Hate is Love

Cognitive Dissonance

Hate is love War is peace Olympic quality Mental gymnastics

I believe the term is “cognitive dissonance”; they are also some of the well-known Orwellian calling cards from 1984, the book.

As Winston Smith grapples with the dark inside-out and self-conflicting revelations that permeate the future — and devastated — London: “Hate is Love” and “War is Peace”, he is (while attempting to reconcile these obvious lies) tasked by his employer, the Ministry of Truth, to rewrite history to bring it in line with the current political thinking — including these new truths.

All four ministries: the Ministry of Truth, the Ministry of Peace, the Ministry of Love, and the Ministry of Plenty, share the same slogan, seen and heard everywhere: “War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, and Ignorance is Strength.”

Smith’s problem is our problem, he has eyes to see and he (still) has an independent mind to think with, and he can tell that hate is not love, that freedom is not slavery. He knows that the Ministry of Plenty is overseeing government-sponsored starvation. Reconciling these opposites takes a gargantuan feat of mental gymnastics — one cannot succeed without sacrificing one’s sanity.

As an aside, I find it frighteningly amusing (if these two sentiments can indeed co-exist) that our ex-President’s recent venture “to give the Tech Giants a run for their money” is named Truth Social.

Yes, it would be funny if it was not also so spine-chillingly apropos. Hailed as the only platform in the world (and the best platform in the world, of course) where everyone is free to speak the truth without censorship or restraints; but since freedom, in this case, is slavery one soon discovers, hidden among the fine print, that contributors may not slur or defame (as in expressing non-flattering views about) the management or owners of Truth Social (e.g., Mr. ex-President and his cadre of Ignorance-is-Strengthers).

Here, then, is our very own, new Ministry of Truth. Luckily, it seems to be sputtering at the gate so, Karma willing, it will soon die a quick and painless (to us) death.

Returning to Smith’s dilemma: How do you reconcile these opposites? How do you keep two opposing forces, notions, data, or emotions, in mind simultaneously? How do you harmonize them?

The blunt but true answer is that you don’t. The only way out of this, this hellish mental conflict, while clinging to your last scraps of sanity, is to dim your ability to sense it, this conflict; to numb your cognitive awareness to the point where the gray merging of the two opposites, while not making sense as we know it, at least no longer offends.

The downside: thus numbed, we a no longer wholly human, we have become slaves.

© Wolfstuff

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