Open Thread - 04-26-24 - 2+2=5

Submitted by JtC on Fri, 04/26/2024 - 6:00am

The film clip immediately below is a scene from the movie 1984 starring Richard Burton as O'Brien and John Hurt as Winston Smith.

Here's a quick synopsis of the plot:

Winston Smith (John Hurt), a bureaucratic flunky living in the totalitarian state of Oceania, breaks the law by daring to fall in love with Ministry of Truth worker Julia (Suzanna Hamilton). Attempting to escape, Winston and Julia are tracked down by the Thought Police. Both must be "re-educated" into loving the State -- and by extension, the shadowy dictator Big Brother.

Source (See the description below the youtube clip)

In this scene Winston is being physically tortured by Inner Party Member O'Brien to break him emotionally with the end result being Winston's confession that the false statement 2+2=5 is in reality actually true. O'Brien uses pain methodically, to impress upon Winston that the Party is in complete control and to break his will.

Winston is in great physical pain from the torture but it is the psychological fear of even more excruciating pain that ultimately breaks him. He just wants it to stop.

In 1984, "2+2=5" is a false statement created by the Party and an example of the many ways the Party controls people. In making people believe that a random, false statement is an objective truth, the Party distorts and claims control of truth itself. Winston understands that slogans like "2+2=5" are mechanisms of the Party's social control until he is tortured. In the end, he traces the equation in dust, showing that the Party eventually controls him, too.

Source

2:39

The world is a pretty fearful place, always has been, but it's been fearmongering on steroids for the last four years or so, in my humble opinion, that is. Like Winston we are being fed a constant diet of fear. Fed to us by the media and a government that uses the tech industry and legislation to manipulate and instill fear upon we the people.

There's no escaping it, short of completely cutting oneself off from civilization and living in a shack in the woods in the middle of nowhere. Good luck with that. You may think you can escape it by not consuming any mainstream media and by relying only on the internet to get your news. You'll get it anyway, emphatically, through videos of mainstream media news clips, and a constant barrage of articles that passes the fearmongering from mainstream to alternate sources. The only way to completely escape it is to cut ties from it all.

Here's a few examples off the top of my head:

Fear of being cancelled.
Fear of economic collapse.
Fear of losing job.
Fear of loss of privacy because the deep state is all powerful, it knows everything that you do.
Fear of pandemics and health and loss of healthcare.
Fear of war and nuclear annihilation.
Fear of climate change.
Fear of a weaponized government. For example: if they weaponize the law against an ex President it can be done to anyone.
Fear of the other political party. The other party are all animals anyway, don't you know.
Fear of governmental spying, they know everything about you therefore you must self censor.
Fear of crime.
Fear of civil war.
Fear of AI.
Fear of martial law and the loss of elections.

Need I go on?

Is it too far a leap to suggest the constant fear we're bearing witness to is tantamount to the pain that Winston felt, not in literal terms, but in a metaphorical sense? We live under constant assault from persistent dilemmas, some considered existential, fired upon us in rapid succession. It's difficult to decompress from the current fear induced predicament when a new one pops up. It's relentless.

To what extent is the constant fearmongering?

Winston just wanted it to stop, and to my sense, that's the ultimate goal of this modern allegorical torture.

The fear adds up, surely for some, to a breaking point. Let's imagine that the psychological fear is being used as a tool, much like the torture device in the film clip, to so bombard the mind of the target, that the target reaches the breaking point and succumbs.

What did the Party gain by Winston's submission to the torture? The answer is compliance. That compliance is the objective of this balls-to-the-wall effort of mass psychological manipulation. To herd the initiated into whatever new world they have planned for us. Those that have brought us to this point in time want a smooth transition into a world in which they have total control. The old system has been sucked dry, and the goal of the fearmongers is their wish, their dream, to subsequently continue the raping and pillaging with a fresh new system of control mechanisms. They need a compliant society to attain their prize in the sky. And they need us to forget that they are the ones that have brought us here in the first place.

