TRUTH: Those Who Embrace Political Correctness Are Furthest From Sanity

In the book, “1984,” one of the characters representing the ‘intellectual elite’ of society explains that the people who invented and control the language, the most intelligent members of society, are actually the furthest from sanity.  Once again, I believe Orwell was playing the role of prophet when he wrote these words:

“It need hardly be said that the most clever practitioners of political correctness are those who invented political correctness and know that it is a vast system of mental cheating. In our society, those who have the best knowledge of what is happening are also those who are furthest from seeing the world as it is. In general, the greater the understanding, the greater the delusion; the more intelligent, the less sane. One clear illustration of this is the fact that climate change hysteria increases in intensity as one rises in the social scale. Those whose attitude towards climate change is most nearly rational are those subject to the regulatory results as the two sides — Democrat and Republican — battle to control the agenda. To these people, climate change is simply a continuous calamity which sweeps to and fro over their bodies like a tidal wave. Which side is winning is a matter of complete indifference to them. They are aware that a change of overlordship means simply that they will be doing the same work as before for new masters who treat them in the same manner as the old ones. The slightly more favored workers whom we call ‘the proles’ are only intermittently conscious of climate change. When it is necessary they can be prodded into frenzies of fear and hatred, but when left to themselves they are capable of forgetting for long periods that climate change is happening. It is in the ranks of the Party, and above all of the Inner Party, that the true climate change enthusiasm is found. World-conquest is believed in most firmly by those who know it to be impossible. This peculiar linking-together of opposites — knowledge with ignorance, cynicism with fanaticism-is one of the chief distinguishing marks of Progressive society. The official ideology abounds with contradictions even when there is no practical reason for them. Thus, the Party rejects and vilifies every principle for which the Socialist movement originally stood, and it chooses to do this in the name of Socialism. It preaches a pro-worker agenda that is actually filled with contempt for the working class while dressing in a manner which was at one time peculiar to manual workers and was adopted for that reason. It systematically undermines the solidarity of the family, and it calls its leader by a name which is a direct appeal to the sentiment of family loyalty. Even the names of the laws by which we are governed exhibit a sort of impudence in their deliberate reversal of the facts. The “Affordable Care Act” raises the cost of health care beyond the reach of the average worker while eliminating much of what the middle class already had. The “Patriot Act” claims to protect us by making it easier for the government to violate the most fundamental of the nation’s founding principles. The media purports to report the news while editorializing and promoting and defending the Progressive agenda. And “Social Security” is designed to provide anything but security. These contradictions are not accidental, nor do they result from ordinary hypocrisy; they are deliberate exercises in political correctness. For it is only by reconciling contradictions that power can be retained indefinitely. In no other way could the ancient cycle be broken. If human equality is to be forever averted — if the Elite, as we have called them, are to keep their places permanently — then the prevailing mental condition must be controlled insanity.”

I must apologize.  I actually edited Orwell’s original passage.  You can find it at the bottom of this post.  However, if you are politically awake, I suspect you will see how relevant his words are to the realities of today.  My edits did not change the meaning of the original words.  All they did was bring them into today’s settings.  In doing so, I believe I have illustrated the extent to which we are actually living in the dystopian world of “1984.”

Now, setting aside the fact that we now live in a world very similar to the one Orwell envisioned, there are two things I’d like you to take away from this passage from his book.  First, read these lines very carefully:

In our society, those who have the best knowledge of what is happening are also those who are furthest from seeing the world as it is. In general, the greater the understanding, the greater the delusion; the more intelligent, the less sane.

Orwell is correct: the controlling elite in this world think they are the most intelligent among us, but in reality, they are farthest from sanity.  This is because intelligence has nothing to do with wisdom.  I have written about the difference here.  Wisdom can substitute for intelligence, but intelligence cannot substitute for wisdom.  In fact, intelligence without wisdom is akin to a shooting in the dark: you may know how to pull the trigger, but that does not mean you can aim the bullet.  It is why Orwell correctly stated:

“There are some ideas so wrong that only a very intelligent person could believe in them.”

Eugenics lead directly to the Holocaust, and both were advanced by ‘scientists’ who thought themselves the most intelligent of their generation.  Look for it and you will find this pattern continues today with the self-appointed elite being among those who want to rid the world of some 6-7 BILLION people.  In fact, if you look, you will find the agendas of  ‘intellectual elite’ behind every major problem in society.  But it isn’t their ‘intelligence’ that causes these problems, its that they lack the wisdom to find solutions that actually work.  Instead, they ‘think’ themselves into becoming monsters who devour humanity in the name of saving it.  If you doubt me, I give you:

Woodrow Wilson; Lenin; Stalin; Mussolini; Hitler; FDR; Mao; Pol Pot; Chez; Castro; Bill Ayres; Valerie Jarret; the entire Bush family; and, now, Obama and George Soros — just to name a few.

