What is Doublethink
It is a reference from George Orwell’s book 1984
“Doublethink is the belief of two contradictory statements. For example, War is Peace.
Doublethink not only signifies the great ignorance of the people in such a society, but Big Brothers ability to manipulate the people’s views.
Doublethink allows people to keep their beliefs while also keeping the beliefs of big brother. This creates a facade of freedom which clearly does not exist.”
Some examples of Doublethink
- You must fit in/ you must stand out
- Follow your dreams/ find a secure job
- Rags-to-riches/ money can’t buy happiness
- Your life is run by fate/ you must exercise your free will
- don’t lie/ don’t say anything that’s rude
- you must work well as a team/ you must be a rugged individual
- express yourself/ wear what is popular this season
- don’t be a phony/ smile and people will like you
- act your age/ you’re only as old as you think you are
And, some more
- To fight against poverty you have to take money from the poor
- To promote hiring, it is necessary to facilitate dismissals
- To fight against tax fraud, you have to exempt the rich from taxes
- War is peace
- Slavery is freedom
- Ignorance is strength
Historical consequences of Doublethink
Some people say that ideas, science and technological breakthroughs are not dangerous by themselves.
That’s right: it is what people do with them:
- Idea: White supremacy => African slavery, indigenous people massacres
- Idea: Eugenics => Holocaust
- Science: E = mc2 => Atomic bomb
- Idea: Finance => Financial slavery (debt)
- Technology: Internet + Connected devices => Global surveillance
Questions to ask ourselves
- Is atomic weaponry more important than the lives being taken?
- Is global surveillance really necessary once we’ve withdrawn from the Doublethink “War on terrorism is peace”?
- How is the public opinion — your opinion, being driven to agree with these wars?
- What is the real purpose of these wars?
- Have you ever wondered what started any of the 20th and 21st centuries wars in the middle east?
- Are we, occidentals, really the good guys in the wars against terrorism?
- Do we understand how religions, international borders, and media propaganda is dividing us as a species?
- Is this division promoting collective, coordinated responses against global threats such as climate change or global surveillance?
- As citizens of divided nations, what can we do to learn from the past?
- Does water or air pollution magically stops at borders?
- Is there any real brotherhood left? Has there ever been?
- As an individual, can we really afford to continue standing there and watch?
- How can we free ourselves from this sense of impotency?
- What actions can we take as individuals?
Taking action
In order of importance, these are the 4 pillars of Earth misery:
- Global warming => spread this idea (if you agree with it course)
- Globalization => same as above
- Global financial slavery => spread this one regularly
- Global surveillance => spread this post regularly
Going forward
References
- Post — Doublethink: The Secret to Success of Leading Athletes and Top Performers
- Video (vostfr) — Awareness of US soldier Mike Prysner
- Movie — A perfect day
- Magazine (PDF) — The Holy Land: Jews, Christians and Muslims
- Article — Before Zionism: The shared life of Jews and Palestinians
- Article — Bradley Manning trial: what we know from the leaked WikiLeaks document
- Article — Is Religion the Cause of Most Wars?
- Article — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_by_death_toll
- Book — Banking on Baghdad: Inside Iraq’s 7000-year History of War, Profit & Conflict