If Winston could be made to accept the absurd and unreal notion that 2+2=5, he could be made to accept anything.

Sound familiar?

Tags:

Open Thread

1984

Winston Smith

Inner Party Member O'Brien

psychological manipulation

fearmongering

my humble opinion

Vote

Comments

Submitted by JtC on Fri, 04/26/2024 - 1:11am

Good morning Free Rangers...

The first step is understanding what they are doing.

Do not comply. It wont work if you're hip to the trip.

And avoid the mainstream, kid.

Lyrics

Submitted by Cassiodorus on Fri, 04/26/2024 - 6:17am

Naziland takes the first step

German Police Shut Down Palestine Congress After Barring Prominent Speakers

—

“When there's no fight over programme, the election becomes a casting exercise. Trump's win is the unstoppable consequence of this situation.” - Jean-Luc Melanchon

Submitted by JtC on Fri, 04/26/2024 - 9:05am

That's one...

@Cassiodorus
I should have added to my list: Fear of missing out on a genocide.

If it can be done to Palestine it can be done to any country, unless the country has nukes. Oh wait, Russia, never mind. In that case mankind genocides itself.

Submitted by Snode on Fri, 04/26/2024 - 8:21am

Good one

also, fear of missing out. That if you don't buy now it will be too expensive later, or worse a shortage or unavailable. Government and commerce work hand in hand.

Access and affordability became a crisis in health care. Obamacare was sold a health care, but was in reality a limited insurance plan. Paid for by increasing the costs of existing health plans. Leading to self rationing by cost considerations for people of limited finances. Resulting in a sicker population. So, another health care dead end by business and government working hand in hand.

Submitted by JtC on Fri, 04/26/2024 - 9:37am

I oft wondered...

@Snode
from the beginning of the talk of food and goods shortages due to cuts to the supply lines and agricultural dilemmas like drought, disease and man made catastrophes, that all of that was a ruse to cause people to go on buying sprees to boost a sagging economy. To get money flowing in the economic sector. Even if that is the case, it's still a great idea to play it safe and stock up.

I think your analysis of the healthcare system, and especially Obamacare, is valid. We are definitely a sicker population because of it. It was also a great way to grease the skids of the lobbyist-to-politician quid pro quo.

Submitted by usefewersyllables on Fri, 04/26/2024 - 9:15am

It is far cheaper for

Da Gummint if we all succumb to the fear and kill ourselves for them. It saves on the costs of bullets or poison.

I am slowly coming to the realization that our Gummint doesn't want our support- they fucking well want us dead.

I wish that this was snark.

—

Twice bitten, permanently shy.

Submitted by JtC on Fri, 04/26/2024 - 9:45am

It sure does...

@usefewersyllables
seem to be true, doesn't it. Especially if one ignores their words and observes their actions.

The question then becomes: who's behind it all?

Submitted by Tall Bald and Ugly on Fri, 04/26/2024 - 10:00am

was it hmmmm,

Satan? @JtC
definitely Evil regardless
of what you may believe

eyes open
no fear

watching ‘roided up cops
taking people to the ground
for protesting a genocide
in real time should show
folks who is Really afraid

and it ain’t us

thanks for the ot
and the site JtC
that flotsam is
coming in handy

—

Ya got to be a Spirit, cain't be no Ghost. . .

Explain Bldg #7. . . still waiting. . .

If you’ve ever wondered whether you would have complied in 1930’s Germany,
Now you know. . .
sign at protest march

Submitted by JtC on Fri, 04/26/2024 - 10:20am

What's going down...

@Tall Bald and Ugly
across the country reminds me of 1968. I can't wait for the Democratic Convention in Chicago.

Keep your eyes wide open, brother.

Submitted by QMS on Fri, 04/26/2024 - 10:03am

The assumed fear of expression

-
newly created by the Anti-Free Expression League
misses the point by encouraging self censorship.

