War Is Peace, Freedom Is Slavery, Ignorance Is Strength

Here's a most interesting quote from 1984, by George Orwell:

The new aristocracy was made up for the most part of bureaucrats, scientists, technicians, trade-union organizers, publicity experts, sociologists, teachers, journalists, and professional politicians.

Orwell's magnificently perceptive novel was published on this day in 1949. Seventy-one years later the people of the United States find their republic faced with a host of social and political dilemmas only too present in the book. A month ago most of us likely thought a novel virus would be the worst of our problems but we were wrong. An atrocity in Minneapolis brought simmering racial injustice to a boil spilling across the nation. Students of revolution used these incidents to advance their collectivist cause, one that has been unhinged since the collapse of the Soviet Union almost thirty years ago. Under the guise of protest their destruction and anarchy could well overshadow our attempts to reach common ground and begin to heal the injustices. 

What we are witnessing in protest is a search for peace, freedom, and strength. What we are witnessing in violence is a reality of war, slavery, and ignorance. It is in fact "Orwellian."

If Orwell's book is new to you or it's been a while since you read it, I suggest you find a copy and explore the dance of good intentions and the road to Hell. I suspect you'll come away cautious and careful what you ask for. In the interim, here is a brief article from BBC to whet your appetite.

Picking Our Poison: Huxley or Orwell?

If you read dystopian novels from the first half of the twentieth century, the two most likely to end up on your bookshelf are Aldous Huxley's Brave New World and George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. In these books, society is assuredly on the road to ruin, but the methodology along the way could hardly be more different. Stuart McMillen, blogging at HighExistence, presents us with a short series of cartoons exploring the question of which novelist nailed the future.  It's an interesting, thought-provoking question, and a significant one for those of us experiencing the evolution of the great experiment called the United States of America.

Hat tip goes to Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit.

1984 One More Time

The novel 1984 was published 60 years ago. David Pryce-Jones, blogging at NRO, has some observations on one of the most important books of the 20th century. Many authors over the years have addressed how science fiction has presaged fact or at least shaped some variables within reality. Orwell continues to amaze us as his fiction nudges the realities of the day.

The New Aristocracy

Urgent Agenda links to a great George Orwell quote here. I wonder how soon this book needs to move onto the non-fiction shelves?

"Overseas Contingency Operation is Hell"

The Obama administration has retired the phrase "war on terror" and replaced it with "overseas contingency operation." Somewhere, Orwell and Huxley are discussing what it all means. Will Strunk and White plan on channeling a new chapter on vagueness to their publisher? Words may turn out to be the least of our problems. Alas, it is going to be a very long four years.