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Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell

Secker and Warburg, June 8, 1949


The consciousness of being at war, and therefore in danger, makes the handing-over of all power to a small caste seem the natural, unavoidable condition of survival.

“Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.”

-Nazi Reich Marshal Hermann Göring (during the Nuremberg Trials)

The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. […] We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means, it is an end. […] How does one man assert his power over another … by making him suffer. Obedience is not enough. Unless he is suffering, how can you be sure that he is obeying your will and not his own? Power is inflicting pain and humiliation. […] A world of fear and treachery and torment, a world of trampling and being trampled upon, a world which will grow not less but more merciless as it refines itself. […] If you want to imagine the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face forever.

“We cannot predict the length or course of the war on terror, but we know for certain with good allies at our side this great nation will persevere and we will prevail.”

-Dick Cheney (Boise, Idaho, 08/15/05)

The very word 'war', therefore, has become misleading. It would probably be accurate to say that by becoming continuous war has ceased to exist.

_______________________________

WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

“I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we’re really talking about peace.”

-George W. Bush (Remarks on Homeownership Department of Housing and Urban Development Washington, D.C., 06/18/02)

“There are a lot of people who lie and get away with it, and that’s just a fact.”

-Donald Rumsfeld (Pentagon Town Hall Meeting, 04/17/03)

Power is not a means, it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power.

“If this were a dictatorship, it’d be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I’m the dictator.”

-George W. Bush (at a photo-op with congressional leaders during his first trip to Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C., 12/19/2000)

Imprisonment without trial, the use of war prisoners as slaves, public executions, torture to extract confessions, the use of hostages and the deportation of whole populations—not only became common again, but were tolerated and even defended by people who considered themselves enlightened and progressive.

“Mr. Cheney is asking Congress to approve legal language that would allow the CIA to commit such abuses against foreign prisoners it is holding abroad. In other words, the vice president has become an open advocate of torture.”

-from the 10-26-2005 Washington Post editorial, “Vice President for Torture

“Shamefully we now learn that Saddam’s torture chambers reopened under new management, U.S. management.”

-Ted Kennedy (as the Senate unanimously passed a resolution that condemns the abuse of Iraqi prisoners in a Baghdad-area jail, calling for a complete investigation into the scandal and taking steps to ensure such mistreatment never happens again, 05/11/04)

It was like swimming against a current that swept you backwards however hard you struggled, and then suddenly deciding to turn round and go with the current instead of opposing it.

On October 11, 2002, the Senate voted 77-23 to authorize President Bush to attack Iraq if Saddam Hussein refused to give up weapons of mass destruction as required by U.N. resolutions. The House of Representatives voted in favor as well, 296-133.

Big Brother is watching you.

“The Patriot Act has increased the flow of information within our government and it has helped break up terrorist cells in the United States of America. And the United States Congress was right to renew the terrorist act—the Patriot Act.”

-George W. Bush (Washington, D.C. , 09/07/06)

Doublethink—The power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.

“The role of the military is to fight and win war and, therefore, prevent war from happening in the first place.”

-George W. Bush (Address to the nation, 10/03/2000)