Quote:
Originally Posted by Rockyrd
1. Another of the 1984 plot lines was "alternate facts", "emotional nationalism", which we are subject to today in our country.
2. Orwell wrote not of any party and blamed both sides rightfully so for the rise of this type of rhetoric as he lived through the rise of governments based on these things.
3. That and a term I like that he feared..."disbelieve in the existence of objective truth" always ring in my ears, almost on a daily basis.
4. The "listening" is not new and I am afraid we are going to have to get used to it, but I fear with great dread the day when we lose touch with truth.....when we are faced with preaching of "alternate facts"
|
You are very observant. The following are my views. (I numbered your paragraphs for ease in referencing them with my responses.)
1. I view "alternate facts" as political maneuvering, commonly referred to in the past as "spinning." I see "emotional nationalism" in a bit different light. It is my experience that members of the military, military veterans, and even police officers and police veterans, are generally fiercely patriotic and nationalistic.
2. I agree, but would point out that Orwell was an Englishman, living in England, and the statement would not extend to USA political parties. As you reference, he certainly observed the rise of Fascism and Communism in certain foreign countries. Further, he did name a political philosophy, Socialism, as the basis of tyranny in Oceania.
3. From a lifetime of interviewing eyewitnesses to crimes, and giving expert testimony in court, I can understand how belief in "objective truth" can get fuzzy. Different people can see the same act and perceive what they saw differently. They tend to interpret the action in the context of their life experience. "Spin," mentioned above, can also be a factor. But, I continue to believe in Objective Truth.
4. You are correct that we will have to get used to being watched, by the government and others. In fact anyone who has downloaded "applications" on a cell phone has unthinkingly agreed to all kinds of personal surveillance, in all likelihood including their location, their e-mail exchanges, the photos they have taken, and the identity of the web sites they have visited on their web browser. All this was voluntary.