Obama’s Ig-Nobel Doublespeak

You know we live in an Orwellian nightmare when a prize of peace is awarded to a man of war.

When Barry tells us that "instruments of war have a role to play in preserving the peace" and that our troops are not makers of war but "wagers of peace" I hear Big Brother saying "WAR IS PEACE."

When Barry tells us that US military occupation around the world in not to "impose our will" but to ensure that the rest of the world can, "live in freedom and prosperity" I hear Big Brother saying "FREEDOM IS SLAVERY."

When Barry tells us that there is "little scientific dispute" that climate change is a security issue, and that it's not only an issue for scientists but for "military leaders" I hear Big Brother saying "IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH."

Indeed, in America we are still free to scream "Down with Big Brother!" from the highest minaret if we want. But what George Orwell was saying in 1984 was that it's not enough for a police state to control the actions of the people. A police state only succeeds by controlling the minds of the people, and in order to do that they must criminalize thought.

I believe America has begun to do just that. If you think that I am wrong, than you should have no objection to indulging in a little thought crime with me.

Even though the world as depicted in 1984 is scary, I'd love to live in it, just for one day, to see what it'd be like. It fascinates me.

He gazed up at the enormous face. Forty years it had taken him to learn what kind of smile was hidden beneath the dark moustache. O cruel, needless misunderstanding! O stubborn, self-willed exile from the loving breast! Two gin-scented tears trickled down the sides of his nose. But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother.

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Children will be taken from their mothers at birth, as one takes eggs from a hen. The sex instinct will be eradicated. Procreation will be an annual formality like the renewal of a ration card. We shall abolish the orgasm. Our neurologists are at work upon it now. There will be no loyalty, except loyalty towards the Party. There will be no love, except the love of Big Brother. There will be no laughter, except the laugh of triumph over a defeated enemy. There will be no art, no literature, no science. When we are omnipotent we shall have no more need of science. There will be no distinction between beauty and ugliness. There will be no curiosity, no enjoyment of the process of life. All competing pleasures will be destroyed. But always -- do not forget this, Winston -- always there will be the intoxication of power, constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler. Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face -- for ever.'

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He accepted everything. The past was alterable. The past never had been altered. Oceania was at war with Eastasia. Oceania had always been at war with Eastasia. Jones, Aaronson, and Rutherford were guilty of the crimes they were charged with. He had never seen the photograph that disproved their guilt. It had never existed, he had invented it. He remembered remembering contrary things, but those were false memories, products of selfdeception. How easy it all was! Only surrender, and everything else followed. It was like swimming against a current that swept you backwards however hard you struggled, and then suddenly deciding to turn round and go with the current instead of opposing it. Nothing had changed except your own attitude: the predestined thing happened in any case. He hardly knew why he had ever rebelled. Everything was easy, except!

Anything could be true. The so-called laws of Nature were nonsense. The law of gravity was nonsense. 'If I wished,' O'Brien had said, 'I could float off this floor like a soap bubble.' Winston worked it out. 'If he thinks he floats off the floor, and if I simultaneously think I see him do it, then the thing happens.' Suddenly, like a lump of submerged wreckage breaking the surface of water, the thought burst into his mind: 'It doesn't really happen. We imagine it. It is hallucination.' He pushed the thought under instantly. The fallacy was obvious. It presupposed that somewhere or other, outside oneself, there was a 'real' world where 'real' things happened. But how could there be such a world? What knowledge have we of anything, save through our own minds? All happenings are in the mind. Whatever happens in all minds, truly happens.

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Firstly, I am not sure why he starts with Obama's Nobel speech. It seems quite clear to me that Obama is talking about Just War theory and not internal affairs.

Secondly, I do not think anecdotal evidence is going to cut it when proving whether the US is a police state or not. By his very definition of 'police state' every country on this planet might well be one, since police brutality is, unfortunately, quite universal.

The author states:

A police state only succeeds by controlling the minds of the people, and in order to do that they must criminalize thought. I believe America has begun to do just that. It was never debated in congress. The bill was never signed into law. The public was never informed. But I believe the institution of thought crime exists like a cage in the mind of most Americans.

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What does that mean exactly? He basically admits himself that thought crime does not formally exist in the US, but nevertheless claims it exists as some kind of institution in our mind? Could he possibly be any more vague? What does that mean exactly? It seems that he thinks because most people do not want to believe what he believes that they have an invisible cage in their mind? That yes, or they simply disagree with him :exhausted.

He subsequently goes on to talk about cases of police brutality, which do not really address the point. The essence of 1984 is not police brutality, it is about totalitarian government. Totalitarianism is where the government has control over information and plays a dominant role in people's personal life. You can say many things about the US, but information the US government has very very little control over at all. Again, the author admits as much.

He talks about thought crimes a lot, but he does not show how they exist in the US. To be frank, I don't think there are many countries on this planet where one is legally as free to speak ones mind as in the US or where the government has so little say on private matters. That said, I think that police culture is too aggressive in the US. Some more accountability there would certainly be a good idea.