1984 ...

by EdenOne 7 Replies latest jw friends

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  EdenOne

  "Talking to her, he realized how easy it was to present an appearance of or thodoxy while having no grasp whatever of what orthodoxy meant. In a way, the world-view of the Party Governing Body imposed itself most successfully on people incapable of understanding it. They could be made to accept the most flagrant violations of reality, because they never fully grasped the enormity of what was demanded of them, and were not sufficiently interested in public events to notice what was happening. By lack of understanding they remained sane. They simply swallowed everything, and what they swallowed did them no harm, because it left no residue behind, just as a grain of corn will pass undigested through the body of a bird. "

  George Orwell, 1984
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  nonjwspouse

  I got out this book and left it lying around. I am hoping my husband will pick this one up. He did pick up Animal Farm the other day.

  These came from my vast collection of "required reading" books the older kids had in high school.
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  TheSophist

  Amazingly my wife has had a copy of Animal Farm in her purse for over 3 months. Though I don't think she is reading it. I tried taking it out of the purse and she wanted me to leave it. I lucked out because I recommended Perks of Being a Wallflower to her and she really absorbed it, so at least she will take reading recommendations from me. Though she wasn't interested in reading Steven Hassan...lol But that's ok, I just let it roll of my back.
  
  To stay on topic, I read 1984 not too long ago and will never get over the parallels between his writings and the whole Jehoover Witlesses experience. I think it's amazing how well he articulates what is going on in the minds of Party Members.
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  Phizzy

  What Orwell was describing in brilliant detail was the worst possible kind of Totalitarian rule.

  The fact that very few, if any, of the nasty features of this rulership are lacking from the WT says it all.

  The WT is Orwell's nightmare view in the flesh. It is a nasty Totalitarian Cult, its subjects, the Rank and File JW's are as expendable as Winston Smith.

  I am about to download "The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses", I guess that will confirm the above.
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  WinstonSmith

  Did somebody call me?
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  EdenOne

  Did somebody call me?

  Great timing...!

  Eden
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  EdenOne

  While I was reading 1984, it struck me very deeply that the Party was the Organization, lead by the semi-mythological Big Brother, the Governing Body; The Inner Party was the Brooklyn Establishment; The Outer Party are the DO, CO, Elders, MSs; The Proles are the R&F Witnesses; The "enemy" is "the worldy-wicked system", lead by Satan; Goldstein is the semi-fabled epythom of the apostates and Goldstein's Book is the apostate literature; Newspeak is the "theocratic lexicon"; and the list goes on ...

  The thing that impressed me most was the ability of the Party to re-write the past: He who controls the past, controls the future. He who controls the present, controls the past.

  The Watchtower's constant re-writing of its own history and the "new light" that obliterates from memory the "old light" is absolutely Orwellian. To the detail of vaporizing the memory of those who became dissidents from our records. Thank God for the internet and people like Barbara Anderson.

  Eden
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  EdenOne

  Oh and... O'Brien is Rutherford, Knorr and Franz all rolled into one mashup; INGSOC is "the Truth"; The Times is the Watchtower Magazine and other publications; The disfellowshipped and dissociated people are UNPERSONS; The "news" from the Ministry of Plenty are the Yearbooks; The interrogation cells within the Ministry of Truth are the Judicial Comitees. The Thought Police are the overzealous, self-righteous, company-men Elders and CO's.

  What else would you add?

  Eden