One of the most integral and often clichéd Orwellian concepts is that of ‘doublethink’. Doublethink is a two edged sword, with which one may either accept logical fallacies or simultaneously understand countering viewpoints.
Orwell illustrated his definition of doublethink by having some of his characters accept that 2+2=5, under pressure from an omnipotent authoritarian.
This is obviously a negative connotation. An authoritative figure’s ability to undermine rational thought is akin to intellectual terrorism, clearly inhibiting progressive society and individualism.
However I would argue that doublethink could also have a positive definition. Rather than accepting logical fallacies, doublethink could refer to the ability of an empath to think outside of their own point of view. One can simultaneously hold their own beliefs while understanding countering beliefs of others. Just as the concept of doublethink is two sided, so is the application.
Unfortunately the former definition seems to greatly obscure the latter.
I intend to examine both potential uses of this concept, but lets start with the more pertinent abuse of doublethink.
One such glaring example is shown via US foreign policy, particularly in the Middle East. The lumbering beast that is the US military industry totals (approximately) $786 billion dollars, much of which is not available for audit. This is primarily for machines of war made by private companies that share many other dubious economic interests, including (but not limited) to energy resources.
Quite obviously, companies like Raytheon, Boeing, and Lockheed Martin don’t want to lose profit annually- so the more war the better. Other associated industries like oil companies are often beyond just being complicit with this; they count on it.
Examining the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, Yemen and the political pressures exacted upon Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, and Pakistan one sees a recurring theme in US rhetoric. Always the wars, the sanctions, the arming of rebels, are done in the name of ‘promoting freedom and democracy’ in the Middle East/North Africa. The glaring hypocrisy of this lies in the fact that all US allies in this part of the world are strict religious monarchies, many of which are structured under Sharia law.
If ‘freedom’ and ‘democracy’ were truly US aims perhaps the military would be focused on Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, or the United Arab Emirates. These nations however are sanctioned by US alliances, despite their egregious human rights abuses and total lack of freedom OR democracy.
Meanwhile it is secular nations that bear the brunt of US aggression- countries that haven’t been allowed the time to grow into proper democracies because of perpetual antagonism. Both US political parties have partaken in this sordid lie, and both major candidates for 2016 (Clinton and Bush) have voted again and again to continue this practice.
Iraq is a perfect example of the undermining of what could’ve been progress in the Middle East. In the 90’s, under President Clinton, Iraq was placed under severe sanctions. The import of medicines, food, means to clean water, and many other goods were literally halted. As a land-locked country, this meant abject poverty for a considerable portion of the nation.
Saddam Hussein was already under scrutiny for his clashes with the Kurds and response to Kuwaiti slant-drilling (which violated international law), but the sanctions placed on Iraq caused a domestic uproar that was unparalleled. As a response, Saddam and the Republican Guard clamped down on the people, as any power structure does when threatened. If he had not appeared as a dictator before, Saddam certainly did after Clinton’s sanctions. There is no doubt at all that the Clinton Administration vastly helped to undermine a potentially functional, secular nation; while simultaneously paving the way for the utter hell Iraq became under Presidents Bush and Obama.
Yet even today as a military junta and US occupation have replaced Iraq’s government, the American public is sold on the idea that the men and women of the military that give their lives are ‘liberators’. This is just as insulting as it is untrue.
Libya provides another poignant example. Prior to the dissolution of Libya’s government, it was one of the richest nations in Africa. It had skyscrapers filled with modernized industry, proper infrastructure, and a secular population. Among Prime Minister Muammar Gaddafi’s aspirations were the ideas to promote (and help finance) a pan African currency like the Euro, and a pan African army (much like the one the EU is considering). These ideas had the potential to pull Africa from under the yoke of both East and West. They also had the potential to help spread equality, security, and democracy though much of Africa while preserving regional cultures.
Naturally though this didn’t fit the interests of those who hold power over aspiring nations like Libya. Before long, Gaddafi was painted as another Saddam- antagonized and levied against by foreign powers that funded insurgencies that wished to topple him. Now Libya rests in the same limbo as Iraq, without freedom or future.
