EPTTo all here present who's read the book, 1984 George Orwell.. I am doing a delivery on the 3 slogans of the Government of Oceania.
(To any one in the audience unaware, In the fictional world of 1984 the world was divided into 3 powers. Oceania, EastAsia, and Eurasia. The book follows a guy called Winston who lives in Oceania, which has a despotic rulership, under a figurehead called Big Brother)
Beginning now, I list the 3 slogans, they are -
- War is Peace
- Freedom is Slavery
- Ignorance is Strength
It's a common assumption that these are simply mere contradictions, never occurring to the minds of the Oppressed People to be questionable, since the government has taken measures to circumvent all questioning.
But I think they hold a more advanced message:
War is Peace
The first one is true in a manner of steady observation, junctioned with technical assertion.
Consider first of all, Peace exists as a displacement of War.
Peace, what a state of things!!
Is it true that most men desire peace? is the sublimated urge channelled into the war game, Starcraft II enough? Doesn't Starcraft attest to a greater reality, the greater inspiration of War.
[EDIT] - DEFINITION:
Sublimation : (psychology) modifying the natural expression of an impulse or instinct (especially a sexual one) to one that is socially acceptable
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I wonder if the civilized man would be content playing Starcraft II in a world of peace...
War means there is a known enemy, it results in easy identification of a common foe, even if individual members of the people have disparate feelings towards the enemy,
war brings a state of controlled peace. And in some ways union within urban cities..
George Orwell, said the following himself, in the section when the character Winston, reads that enshrined Book.
The Book, as some of you already know, was the conspiratorial doctrine, containing all the details and material meant to educate Winston on how the government worked, and apparently how they'd set out to destroy it.
(Though the story never included the parts of HOW they'd bring down the Government of Oceania.)
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It was said that War creates a demand for work & supply that helps keep the national economy afloat, by means I can only guess.. as surely people who are economists, industrialists or financial experts could explain better.
Another sublime thought towards the propensity for war...
As it stands, we in the 21st century are defined as a class of people who through pens, academia, medical science and written deliberation, are distinguished above those previous ancient civilizations of the past.
Those semi-barbarians, were known to performed ritualistic acts of sacrifice, which produced blood and overall death, in its lurid fashion.
It could be said that this barbaric act was some instinctual reminder which SOMEHOW served to remind them that - although they're at peace - there was once a need for war.
And behold, how soon those exploring men came to their shores, to conquer and engage them.
So the phrase 'War is Peace' it is not a contradictory emanation of the Oceania Government, that the people were too stupefied to understand.
The second..
Freedom is Slavery.
Note that the other character in the book - O'brien - did say to Winston, that it could be reversed, and also its the one phrase out of the three, where the first term is predicated by a negative state.
First consider the reversal, as explained by O'brien.
Slavery is Freedom.
It means, to be free, and perhaps in a state of autonomous independence.
Though it seems blissful and serene, it is to be alone without any supportive alliance..
Perhaps.. even to reduce a group of people together to this state of freedom is the hope of some folk.
Today in our society, Contemporary Anarchists have factored the survivalist lifestyle into their narrative, and in their aims even imagine such a scenario. But at what cost? And where would they go? In the middle of a wilderness and setup Rogue Encampment?
Some have even tried to establish these autonomous zones in the middle of an urban city, declaring haughty semblance of self-sufficiency.
What is freedom but a word these days thrown around, where everything is provided for free, devoid of a price?
The concept of no price being conferred upon resource and life, is not impossible.
But in technical reality, no miracle can provide the essence of life.
No miracle or higher-power, undomesticated or untamed, can create any of those aspects needed for daily life.
Like the construction of a laptop and maintenance thereof, demands so many specialized people vested in their work:
Viz. Power source and electricity, Operating System, Software creation, Hardware.. etc.
Without the work of grunts and peons, or some unified effort the earth and the external environment would be nothing.
Resuming...
incidentally, The term Slavery is Slavery.. is a double enforcement, resulting in something which becomes either ridiculous or concrete when phrased aloud..
Slavery is slavery, but in the setting of civil byplay, it is not an absolute one-dimensional hell where life and sentience is crushed by oppression.
Say rather it is to be subservient to some general plan, a concept, or even a belief.
That is the meaning of the term, that freedom is achieved through 'slavery'.
The original phrase.. Freedom is Slavery:
The nature of the original phrase could also warn that freedom, would lead to being crushed and the individual defeated.
Also maybe an admonition serving to forestall the people, for those resentfully yearning for freedom would be Enslaved and find destruction in the hands of the Thought Police (secret agents of the Oceania government).
But in its inverse potential, freedom IS slavery, found within the social force that binds people to their duties, which inturn creates Freedom. And eventually, an atmosphere of Liberty and Unity.
Ignorance is Strength:
(PS: There is no extract from The Book, about this.)
There'll be plenty account taken from our world in relation to this.
This phrase has plenty to do with people being riddled with the curse of 'intellectualization'.
So, people who have compromised their strength with over-inflated ideas that sound 'clever' or 'noble'.
[EDIT] - DEFINITION:
Intellectualization : (psychiatry) a defence mechanism that uses reasoning to block out emotional stress and conflict
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People who have NOT had their attitude subverted by liberalism, and ideas of bountiful revolt, would gain strength from the ignorance thereof.
There is a two-layered aspect to this, making sense momentarily..
The first being, that someone would definitely lose strength, when introduced to these ideas of resistance, being weighed down with surly arguments recurring on behalf of the current brand of liberal trend.
They would become a weaker person and unreliably volatile.
People who've induced the liberal attitude within their minds will spend their energy and strength fulfilling its aim.
The next aspect junctioned alongside this, would be sober acknowledged awareness, in all its trite and infernal dullness.
As opposed to being misleadingly 'enlightened' with the current brand of pseudo-humanitarian liberalism... simply seeing the scenario and perceiving it unattached.
(!!!)
... Could the weight of awareness sap the strength of a person?
In general, accumulative intelligence and learned ideas change people. Recall that once when being young and puerile, some things and issues never managed to elicit any attention, but in later life, they suddenly seem damning and argumentatively relevant.
But the act of learning something is sometimes.. permanent and the ignorance traded thereto is irretrievably lost.
It is better not to be duly aware of the things happening, or at the best temporarily experience forgetfulness.
It is better to capably forget the voices of some members of public, banishing from memory those spoken sounds of moist, sibilant quality, so disgusting that it impairs our strength and vitality.
Equally sibilant and moist - and a blessing to forget - are those histrionic actors & singers in the scene of entertainment and fiction. The expression on their faces, insincere wide-eyes of innocent derision..
Or.. leering over with some aggressive message of urban violence!!
To be ignorant of the unregenerate byplay, provided by our hosts of current media, would render us no longer dis-spirited, and so conserve Strength.
There is a certain measure of strength found in ignorance.. with the crude notion that the more we illuminate our minds - and reduce ignorance - the more our strength becomes an apparent illusion.
For our strength and vigour relied upon Happiness and being content with our civil world, and the trust we bestowed upon its leaders.
BUT
I won't conclude on that bleak note.. and it would be inadvisable to suddenly introduce a policy of active-ignorance. And so.. let's welcome the risk of having a personal crisis of startling realization, in whatever new stuff we learn!
Don't let media or fiction oppress you, forget about movies & art, with bogus narratives and repressive themes that disempower the people of this planet.
Don't fall for cheap tricks of morbid disillusionment. Too long have hedonistic immoralists maintained an invisible yet iron grip upon the quality of life.. turn off the DeCaprio film and pick up a 2000AD comic!!
