Tuesday, July 13, 2010

The Thought Police Monopolizes Middle East Public Discourse

Middle East Online, July 12, 2010

Like in Orwell’s novel, the contemporary thought policy is intolerant of any independent thinking, fears informed citizens, strikes at potential dissidents forcefully and mercilessly, falsifies history, and classifies the public as either servants or enemies, notes Abbas. J. Ali.


The horror depicted in Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty–Four is not a far reaching possibility. The novel is an account of the omnipresent forces of darkness and their imminent and grave threat to liberty and freedom of expression. Nineteen Eighty–Four eloquently maps how the powerful elite works to silence the public, intimidate patriots, incapacitate opposition, falsify evidence and institutionalize fear using every possible means. Orwell’s message is clear that forces of intolerance exist in any society and their presence and menace to civilization must not be discounted.

Nineteen Eighty–Four underscores the fact that neither geography nor time accounts for human setbacks and catastrophes. These might facilitate but are never the sole cause of tragic events; it is the human actors and especially the intolerant elite who instigate this. The latter is not only obsessed with power and its application, but fears informed citizens and freedom of expression. These elite, the creators of the Oceania society, represent what could take place in a western or non-western country.

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