2013-03-10 - 11:15 p.m.
NOR 1984 2.9.12
Chapter where Winston is reading Goldstein�s book The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism
For if it became general, wealth would confer no distinction
�For if leisure and security were enjoyed by all alike, the great mass of human beings who are normally stupefied by poverty would become literate and would learn to think for themselves; and when once they had done this, they would sooner or later realize that the privileged minority had no function and they would sweep it away.� (157)
MCM: read conspicuous consumption � driving Hummers / eating at Michaels in NYC at a restaurant that serves little flakes of gold on their desserts
The book mentions the tendency of the society toward mechanization
MCM: of course this tendency toward mechanization was a trend that started with the industrial revolution (19th century � advances in science in the 18th century)
Q: What is the difference between the inner party and the outer party in terms of lifestyle, their quality of life?
The inner party has more luxuries than the outer party including a better flat (i.e. apartment) , better clothes, better food and a few servants. However, these luxuries are low when compared to the standards of living in the early part of the 20th century
�It is deliberate policy to keep even the favored groups somewhere near the brink of hardship, because a general state of scarcity increases the importance of small priveleges and thus magnifies the distinction between one group and another
The essential act of war is destruction�of sinking in the depths of the sea, materials which might otherwise be used to make the masses too comfortable and in the long run, too intilligent. (157)
�It is deliberate policy to keep even the favored groups somewhere near the brink of hardship, because a general state of scarcity increases the importance of small privileges and thus magnifies the distinction between one group and another.� (158)
MCM: while the inner party is doing better than the proles and the outer party, they are still worse off than the average person in the early 20th century. So while the inner party might have better quality tobacco and food than the others, the overall quality of these luxuries is still relatively low.
�It is precisely in the inner party that the hysteria and hatred of the enemy are the strongest.� (159)
��it is often necessary for a member of the Inner Party to know that this or that item of war news is untruthful, and he may often be aware that the entire war is spurious and is either not happening or is being waged for purposes quite other than the declared ones; but such knowledge is easily neutralized by the technique of doublethink. Meanwhile no Inner Party member wavers for an instant in his mystical belief that the war is real.� (159)
Q: so what is doublethink - definition � holding two contradictory statements in the mind at the same time.
�Science in the old sense has almost ceased to exist. In Newspeak there is no word for Science.�
(159)
�Others search for soluble poisons capable of being produced in such quantities as to destroy the vegetation of whole continents� (160)
MCM: real world parallel is Agent Orange produced by Monsanto? Received large G7 contracts
