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100 Thoughts - Life, Politics, Science and Religion

1984

Sometime after September 11th, George W made a statement that our nation will be forever at war with terrorism. I had heard that in George Orwell’s book, 1984, the world was also in a constant state of war. Here are quotations from the book¹ , followed by my comments.

P.3 From the first page of the story, “and at present the electric current was cut off during daylight hours.” In the last two years, there have been major energy shortages due to manipulation, and a major northeast blackout.
P.4 “Big Brother Is Watching You.” We have cameras in satellites that can watch people from space. Helicopter cameras can see people from a mile away. There are cameras in every major building, bank cameras, store cameras, red light cameras, cell-phone tapping, hidden microphones and cameras. The Patriot Act allows any email or IM to be read, and Sneak and Peek allows police to come into any house to spy on people.
P.5 “slogans of the party: WAR IS PEACE.” Our leaders advocate a war on terrorism as a way of keeping the peace.
P.6 “Ministry of Peace, which concerned itself with war.” We have the Department of Defense, which conducts preemptive wars.
P.13 “The program of the Two Minutes Hate varied from day to day.” We have George W or his cabinet who regularly release statements condemning some foreign leader as evil.
P.36 “All that was needed was an unending series of victories over your own memory. ‘Reality control,’ they called it; in Newspeak² , ‘doublethink.” We have double-speak where foreigners are terrorists because they kill civilians, but when we kill civilians it is called ‘collateral damage’ (see Names, Propaganda, Terrorism).
P.54 “Orthodoxy means not thinking not needing to think.”
Orthodoxy and Fundamentalism seem to thrive on believing (having faith) as opposed to thinking.
P.189 “The primary aim of modern warfare is to use up the products of the machine without raising the general standard of living.” War and bombs are very good at destroying infrastructure, which later requires reconstruction in which neo-cons make billions.
P.194 “The two aims of the Party are to conquer the whole surface of the earth and to extinguish once and for all the possibility of independent thought.” This seems to be the stated agenda of the neo-cons once you remove the spin on their goals (see Neo-cons).
P.265 “The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. You know the Party slogan: ‘Freedom is Slavery.’ Has it ever occurred to you that it is reversible? Slavery is freedom.” I think the Ottoman, Roman, and Nazi Empires sought pure power. The founding fathers created the three branches of government, as a means of preventing authoritarian abuse. The neo-cons and Republicans are seeking to control all three branches of government, effectively creating a one-party nation to solidify their power (see Neo-cons, Political Parties, Democracy). In the past, Democrats have held a majority of power in the government, but they have generally fought big business. Neo-cons are big business, so it will be corporate interests that will be running the country using puppet presidents (see Seeing Through the Image). Using public relations, propaganda and fear, they will manipulate facts to “manufacture consent” (see Public Relations, Propaganda, Fear, and Psychology). Since corporate media is also big business, there won’t be anyone to create significant opposition to a corporate one-party government (see Corporate Media). It won’t be George Orwell’s 1984, but George W’s 2001, which appears far too similar and portends a future that we must prevent.

¹1984, by George Orwell, Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, Publishers, 300 pages.
² The official language of Oceania as a means of thought control.



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		100 Thoughts Table of Contents Life Politics Science Religion More		100 Thoughts - Life, Politics, Science and Religion 1984 Sometime after September 11th, George W made a statement that our nation will be forever at war with terrorism. I had heard that in George Orwell’s book, 1984, the world was also in a constant state of war. Here are quotations from the book¹ , followed by my comments. P.3 From the first page of the story, “and at present the electric current was cut off during daylight hours.” In the last two years, there have been major energy shortages due to manipulation, and a major northeast blackout. P.4 “Big Brother Is Watching You.” We have cameras in satellites that can watch people from space. Helicopter cameras can see people from a mile away. There are cameras in every major building, bank cameras, store cameras, red light cameras, cell-phone tapping, hidden microphones and cameras. The Patriot Act allows any email or IM to be read, and Sneak and Peek allows police to come into any house to spy on people. P.5 “slogans of the party: WAR IS PEACE.” Our leaders advocate a war on terrorism as a way of keeping the peace. P.6 “Ministry of Peace, which concerned itself with war.” We have the Department of Defense, which conducts preemptive wars. P.13 “The program of the Two Minutes Hate varied from day to day.” We have George W or his cabinet who regularly release statements condemning some foreign leader as evil. P.36 “All that was needed was an unending series of victories over your own memory. ‘Reality control,’ they called it; in Newspeak² , ‘doublethink.” We have double-speak where foreigners are terrorists because they kill civilians, but when we kill civilians it is called ‘collateral damage’ (see Names, Propaganda, Terrorism). P.54 “Orthodoxy means not thinking not needing to think.” Orthodoxy and Fundamentalism seem to thrive on believing (having faith) as opposed to thinking. P.189 “The primary aim of modern warfare is to use up the products of the machine without raising the general standard of living.” War and bombs are very good at destroying infrastructure, which later requires reconstruction in which neo-cons make billions. P.194 “The two aims of the Party are to conquer the whole surface of the earth and to extinguish once and for all the possibility of independent thought.” This seems to be the stated agenda of the neo-cons once you remove the spin on their goals (see Neo-cons). P.265 “The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. You know the Party slogan: ‘Freedom is Slavery.’ Has it ever occurred to you that it is reversible? Slavery is freedom.” I think the Ottoman, Roman, and Nazi Empires sought pure power. The founding fathers created the three branches of government, as a means of preventing authoritarian abuse. The neo-cons and Republicans are seeking to control all three branches of government, effectively creating a one-party nation to solidify their power (see Neo-cons, Political Parties, Democracy). In the past, Democrats have held a majority of power in the government, but they have generally fought big business. Neo-cons are big business, so it will be corporate interests that will be running the country using puppet presidents (see Seeing Through the Image). Using public relations, propaganda and fear, they will manipulate facts to “manufacture consent” (see Public Relations, Propaganda, Fear, and Psychology). Since corporate media is also big business, there won’t be anyone to create significant opposition to a corporate one-party government (see Corporate Media). It won’t be George Orwell’s 1984, but George W’s 2001, which appears far too similar and portends a future that we must prevent. ¹1984, by George Orwell, Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, Publishers, 300 pages. ² The official language of Oceania as a means of thought control.