The true official language of America today is George Orwell’s Double Speak, the ability to simultaneously believe and profess two diametrically opposed concepts. One might call it the “Yeah, but” syndrome. It was enshrined by the Founding Fathers with conflicting tenets and words in the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution, and, spilling across multiple sectors, has become the lingua terra of all American life. There is no escaping “double thinking” everything. The result is that truth no longer has solid substance, reality no steady footing. One can shape it into any convenience one wishes it to be. Whatever one chooses to believe is all that matters. This is steeped throughout political policy, conventional morality, religious doctrine, and commercial advertising. “The more you buy, the more you save” is a prime example. Both spending and saving are regarded as being true. The simple reality is that you are spending, not saving. The free market, money is free speech, and waging war for peace each amplify conflicting words working in opposition. Life is complicated but a universal truth is that feeling powerless is a frightening, all-powerful emotion, and all stops must be pulled out to feel being right and in control. Real power is not so easily attained.
Tag Archives: Double Think
Double Think
To the Editor:
Considering the ease and frequency with which the Romney/Ryan ticket is able to tell bald-faced lies, one has to wonder at their level of self-awareness that they are openly lying. With Paul Ryan, there is a sense that he tends to be a compulsive liar and that his level of Double-Think, his ability to hold equally in mind totally opposing ideas, is fairly impenetrable. On the other hand, Mitt Romney seems fully aware of his lies and that he is committed to say whatever he has to in order to achieve his aims, essentially that his ends justify his means, not a bad way to become a multi-millionaire. I suppose one could puzzle a bit over which form of lying is worse. Double-Think runs strong through today’s American psyche, but, in Romney’s case, it should be pointed out that one’s means generally become one’s ends.
RP