choose, becomes right to life, and the fundamental rights of Gays becomes a Defense of Marriage.
George Orwell was amazingly insightful way back in 1950 to have written a book so relevant some 55 year later. The end of the book gives a rather lengthy explain of Newspeak, and the Afterword compares Orwell's work with other seminal novels that touch on the same theme: Aldos Huxley's Brave New World (next on my reading list), and Russian Zamyatin's We; it is fascinating and intellectually stimulating reading.
I implore all freedom loving people to read "1984"; it is depressing, but then again so is life in general for the most part. Not living Winston's life should in the very least give one a renewed appreciation for our own.
Book Review: A forgotten warning from history
Summary: 5 Stars
The vision of the Party's rule, its inhumanity and utter ruthlessness and mendacity frighten us and we hope it will never come to pass here. But we have no clue how to prevent it, and just like the people in Orwell's fictional world, we are perpetually caught off guard when it comes to pass in our own lives. One day we wake up and realize we are living in a nightmare, and we have been for a long time. "It'll never happen here" and "We've taken every precaution" become "When did it happen" and "How did we get to this point?" This perennial sickness takes hold of a nation and we are at its mercy.
Like any good novelist, Orwell tells a story and he makes it real. For that sheltered portion of humankind who have had the fortune of growing up without the threat of being arrested and tortured for daring to disagree with their inept leaders, the book provides a vicarious experience without which we are left vulnerable to a disease we know nothing about. But while the creation of a literary world can teach us many things, it cannot provide a way out. For that we need accurate knowledge.
1984 is a fictionalized account of pathocracy, as defined in Political Ponerology, and the reason it scares us is because it is completely outside our normal frame of reference. We have the same reaction to news accounts of senseless violence. Parents murdered by their 14-year-old son because they asked him to do his chores, after which he played video games. An 18-year-old woman disappears and is later found dead, beaten to death and wrapped in plastic. A trucker and his son admit to torturing a 20-year-old man in their basement, suffocating him and wrapping wire around his neck. A young boy is kidnapped, tortured, executed, and his organs harvested by forces of occupation before his body is returned to his parents.
The common theme, of course, is psychopathy. Psychopaths lack conscience and hunger for the darkness. They are sadistic in a way which, for us, is near impossible to fathom. The evil which they bring is not unintended, as when we realize only after the fact that our actions have caused another harm. Instead, their lives are spent feeding on the misery that they inflict on others. Whether the sexual sadism of serial rapist-torturer, or the subtle draining of a "toxic co-worker" who uses you, abuses you, and wears you down until you lose all grip on reality. We may even ask in desperation, "What are you doing this to me?" The psychopath simply smirks. And in a world ruled by psychopaths we ask, "Why are you doing this to us?"
1984 frightens us because psychopathy frightens us. The key feature of a pathocracy is that psychopaths influence the economic, military, political, and cultural agenda of a nation. Like chameleons, they mask themselves in the features of their surroundings. Within those parameters they stage dramas, creating a new reality according to their desires. And this reality is one of deception, terror, ruthless expansion and complete heartlessness.
In the corporate world a psychopath gets ahead by destroying the careers of those who stand in his way, exploiting the work of others, starting rumors, creating conflicts. He always benefits from these, of course. A competitor falls out of favor. The psychopath is credited with the work of another. The bosses take his word over another who sees that he is a snake. An "enemy" finds herself without a job, blamed for something she didn't do. All the while the psychopath stage-manages. The man behind the curtain.
In politics, the pawns are the people, the chessboard is the world stage. Strategic countries are invaded because of the "threat" they pose. This threat is 0f course created by the psychopaths in charge using the vast resources of intelligence services. "Terrorist threats" are fabricated. Atrocities are committed and then pinned on imaginary "terrorist groups". Orwell had it right. Emmanuel Goldstein was a creation of the Party. The bombings blamed on him and his followers committed by the Party itself for the purpose of keeping the population afraid and compliant.
Today, torture photos are "leaked" not to expose State brutality, but to show the people what happens to those who oppose the system. After all, you're either "with us" or you're "with the terrorists". That's some option. Dissent is conflated with terrorism. Terrorists are tortured and assassinated. The President of the United States even sanctions the assassination of U.S. citizens labeled "terrorists". "They are part of they enemy", after all. Some respond with shock that a country could willingly kill its own citizens, as if killing another country's citizens is any more human. Of course, the two options are equally atrocious, but to a psychopath, what's the difference? If you have a conscience, you are a threat. Your leaders hold you in as much disdain as any other "bleeding heart".
So what can be done? The first step is awareness of the reality of what goes on behind the scenes of political power: the workings of intelligence agencies, counterterrorism, foreign policy groups, etc. This can only be understood by applying ponerology, which identifies the source of the problem, and the exact social and psychological processes which push along the global pathocratic agenda. Psychopaths have been running the show for a long time, and they've been doing so because we haven't known what to look for. Commies, terrorists, Nazis, anarchists... All red herrings.
The true enemy hides in plain sight.