George Orwell's "1984" and the WTBTS

NYCkid

Hey Guys,

I'm just finished reading George Orwell's "1984." Has anyone read it and did you also find eerie similarities to
the WTBTS? I've noticed some people here using some Orwellianisms.

It's a freaky book to say the least, but it was mentioned in one of my
classes last semester so I felt I needed to see what they were talking
about. Here are some quotes from the book:

"The Party is not concerned with perpetuating its blood but with
perpetuating itself. Who wields power is not important, provided that
the hierarchial structure remains always the same" (p. 218).

"The first and simplest stage in the discipline, which can be taught
even to young children, is called, in Newspeak, crimestop. Crimestop
means the faculty of stopping short, as though by instict, at the
threshold of any dangerous thought. It includes the power of not
grasping analogies, of failing to perceive logical errors, of
misunderstanding the simplest arguments if they are inimical to
Ingsoc, and of being bored or repelled by any train of thought which
is capable of leading in a heretical direction" (pp. 220-221).

"The alteration of the past is necessary for two reasons, one of which
is subsidiary and, so to speak, precautionary...But by far the more
important reason for the readjustment of the past is the need to
safeguard the infallibility of the Party. It is not merely that
speeches, statistics and records of every kind must be constantly
brought up to date in order to show that the predictions of the Party
were in all cases right. It is also that no change in doctrine or in
political alignment can ever be admitted" (pp. 221-222).

Quoted from George Orwell. "1984". 1992 Edition published
by "Everyman's Library" division of Alfred A. Knopf.

IP_SEC

I've only read excerpts but I saw a book in my schools library once entitled "The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses"

If the shoe fits, its probably a duck.

RichieRich

I just finished reading it too.

Awesome book. So true, its scary

TD

"Animal Farm" by the same author is another good one. Same basic phenomenon, but less disturbng than 1984 and much more humorous.

Hellrider

Great book. If you found similarities with the WTS in 1984, then you should definitely read Animal Farm. I found a lot more similarities in that one (there are similarities with all kinds of dictatorships in that one) than in 1984. Plus, it`s incredibly funny.

Dune

I'm re-reading it. I read it for an AP class in high school, but for some reasons failed to notice the similarities. The second time however, i have noticed a few similarities.

DavidChristopher

I read them both too...I liked animal farm the best as well...George Orwell kicked ass.

Bonnie_Clyde

I liked Animal Farm the best too. One of the parts I liked the best was how the pigs made laws for the animals to live by which were reasonable, but one by one the laws were changed in a way that would benefit only the pigs, and then it was made to look like it was that way all along.

Example: The 1st and 2nd commandment "Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy" and "Whatever goes on four legs and has wings is a friend" was changed to "Four legs good, Two legs better." The 4th commandment, "No animal shall sleep in a bed" was changed to "No animal was to sleep in a bed with sheets." The 5th commandment, "No animal shall drink alcohol" was changed to "No animal shall drink alcohol to excess." The 6th commandment, "No animal shall kill another animal" was changed to, "No animal shall kill another animal without cause." The 7th commandment, "All animals are equal" was changed to, "All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others." Also the 3rd commandment, "No animal shall wear clothes," was broken by the pigs with no explanation.

What analogy can we find here with the Governing Body? The one I can think of right now is, "No Christian may take a blood" was changed to "No Christian may take blood unless it is a fraction." (My theory on this is that the change was made to accomodate the Governing Body members who wanted to travel to foreign countries and the authorities required a vaccination for malaria which was made from blood fractions.)

DavidChristopher

Good point Bonny,

It has been a really long time since I read it. I think I need to read it again...

That is eereie how they change the laws to accomadate their desires.

Hellrider

You make me wanna read it again, Bonnie_Clyde. The part I also liked best about Animal Farm was when the pigs rewrote the history. And the figure I enjoyed most in the book, was that loyal, hardworking horse. Not very smart, but oh so loyal, working his butt of for the pigs, who took great advantage of his loyalty. He even accepted it without question when they rewrote history...only in the end to be tossed away when he got old and sick and couldn`t work anymore, even made glue of his corpse...and now, picture this: An old JW-couple in their seventies, sitting on the front row, and the speaker says: "We have now received a new light on this issue: From now on we believe that (insert one of the thousands of retarded doctrine-changes here)...We thank the faithful and discrete slave for providing us with this much needed spiritual food, served to us at the proper time...(the elderly couple, a bit confused, trying to understand this new, strange doctrine)...then, some months go by, some old, loyal JWs stand outside the hall, breathing in the fresh, cold air, it`s november: By a slip of the tongue, the old JW-man refers to the "old light", not intentionally, but by a slip...and the elder standing next to him gives him a sharp look, raises an eyebrow, the old man realizes his slip, and goes quiet. Fortunately, it`s about time to go in again, and sit down to receive some more "food at the proper time". The following weekend, the old man goes out in field service with his wife. They`ve been going out a lot lately, after all, time is short, it`s urgent that they can save as many as possible, the comment made during the break at that meeting still bothers the old man, so he definitely wants to go out and do some serious field service-work to make up for that one, hand out as many magasines as possible, the old mans doctor has been warning him about his high bloodpressure, time to slow down, rest. So, the old man has a stroke and collapses on the sidewalk. He is hopsitalized, and the elder shows up to offer "spiritual support" in case of the blood-thing becoming an issue. It won`t, there will be no surgery, the old man can`t be saved. So the elder sits down for a while, looks impatiently at his watch, the hours go by,the old mans wife is crying by the bedside with her purse in her lap, the elder coughs, starts tapping his shoe against the hospital floor, nothing happens, the elder gets restless, won`t she ever stop crying? So, the elder excuses himself, urgent business, has to go to a meeting with a young couple in urgent need of some shepherding, you know, these young people, it`s hard for them to "contain themselves", the elder blinks at the old lady, doesn`t understand that it is an inappropriate comment in the situation but it doesn`t matter, the old lady doesn`t understand the comment anyway. So, the elder excuses himself. He has to go have a serious chat with that young couple about some intimate sexual matters, not something he looks forward to, oh the duties of an entrusted elder. The young woman is very beatiful, by the way. So he leaves. The old man dies the following night. His wife tries to call some of the elders, she needs help, doesn`t know how to deal with all of this, how does one organize a funeral, who does she contact about his pension, practical things, she needs help. Noone answers the phone,she can`t understand why, noone answers the phone, why won`t they answer the phone, should she call her daughter instead? No, she can`t, her daughter was disfellowshipped years ago, so she couldn`t do that. She tries calling another elder, but noone answers, why won`t they answer. She can`t think straight, can`t remember what day this is, she hasn`t slept, she is confused. It is Sunday.

George Orwell's "1984" and the WTBTS

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