Afghanistan also fits the model showing how false Washington’s intentions are abroad. Interestingly enough personal freedom (though not democracy) was far better for Afghanis under Soviet rule. It was Western coalitions under Carter and Reagan that put the Taliban in power, plunging the nation into Sharia law. It was only when Taliban religious officials banned the growth of poppy (the key ingredient for opiates) that NATO and the US began to influence public opinion about Afghanistan’s need for their brand of ‘freedom’ and ‘democracy’. Now US forces watch over the cultivation of precious poppy, a multibillion-dollar industry with sellers like Pfizer and Purdue at the helm.
This is not to say these aforementioned nations or leaders were innocent of abuses or aggression. This is to say that the ideals that the US ‘promotes’ are undermined by the US and its coalitions. Nor are the intentions sold to the public pure. Democracy requires time to take root and can’t do so while a nation is in the crosshairs of the American army. Nor can it create more personal freedom for its inhabitants while being occupied. A simple examination of our enemies and allies makes this point clear; war is executed for economic control, NOT humanitarianism.
Doublethink propaganda is easy to see through with the slightest bit of research. Another glaring case of the public being manipulated lies in the domestic rhetoric of the United States. Since the reality of globalization has set in, it’s become increasingly clear that Washington is struggling to hide two conflicting ideologies.
One is that of a Democratic Constitutional Republic, where individual republics are free to make their own decisions, bound only by a federal constitution. This system also implies that majority rule is the preferred method for decision making rather than aristocratic (or fascist) top-down nonsense.
The other is that of State Capitalism, where the most prominent companies (with the most capital) influence the state and its decisions. By introducing profit incentive as the means for political decisions, many degrees of democracy, republicanism, and freedom are restricted. Political candidates are white washed exclusively into oligarchic millionaires with identical domestic and foreign policies- regardless of the lip service they offer to the public.
The State Capitalist nation uses social issues like gay marriage, religious/racial tension, abortion, and a plethora of other topics to distract from a reality that every single choice for America’s ‘elected officials’ favor corporately drafted legislation, continuous war, monetary inflation, and a dismal domestic future.
Rather than having national concern over theft of private property due to subprime loan sharking in underprivileged neighborhoods, the State Capitalist only brings it up when a CVS branch is burned down and race relations can be brought into it.
Rather than having outrage over systematic race-related murder by domestic police forces, the State Capitalist only gives such issues national attention when it’s a civilian shooter and the polarizing issue of gun control can be related.
Not only does this circumstance shred the idea of everyone’s vote counting, its also is unbelievably disrespectful to all those who feel passionately about domestic social issues. Hardline beliefs become simple pawns in a game that’s rigged. Instead of real change these social issues are just used as a way to distract and sometimes alleviate/cause tension amongst the people, or fool a certain group into voting for Joe or Jane State Capitalist.
The notions of Democracy and State Capitalism absolutely can’t coincide, which makes one wonder if the Unites States is really a good judge at all of how to ‘spread freedom’. One must embrace doublethink to believe a marriage between Democracy and State Capitalism is feasible.
A final doublethink reality is that of mass incarceration and the wars on ‘drugs’ and ‘terrorism’. Again the US rhetoric of ‘the land of the free’ must be addressed. Per capita, the US has the highest incarceration rate in the world next to the Republic of Seychelles. North Koreas prison population is unrecorded, and among NATO members the US is number one in amount of prisoners. The ratio is a startling 707 incarcerated per 100,000 people (not including juvenile detainees or political prisoners). Remember to consider this is far more than either Russia or China.
Just like falsified wars, over inflation of the prison system is a boon to private industry. Besides the amount of free labor for private gain in the penal system there is an entire industry structured around imprisoning as many people as possible. Bail bonds offices, industrial manufacturing companies, police unions, federal task forces, and more all rely on the massive amounts of cash siphoned from captive men and women.
A disturbingly large amount of those in jail are there for victimless crimes related to drug prohibitions. Much like the alcohol prohibitions of the 1920s, the only thing these laws create are masses of jailed individuals, penal revenue, dangerous cartels, far more unhealthy alternatives, and no quality oversight of the drugs that people will continue to take regardless of their legal status.
