Orwell Avatar
Introduction:
George
Orwell (the pen name for Eric Arthur Blair) was an astute observer of the rise
of fascism in the 20th century. His observations are increasingly relevant
today as democracies are failing to restrain the rise of authoritarian
strongmen amid an explosion of disinformation and propaganda. Orwell Avatar
attempts to apply these insights to modern-day politics: to identify risks and
suggest solutions to build healthy communities and preserve democracy.
Excerpts
from Orwell’s Notes
on Nationalism (1945):*
“Nationalism is
power hunger tempered by self-deception. Every nationalist is capable of the
most flagrant dishonesty, but he is also—since he is conscious of serving
something bigger than himself—unshakeably certain of
being in the right.”
‘Actions are held
to be good or bad, not on their own merits, but according to who does them, and
there is almost no kind of outrage – torture, the use of hostages, forced labour, mass deportations, imprisonment without trial,
forgery, assassination, the bombing of civilians – which does not change its
moral colour when it is committed by ‘our’ side.”
“Indifference to
objective truth is encouraged by the sealing-off of one part of the world from
another, which makes it harder and harder to discover what is actually
happening.”
“Probably the truth
is discoverable, but the facts will be so dishonestly set forth in almost any
newspaper that the ordinary reader can be forgiven either for swallowing lies
or failing to form an opinion. The general uncertainty as to what is really happening
makes it easier to cling to lunatic beliefs. Since nothing is ever quite proved
or disproved, the most unmistakable fact can be impudently denied. Moreover,
although endlessly brooding on power, victory, defeat, revenge, the nationalist
is often somewhat uninterested in what happens in the real world. What he wants
is to feel that his own unit is getting the better of some other unit,
and he can more easily do this by scoring off an adversary than by examining
the facts to see whether they support him.”
“The point is that
as soon as fear, hatred, jealousy and power worship
are involved, the sense of reality becomes unhinged. And, as I have pointed out
already, the sense of right and wrong becomes unhinged also. There is no crime,
absolutely none, that cannot be condoned when ‘our’ side commits it. Even if
one does not deny that the crime has happened, even if one knows that it is exactly the same crime as one has condemned in some other
case, even if one admits in an intellectual sense that it is unjustified –
still one cannot feel that it is wrong. Loyalty is involved, and so pity
ceases to function.”
“The emotional
urges which are inescapable, and are perhaps even necessary to political
action, should be able to exist side by side with an acceptance of reality. But
this, I repeat, needs a moral effort, and … few of us are prepared to
make it.”
*
Orwell explains that he uses the term “nationalism” for blind loyalty to any
cause. A better term today would be “tribalism”.
Altering the Past
“A British and a German historian would disagree deeply on many things, even on fundamentals, but there would still be that body of, as it were, neutral fact on which neither would seriously challenge the other. It is just this common basis of agreement, with its implication that human beings are all one species of animal, that totalitarianism destroys. Nazi theory indeed specifically denies that such a thing as ‘the truth’ exists. There is, for instance, no such thing as ‘science’. There is only ‘German science’, ‘Jewish science’ etc. The implied objective of this line of thought is a nightmare world in which the Leader, or some ruling clique, controls not only the future but the past. If the Leader says of such and such an event, ‘It never happened’ – well, it never happened. If he says that two and two are five – well, two and two are five. This prospect frightens me much more than bombs – and after our experiences of the last few years that is not a frivolous statement.”
-George Orwell, Looking Back on the Spanish War (1942)
Here
is a contemporary example of altering the past:
“And it was a love fest. It was a beautiful thing." 1
"These were peaceful people, these were great people.... The crowd was unbelievable and I mentioned the word ‘love,’ the love in the air, I’ve never seen anything like it.” 2
"It was zero threat, right from the start, it was zero threat.“ 3
-Donald Trump on the January 6 insurrection (2021)
View video footage of the violent January 6 insurrection here. More than 100 police officers were injured, and several died (from stroke and suicide) in the aftermath of a premeditated attack which Trump escalated by telling protesters, many of whom he knew to be armed, to march to the Capitol and “fight like hell”.
Click here to see the Select January 6th Committee Final Report and Supporting Materials Collection
Here is another example of altering the past, based on the Republican-sponsored recount in Arizona that confirmed Biden’s election victory:
(https://www.azsenaterepublicans.com/cyber-ninjas-report)
“We won on the Arizona forensic audit yesterday at a level that you wouldn’t believe.” – Donald Trump at the "Save America" rally on 25 Sep 2021
Bear in mind that Donald Trump and his allies made a specific claim that Dominion voting machines had switched votes. This claim was proven false by this recount and in Georgia, and by audits (partial recounts) elsewhere. Trump and his allies lied about this claim, and many others. Every testable claim of significant voter fraud has been proven false. Here are a few fact-checks:
Letter to Congress from Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (06 January 2021)
https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-election-maricopa-idUSL1N2R10ZD/
https://www.bbc.com/news/55561877
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-66318528
Of course, some claims of fraud are not disprovable (e.g. fake ballots from China), but have no credibility without supporting evidence. Fact-checks cannot keep pace with a continual stream of lies. Trump advisor Steve Bannon explained Trump’s strategy well: “The real opposition is the media. And the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with shit.” This was evidently the strategy of Fox News.
Links:
The Age-Old Story of Donald Trump: A manifestation of
Aesop's classic fable (updated 18 March 2024)
Trump Testimonials: Trump
administration officials and others express concerns about the former president
and threats to democracy. (updated 20 March 2024)
George
Washington’s Farewell Address (1796): Co-written with James Madison and
Alexander Hamilton, Washington warns that partisan polarization will destroy
democracy. His prophecy is on the verge of fulfillment.
How to Detect Propaganda (Institute
for Propaganda Analysis, 1937) Columbia University professor Clyde Miller and
others founded The Institute for Propaganda Analysis in 1937 to educate
Americans on the dangers of propaganda.
The Problem with Partisan
Primary Elections:
Closed primaries shut
out millions of voters, divide Americans into ‘warring camps’ by Corey Jones and Hayleigh Colombo
Voting
Methods for Single-Winner Elections
Blog:
Politicization of the Department of Justice
(4 August 2023)
Joe Biden Should Recuse Himself
(22 September 2023)
Can Joe Manchin Teach Democrats How to
Count? (11 November 2023)
Trump's 2nd Term (28 December
2023)
Unite to Save Democracy (11 January 2024)
Can George Washington Save
America Again? (Presidents’ Day 2024)
House Rules: Tyranny of the Majority
(15 March 2024)
Further
Reading:
1984
by George
Orwell (Secker & Warburg , 1949)
The
Parties Versus the People by Mickey Edwards (Yale University Press, 2013)
Integrity
Counts
by Brad Raffensperger (Forefront Books, 2021)
Oath
and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning by Liz Cheney (Little, Brown, & Co., 2023)
The
Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism
by Tim Alberta
(Harper, 2023)