Oh, thanks, there wasn't nearly enough propaganda in this thread already, I sure appreciate you adding more of it.
Are there any more intelligent people in this world? Is everyone so fixated on their "side" that they can swallow whatever lies that the media propaganda machine spews out constantly?
I suppose if I posted a link to some "right-wing" propaganda saying that *ALL* liberals are *EVIL* and that liberalism is the source of *ALL* evil in this world since the beginning of mankind, then everyone would commend me for having such an educated opinion.
Then I could go to some left-wing site and post a link to some "left-wing" propaganda saying that *ALL* conservatives are *EVIL* and that conservatism is the source of *ALL* evil in this world since the beginning of mankind, then everyone would commend me for having such an educated opinion.
It's enough to make me cry when I think about how freaking dependent people are nowadays on the media. I mean I swear to God mass production and technology has destroyed our ability to think for ourselves and form an independent opinion.
George Washington warned in his Farewell Address of the "baneful effects of the spirit of Party."
You can find his Farewell Address here at this site
www.wallbuilders.com/resources/search/detail.php?ResourceID=12And an article that discusses the relevance of George Washington's comments on political parties today.
www.nccs.net/newsletter/jul01nl.htmlIt may come as a shock to most people who are perfectly content with swallowing everything the propaganda machine spoon-feeds them, but I do not believe EVERYTHING that he says.
For to commit yourself to an individual completely is PURE STUPIDITY. Just as to commit yourself to a single party is PURE STUPIDITY.
IF YOU BELIEVE IN ANY MAN-MADE SYSTEM COMPLETELY, YOU HAVE NO INDIVIDUALIALITY. YOU HAVE GIVEN IT UP IN RETURN FOR A SENSE OF SECURITY AND SIMPLICITY.
COMPLETE AND TOTAL BELIEF IN EITHER LIBERALISM OR CONSERVATISM IS ORTHODOXY.
This comes from the mind of another brilliant man-George Orwell.
Here is a quote from Chapter Five of 1984, which you can also find here
www.literature-web.net/view.php/1984/5"'You haven't a real appreciation of Newspeak, Winston,' he said almost sadly. 'Even when you write it you're still thinking in Oldspeak. I've read some of those pieces that you write in The Times occasionally. They're good enough, but they're translations. In your heart you'd prefer to stick to Oldspeak, with all its vagueness and its useless shades of meaning. You don't grasp the beauty of the destruction of words. Do you know that Newspeak is the only language in the world whose vocabulary gets smaller every year?'
"Winston did know that, of course. He smiled, sympathetically he hoped, not trusting himself to speak. Syme bit off another fragment of the dark-coloured bread, chewed it briefly, and went on:
"'Don't you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it. Every concept that can ever be needed, will be expressed by exactly one word, with its meaning rigidly defined and all its subsidiary meanings rubbed out and forgotten. Already, in the Eleventh Edition, we're not far from that point. But the process will still be continuing long after you and I are dead. Every year fewer and fewer words, and the range of consciousness always a little smaller. Even now, of course, there's no reason or excuse for committing thoughtcrime. It's merely a question of self-discipline, reality-control. But in the end there won't be any need even for that. The Revolution will be complete when the language is perfect. Newspeak is Ingsoc and Ingsoc is Newspeak,' he added with a sort of mystical satisfaction. 'Has it ever occurred to you, Winston, that by the year 2050, at the very latest, not a single human being will be alive who could understand such a conversation as we are having now?'
"'Except-' began Winston doubtfully, and he stopped.
"It had been on the tip of his tongue to say 'Except the proles,' but he checked himself, not feeling fully certain that this remark was not in some way unorthodox. Syme, however, had divined what he was about to say.
"'The proles are not human beings,' he said carelessly. 'By 2050 earlier, probably -- all real knowledge of Oldspeak will have disappeared. The whole literature of the past will have been destroyed. Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Byron -- they'll exist only in Newspeak versions, not merely changed into something different, but actually changed into something contradictory of what they used to be. Even the literature of the Party will change. Even the slogans will change. How could you have a slogan like "freedom is slavery" when the concept of freedom has been abolished? The whole climate of thought will be different. In fact there will be no thought, as we understand it now. Orthodoxy means not thinking -- not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness.'
"One of these days, thought Winston with sudden deep conviction, Syme will be vaporized. He is too intelligent. He sees too clearly and speaks too plainly. The Party does not like such people. One day he will disappear. It is written in his face. "
ORTHODOXY IS NOT THINKING.
ORTHODOXY IS UNCONSCIOUSNESS.
IF YOU COMMIT YOURSELF TO A POLITICAL PARTY, YOU ARE WILLINGLY GOING INTO SLAVERY. YOU ARE SUBMITTING YOURSELF TO ORTHODOXY-NOT THINKING-AND YOU WILL BECOME UNCONSCIOUS.
POLITICAL PARTIES ARE ANTITHETICAL TO FREEDOM.
INTELLIGENCE COMES IN BEING INDEPENDENT, IN DEFINING YOURSELF NOT IN TERMS OF REPUBLICAN OR DEMOCRAT, CONSERVATIVE OR LIBERAL, BUT IN TERMS OF A THINKING HUMAN BEING WITH VIEWS UNMOLESTED BY PROPAGANDA AND COMMITTANCE TO A MAN-MADE SYSTEM. IT IS UNORTHODOXY. IT IS CONSCIOUSNESS.
I TRANSCEND LIBERALISM.
I TRANSCEND CONSERVATISM.
I TRANSCEND REPUBLICANS.
I TRANSCEND DEMOCRATS.
I AM NOT A LIBERAL.
I AM NOT A CONSERVATIVE.
I AM NOT A REPUBLICAN.
I AM NOT A DEMOCRAT.
I AM OGILVY.
Democrats are more likely to vote straight party ticket and less likely to vote across party lines. So much for being "individuals."