The second thing I want you to take from this passage is that it proves Orwell was a Socialist.  He was not writing to warn us against the perils of Socialism, but to complain about the way people tried to implement the principles of Socialism.  This is the message implied throughout this entire passage form his book.  This is what he is bemoaning when he wrote:

“In no other way could the ancient cycle be broken. If human equality is to be for ever averted — if the High, as we have called them, are to keep their places permanently — then the prevailing mental condition must be controlled insanity.”

Elsewhere in his book, Orwell reveals that his support for Socialism leaned heavily toward Communism.  Not only did he call the faceless, nameless masses ‘proles’ (as in the proletariat), he described them as the only hope for humanity:

“If there was hope, it must lie in the proles, because only there, in those swarming disregarded masses, eighty-five percent of the population of Oceania, could the force to destroy the Party ever be generated.”

Outside the book, he put it his desire for Socialism his way more bluntly:

“As with the Christian religion, the worst advertisement for Socialism is its adherents.”

Orwell wanted Socialism, he just wanted it done his way, the ‘right’ way.  You see, Orwell is the best example we could have of the very people he was talking about in this passage — he just couldn’t see it because his intelligence had taken him too far away from reality that he was no longer sane.  In other words, just as he accused the people running society in his day, his own intelligence without wisdom had blinded him to the fact that he was no different than the people he opposed.  If he had been, if he had had wisdom, then he could have read his own book and seen that Socialism is impossible.  It will always end in tyranny.  The irony here is that Orwell did see this inevitability.  It is in his book.  He just couldn’t see clearly enough to understand that he was part of the mechanism by which this would be made to happen:

Orwell was a genius, but he lacked wisdom.  It leaves one to wonder: had he had the wisdom necessary to see and  understand that one must be insane to actually believe Socialism can ever end in anything but tyranny, what true good might he done for the liberty of man kind?

ORIGINAL TEXT FROM 1984

“It need hardly be said that the subtlest practitioners of doublethink are those who invented doublethink and know that it is a vast system of mental cheating. In our society, those who have the best knowledge of what is happening are also those who are furthest from seeing the world as it is. In general, the greater the understanding, the greater the delusion; the more intelligent, the less sane. One clear illustration of this is the fact that war hysteria increases in intensity as one rises in the social scale. Those whose attitude towards the war is most nearly rational are the subject peoples of the disputed territories. To these people the war is simply a continuous calamity which sweeps to and fro over their bodies like a tidal wave. Which side is winning is a matter of complete indifference to them. They are aware that a change of overlordship means simply that they will be doing the same work as before for new masters who treat them in the same manner as the old ones. The slightly more favoured workers whom we call ‘the proles’ are only intermittently conscious of the war. When it is necessary they can be prodded into frenzies of fear and hatred, but when left to themselves they are capable of forgetting for long periods that the war is happening. It is in the ranks of the Party, and above all of the Inner Party, that the true war enthusiasm is found. World-conquest is believed in most firmly by those who know it to be impossible. This peculiar linking-together of opposites — knowledge with ignorance, cynicism with fanaticism-is one of the chief distinguishing marks of Oceanic society. The official ideology abounds with contradictions even when there is no practical reason for them. Thus, the Party rejects and vilifies every principle for which the Socialist movement originally stood, and it chooses to do this in the name of Socialism. It preaches a contempt for the working class unexampled for centuries past, and it dresses its members in a uniform which was at one time peculiar to manual workers and was adopted for that reason. It systematically undermines the solidarity of the family, and it calls its leader by a name which is a direct appeal to the sentiment of family loyalty. Even the names of the four Ministries by which we are governed exhibit a sort of impudence in their deliberate reversal of the facts. The Ministry of Peace concerns itself with war, the Ministry of Truth with lies, the Ministry of Love with torture and the Ministry of Plenty with starvation. These contradictions are not accidental, nor do they result from ordinary hypocrisy; they are deliberate exercises in doublethink. For it is only by reconciling contradictions that power can be retained indefinitely. In no other way could the ancient cycle be broken. If human equality is to be for ever averted — if the High, as we have called them, are to keep their places permanently — then the prevailing mental condition must be controlled insanity.”