Sadly it is not just violent crimes that land people in jail- it is a growing list of simple, small infractions that if anything require rehabilitation and not a prison sentence.
Men and women who are jailed for drug possession, trafficking, or abuse are blacklisted from society after their tenure in jail. Often there are no prospects for jobs after their sentence, no rehabilitation is offered in prison, and they end up right where they started. If freedom were a priority in the United States, one would think emphasis would be to help those in need and actually spread the ideals of the constitution, rather than embrace the reality of a captive population.
Doublethink in this case spreads even farther, as the US is often times the major importer of illicit narcotics it conversely condemns. Nations from Peru to Afghanistan all import drugs via US intelligence agencies and politicians. The reasons for this range from gun/drug exchange, intentionally trafficking to underprivileged neighborhoods, to simply turning a profit. The only issue the US government has with drugs is whether or not they can monopolize on their sale to the public.
One would be a true doublethinker to imagine with all the cameras, all the metadata collection, all the task forces and federal/state agencies, that a business as large as drug trafficking could be so lucrative without government complicity.
The war on terror serves this systematic extortion as well. With a license to monitor all civilians at any time, the list of victimless crimes that could land anyone in jail will inevitably grow. Dissent will be monitored as if it were an act of terrorism itself, and with State Capitalists in control; even those who simply favor democracy will soon be catalogued in the same database as militants (if they aren’t already).
The framework of the war on terror also ensures that each year, old military gear is given to domestic forces and new gear is bought for forces abroad. Having grenade launchers, armored vehicles, automatic weapons, and various munitions at their disposal nurtures a feeling among law enforcement that they are in a potential warzone- with their own population. Rather than being public servants, it’s increasingly obvious that law enforcement is a buffer between the citizens and the aristocratic bourgeois.
Meanwhile, agencies like the TSA are shown to be ineffective and benign, the rebels the US arms become the terrorists that are so fervently spoken of, and the perpetual drone strikes/debt peonage/occupation/wars are the true catalyst of creating America’s enemies.
This doesn’t even begin to address the curious question of the Pentagon, with its massive budget, being unable to crush an insurgency like ISIS (Daesh)- possessing no air force, no navy, limited resources, with a global coalition supposedly aimed against it.
Which leads us to the other definition of doublethink. Just as the mind can hold contradictory beliefs for its own security, so too can it understand countering points of view.
Perhaps some of these viewpoints could be addressed by allowing oneself so say ‘I will never know what its like to lose my family in a drone strike’ or ‘I don’t know what its like to see my hometown destroyed’. The rage, despair, and need for vindication seen in so many paramilitary groups across the world is the direct result of continued violence and prejudice against them. Regardless of ‘who started it’ the important thing now is to stop the cycle.
The same fear many Americans harbor of being attacked by terrorists is shared by people across the world that fear the American military.
Innately the world is moving forward socially, technologically, and democratically. The old worlds of monarchies and feudal systems are harder and harder to maintain- even Industrial Revolution oligarch families are beginning to crumble under the weight of free markets and private enterprise that they will never be able to fully control.
For the average person anywhere in the world, a good life revolves around safety, family, and peace. Recognizing this, what can the average citizen do to use doublethink against their oppressors? Remember this:
Perpetual violence is the result of these three staples being trampled upon. There will never be a time when the breaching of these necessities will lead to anything positive.
In this case as well doublethink is two sided- it simultaneously says ‘I will never be in this persons shoes, yet they are just like me.’
The mind is a powerful tool and an impressionable saboteur. If complacent to the logical fallacies around it, the mind will embrace whatever is easiest emotionally. Say, a ‘good and bad’, a ‘light and dark’, a ‘freedom fighter or terrorist’. If it rejects them however, the ability to doublethink for oneself is a powerful weapon against an entrenched power structure that is far too confident in its own lies.
It is not a pleasant reality that there is literally a war for our minds, and our allegiances. But it is now necessary to realize that our political voices have been in jeopardy for a very long time. The presidency has been reduced to a beast with two heads that only asks if the American people would prefer fries or onion rings.
The way to change this now lies in the chance that the people may completely reject all mainstream narratives and apply Newton’s Third Law to sociology and politics.
For every action there will be an equal and opposite reaction.
