Recently Re-read 1984

1984 (Signet Classics)
1984 (Signet Classics)
George Orwell
So, I recently re-read 1984. I guess I read it before, but I feel like I never had. I appreciated it much more this time around and, frankly, it depressed me much more this time.

I'm amazed how long ago this was written and how frighteningly possible most of the concepts in this work feel.

Three steps. Physically break you, intellectually break you, then spiritually break you. And that's only a very small portion of the population - enough to keep an entity in power indefinitely.

Ugh.

What's worse is the reason I don't think the scenario can happen in real life: profit motive. I think humans are generally too selfish. Once an elite gain power, they will not want to give it up. The elite of 1984 essentially surrender their power to the Party since the survival of the Party trumps the survival of any individual party member, even Inner Party members, apparently.

I just don't think a group of people with power would build a jail cell around themselves and doom themselves. Once they taste the power enough to have that opportunity, they will not relenquish.

So, yeah... pure evil will be avoided by relying on human selfishness.

Happy Times!!


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