Symes’ monologue to Winston Smith, in George Orwell’s 1984:
“Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it. Every concept that can ever be needed will be expressed by exactly one word, with its meaning rigidly defined and all its subsidiary meanings rubbed out and forgotten. Every year fewer and fewer words, and the range of consciousness always a little smaller. Even now, of course, there’s no reason or excuse for committing thoughtcrime. It’s merely a question of self-discipline, reality control. But in the end there won’t be any need even for that. The Revolution will be complete when the language is perfect.”
I’ve been thinking a lot about Orwell’s “2+2=5” these last couple of years – or, I always think about it – but it’s been on my mind pretty much constantly since the Presidential campaign and watching his raving delusional deplorable supporters. Deplorables WAS the right word. It’s been on my mind a lot during the COVID shutdown watching people with AR-15s storm Capitol buildings, demanding their rights not to wear masks. Funny how these are the same people cheering on the demonization of the Black Lives Matter protests, and criticizing the looting and rioting. Can you imagine what would happen if a black man walked up the steps of a Capitol building holding an automatic weapon? Of course you can imagine it. But those big white dudes holding ASSAULT WEAPONS storm the gates and nothing happens to them. People who can’t see this as a disconnect are at this point REFUSING to see it. And so the delusional among us, and their numbers are legion, are now rock-hard in their delusions: Don’t believe in objective reality, like “2+2=4.” Can anyone PROVE “2+2=4”? Person steps forward: “I can.” Delusionals: “Oh you’re just elitist SHEEP from the East Coast who’s telling me 2+2=4. That’s not a person I need to listen to. I’m not a SHEEP.” But, of course … they are. Their brains have been softened by propaganda, for years and years. Orwell showed us, he saw it: This is how it works. Propaganda WORKS. Winston caves in the end. The final line of the book: “He loved Big Brother.”
From 1984:
In the end the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it. It was inevitable that they should make that claim sooner or later: the logic of their position demanded it. Not merely the validity of experience, but the very existence of external reality, was tacitly denied by their philosophy. The heresy of heresies was common sense. And what was terrifying was not that they would kill you for thinking otherwise, but that they might be right. For, after all, how do we know that two and two make four? Or that the force of gravity works? Or that the past is unchangeable? If both the past and the external world exist only in the mind, and if the mind itself is controllable – what then?
Limit people’s ability to think by limiting the possibilities of language.
Drum impossible things into their heads over and over and over, over the course of years, things like Pizzagate, things like QAnon, things like missing birth certificates, things like climate change is a hoax, things like “all lives matter,” things like 2+2=5 … and people crack. By the time the State needs to mobilize them, they’re soft and pliable and ready to believe anything. They will go to their deaths declaring that 2+2=5.
The one-two punch of fascism.
The most important book ever written, and the most relevant right now.
If you’ve read and understand 1984, then watching it happen in real time is like watching a slow motion, 4-year plane crash.
I’m still optimistic the good guys will prevail, and next year we can begin rebuilding. I’m also reminded of the words of John McCain : “Sometimes it’s darkest right before you die.”
“May we live in interesting times.” – Chinese Proverb
The book really just lays it all out. This is how it goes. I’ve only watched it happen in other countries. You’re more optimistic than I am but I’m not defeatist. My country needs me, as corny as that sounds. I will not stop fighting for her ideals.