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Newspeak
A scene from my office, an example of humans using words and speech on paper.
A conversation with a friend reminded me to pull up this article about George Orwell. I'm a big fan of Mr. Orwell's ideas. I need to make a point of reading more of his stuff because what I've read has amazed me. Not only do I admire Orwell's love and mastery of the English language, but I believe he's a moral genius as well. He never seemed afraid to admit his own faults or inconsistencies. And nothing deterred him from his quest for truth and his fight against whoever sought to occult it. I wonder what may have become of him had he lived longer.
So, in the interest of being honest, as Orwell was, I'll admit that the only text by Orwell that I've actually read is Homage to Catalonia. I've listened to 1984 and Animal Farm on tape, but I plan on revisiting 1984 in ink & paper sometime. So, there's some honesty. I'm an Orwell loving poseur. I haven't read as much as I should have.
I don't have a lot of time to write this week, so this'll be short and unformed, but I've been thinking a lot about that which I choose to not say. A friend recently told me that she believes that people always know why they do things, they're just not willing to admit it sometimes. I've been dwelling on this idea ever since.
I think she's right, and I've been trying to examine the motives that determine my actions ever since. I think it's an exercise that will help me understand myself more and hopefully help me identify what I want out of life. So far, I'm finding out that I'm interested in impressing other people, or at least making sure that they don't think I'm weird. I don't think there's anything particularly wrong with letting other people determine one's actions or behavior; it's part of being a member of society. But, I think there's value—for me—in realizing that my actions aren't always as altruistic or righteous as I'd like people to believe. Only by identifying the areas in which I'm not as sincere as I'd like to be will I be able to become moreso.
Jed- It's a pleasure to be the first to comment this week. I enjoyed the Orwell article and it made be yearn to read Homage.
I would like to take issue with the comment about people always knowing why they do things. I believe that people do not (and cannot) "know" why they act in certain ways. I think one of the big fallacies of our legal system is the assumption that all acts are rationale, coherent choices and can therefore be punished accordingly. I think it is much more complex than that. Most actions we make during any given day are a cocktail of emotion, instinct, rational choice and outside forces; we can never rationally understand all the elements of such a cocktail.
I'd recommend Albert Camus' "The Fall" as a phenomenal investigation of this topic. It tells the story of a man that drifts through life and calls into question what "choices" really are and who or what is really making those choices. The romantic idea of man as a free agent, rationally choosing his fate is a beautiful, albeit incomplete, image. I would argue that many of our "choices" come from places we can not hope to explore on a rational level.
See you soon
Posted by: Lefty Barnhard at July 8, 2004 12:38 PMJed,
I agree. Orwell = awewsome. One of the things I like best about ol' George is that he regularly offers up a clear-eyed appraisal of the world - and of human affairs in the world - without torturing that appraisal with a dogmatic political agenda. Yes, he changes his perspective somewhat over time, but his viewpoint is always honest and pretty much cuts straight through the crap.
Orwell was never afraid to call evil, evil. Or to criticise excesses of power wherever he found them. But he was honest enough and fair enough about it that he would never say this evil or that wrong was worse than it actually was; though he would condemn them both in clear and unequivocal terms.
I think he would be revolted by the present day infatuation with moral equivalence whereby wartime civilian casualties were painted with the same stripe as wanton acts of terror and anyone who is both ambitious and seeks different ends than yourself is compared to Hitler. I am, and I make no claim to be as perceptive or as knowlegeable as Orwell.
However, this isn't what I wanted to bring up in this comment. (sorry for the ramble)
Besides some of the best political writing ever, Orwell also did literary criticism. He wrote the following about Charles Dickens, and it is one of my favorite Orwell quotes:
Whatever else Dickens may have been, he was not a hole-and-corner soul-saver, the kind of well-meaning idiot who thinks the world will be perfect if you amend a few bylaws and abolish a few aomalies.
If Orwell was right about Dickens, we could use a few more of each just about now.
Posted by: aporitic at July 15, 2004 11:49 AMJed......you are so out to lunch that I can't even believe it.
Posted by: matt at July 21, 2004 05:39 PM