Like a couple other crazies here, better let it out than
bottle it up. I don't want to get you or this site in trouble
by speaking my mind, which honestly borders on the
opposite of what is allowed in polite debate. So a bit of
tempering is acceptable, I think? Not as satisfying but
not as dangerous. Innuendos and sarcasm suffice.

Thanks for the OT!

Submitted by JtC on Fri, 04/26/2024 - 10:26am

You can still...

@QMS
speak your mind, albeit in a tempered fashion. One just needs to be a bit more subtle, but folks will know what you mean without typing out the keywords.

I sometimes read other sites where people let it all hang out in the comment section, but I have to believe that those loose tongue folks are paid operatives that take notes.

Anyway, keep on thinking free.

Submitted by enhydra lutris on Fri, 04/26/2024 - 11:16am

Good morning Johnny, well said and point made. Also, thanks for

the OT. Since humor is the cure-all for everything, including the enumerated fears and the actual enumeration of them, I'll respond to your query.

If Winston could be made to accept the absurd and unreal notion that 2+2=5, he could be made to accept anything.

Sound familiar?

Yep, quantum theory.

OK, with that out of the way:

There's a fear down here we can't forget
Hasn't got a name just yet
Always awake, always around
Singing ashes, ashes, all fall down
Ashes, ashes, all fall down

From the most ancient times assorted saceredotes have attempted to control the masses by inculcating in them an overwhelming fear of the ultimate spiritual death or punishment, represented in the west largely by "the book". Just the other day some clown got up in a Congressional hearing and queried of a witness if they were aware of herkemer 14:36-594 or some such gibberish relating to a compact that the great sky demon made with one of the chosen and the implications for today, which always boil down to "do as you're told or suffer". This shit is often simply used by cynical control freaks to manipulate others, but is truly held to be gospel truth (HEH) by far, far too many. There is the very real deep seated fear that one may somehow piss off the god of "the book" and the certainty that any person, group or even nation faces a horrific fate of death and destruction followed by eternal torment for sufficiently pissing off said deity.

Beyond that, however, there is a greater, sneakier, cultural fear, widely relied upon the fearmongers; the fear of being perceived by the believers to have offended that which they believe in. This fear, lurking just ever so slightly above the lizard brain due to lifelong acculturation concatenates many of the enumerated fears into one, the fear of persecution, ostracism, loss of job, social standing, possibly freedom and/or life, etc. at the hands of the believers. When combined with the sincere fear of the believers, this overarching fear of being taken out and stoned to death by the believers and those who abjectly follow them out of the like fear dictates the actions and behavior of most of those who run the government. THAT is a fear that we can't readily escape. However: in the end -

Generally speaking, the Way of the warrior is resolute acceptance of death.

~~ Miyamoto Musashi

Just remember that the one great fear is the fear of fear and fearing, and do not go there. Daily think of and meditate upon fear and reject it. Then go "dance and shake them bones".

be well and have a good one

edit, fixed some typos

—

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Submitted by enhydra lutris on Fri, 04/26/2024 - 11:01am

Footnotes:

@enhydra lutris

be well and have a good one

the OT. Since humor is the cure-all for everything, including the enumerated fears and the actual enumeration of them, I'll respond to your query. If Winston could be made to accept the absurd and unreal notion that 2+2=5, he could be made to accept anything. Sound familiar? Yep, quantum theory. OK, with that out of the way: There's a fear down here we can't forget Hasn't got a name just yet Always awake, always around Singing ashes, ashes, all fall down Ashes, ashes, all fall down From the most ancient times assorted saceredotes have attempted to control the masses by inculcating in them an overwhelming fear of the ultimate spiritual death or punishment, represented in the west largely by "the book". Just the other day some clown got up in a Congressional hearing and queried of a witness if they were aware of herkemer 14:36-594 or some such gibberish relating to a compact that the great sky demon made with one of the chosen and the implications for today, which always boil down to "do as you're told or suffer". This shit is often simply used by cynical control freaks to manipulate others, but is truly held to be gospel truth (HEH) by far, far too many. There is the very real deep seated fear that one may somehow piss off the god of "the book" and the certainty that any person, group or even nation faces a horrific fate of death and destruction followed by eternal torment for sufficiently pissing off said deity. Beyond that, however, there is a greater, sneakier, cultural fear, widely relied upon the fearmongers; the fear of being perceived by the believers to have offended that which they believe in. This fear, lurking just ever so slightly above the lizard brain due to lifelong acculturation concatenates many of the enumerated fears into one, the fear of persecution, ostracism, loss of job, social standing, possibly freedom and/or life, etc. at the hands of the believers. When combined with the sincere fear of the believers, this overarching fear of being taken out and stoned to death by the believers and those who abjectly follow them out of the like fear dictates the actions and behavior of most of those who run the government. THAT is a fear that we can't readily escape. However: in the end - Generally speaking, the Way of the warrior is resolute acceptance of death. ~~ Miyamoto Musashi Just remember that the one great fear is the fear of fear and fearing, and do not go there. Daily think of and meditate upon fear and reject it. Then go "dance and shake them bones". be well and have a good one edit, fixed some typos

—

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Submitted by enhydra lutris on Fri, 04/26/2024 - 1:50pm

The US and it's (illegal) cluster munitions

US Cluster Munition Coalition Slams US Decision to Transfer New Batch of Munitions to Ukraine
https://sputnikglobe.com/20240426/us-cluster-munition-coalition-slams-us...

... "The US Cluster Munition Coalition (USCMC) is appalled by President Biden’s decision to again transfer internationally prohibited cluster munitions to Ukraine … The US Cluster Munition Coalition condemns this transfer decision due to the devastating and long-term humanitarian consequences of cluster munitions," the coalition said in a statement released on Thursday. ... The coalition added that it was "dismayed by the need to condemn such an action for the fifth time." It also urged Biden to immediately stop the transfer of such weapons.

Rogue state is what it is.

—

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Submitted by QMS on Fri, 04/26/2024 - 2:22pm

It may be ill-perceived

@enhydra lutris
-
-
but I know in my bones this current madness of destruction
upon weaker populations will turn out to be bad for the
perpetuators as we watch aghast at the lack of moral balance

Submitted by enhydra lutris on Fri, 04/26/2024 - 8:32pm

I tend to agree, but think that the repercussions are

@QMS

still far off. Quite possibly the wrong doers will skate, but their goals and plan will run into a wall and get slapped down.

be well and have a good one

—

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Submitted by on the cusp on Fri, 04/26/2024 - 8:16pm

Torture

peaks with the dread of torture coming eventually.
Tell a person they will be cut and whipped soon twists their mind. Does things to their stomach. Makes sleep for them impossible.
We have time to change things before the dread comes, the torture comes.
Time is running out.

—

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

Submitted by enhydra lutris on Fri, 04/26/2024 - 8:34pm

Quite true, otc, thanks for bringing it up.

@on the cusp

be well and have a good one

—

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Submitted by on the cusp on Fri, 04/26/2024 - 9:45pm

The dread aspect of torture

@enhydra lutris was perfected in Nam with POWs. Studied, practiced by the CIA, et. al.
Interpolating it to something like dropping a nuke some day, not now, not in a few minutes, dread it interminably, is a form of studied and tested torture.
Fuck that, bring it, drop it, pricks.
I will not comply.

—

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

Submitted by Lookout on Sat, 04/27/2024 - 8:51am

A day late and a dollar short...

Had hired help yesterday, and then a gathering to attend, so didn't get by til today.

We are in 1984 where war is peace, freedom is slavery, and ignorance is strength...complete with an ever expanding ministry of truth. Like you I'm reminded of 1968, and I'm also wondering what the DNC in Chicago will bring. More rhyming history?

Take solace in the fact that as the sun sets on the US/Western Empire, it rises in the East where a new cooperative system is evolving.

Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.

― Frank Herbert, Dune.

—

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Submitted by snoopydawg on Sat, 04/27/2024 - 2:32pm