Orwell - Notes on Nationalism

[centristo]

http://www.resort.com/~prime8/Orwell/nationalism.html

This gave me the chills...

"INDIFFERENCE TO REALITY. All nationalists have the power of not seeing resemblances between similar sets of facts. A British Tory will defend self-determination in Europe and oppose it in India with no feeling of inconsistency. Actions are held to be good or bad, not on their own merits, but according to who does them, and there is almost no kind of outrage -- torture, the use of hostages, forced labour, mass deportations, imprisonment without trial, forgery, assassination, the bombing of civilians -- which does not change its moral colour when it is committed by "our" side...."


Damn, sound familiar?

[ChairmanAgnostic]

1. So he built a time machine and stole the neocon playbook?

fascinating. and familiar.

[centristo]

5. ha- more like Rove just ripped off the cover of 1984

and used that as the playbook.

Let me post this one more time, in a different format:


Actions are held to be good or bad, not on their own merits, but according to who does them, and there is almost no kind of outrage --

torture, (Abu Graib, CIA prisons, --check)
the use of hostages, (not that I know of, but I wouldn't put it past our government --no check)
forced labour, (no, we just pay Haliburton --no check)
mass deportations, (rendition anyone? --check)
imprisonment without trial, (enemy combatant, Jose Padilla --check)
forgery, (Niger documents?, who knows what else, --check)
assassination, (Hugo Chavez?, --check)
the bombing of civilians (Iraq, Afghanistan, --check)

-- which does not change its moral colour when it is committed by "our" side...."


So far this administration is 6 for 8. Once we start taking hostages and forcing slave labour we'll be completely Orwellian. What happened to America? :patriot:

[ChairmanAgnostic]

6. I recently reread it. IT was even more chilling than the 1st and 2nd time.

I thought our country was a different place. BUt it takes such strength and effort to make it work, and these assholes have done everything right. Scaring people, taking away freedoms, allegedly to protect them, and so much more.

[centristo]

8. except for Bush

nobody ever said these guys were dumb.

[IndyOp]

2. Thanks. Bookmarked.

I am warming up to getting started working on my lectures for social psychology this next semester...

[TechBear_Seattle]

3. 1984 is alive and well. n/t

[ngGale]

4. 1984 - Should be....

required reading. I do believe it was, when I was a young student. Orwell turned out to be rather physic, so it seems.:tinfoilhat:

[PA Democrat]

7. Link to Newspeak Dictionary to help you decipher the Bush administration's

policies.

http://www.newspeakdictionary.com/ns-dict.html

[ChairmanAgnostic]

9. thnx 4 this link

[RazzleDazzle]

10. a very small antidote, but an important one

also from Orwell:

"In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act."
- George Orwell