83. Strange and Difficult Times

Volume 1, No. 1

In today's world, where lies are the new truth, the situation is reminiscent of the slogan of the Ministry of Truth in George Orwell's classic book 1984.

"WAR IS PEACE

FREEDOM IS SLAVERY

IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH"

Our culture is full of examples where things have turned into their opposite, resulting in chaos, division, and confusion intended to drive us to distraction and into the arms of false gods including authoritarian leaders who hope that we will depend on them to straighten things out.

Orwell calls it Doublethink, in which a word has 2 contradictory meanings simultaneously coexisting and rendering the word meaningless, or subject to any convenient interpretation.

Here's another illuminating slogan of the ruling party in 1984.

"You will be hollow.

We shall squeeze you empty

And then we shall fill you with ourselves."

...until people have nothing to think or talk about except product consumption and production.

More on false gods, perhaps humankind's most exploited, pervasive, and fatal flaw to follow in a later post.