"All nationalists have the power of not seeing resemblances between similar sets of facts. A British Tory will defend self-determination in Europe and oppose it in India with no feeling of inconsistency.
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 ...
The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them."-- George Orwell
(H/T Lisa Simeone)
That's amazing. Also amazing that it's still so spot on all these years later.
ReplyDeleteIt *is* amazing, isn't it? Yet here we are, and we shouldn't be that amazed. The artists--the writers, the poets--have always had a way of crystallizing things, of boiling it down to the core truth.
ReplyDeleteHuman history is just one repeated cycle after another, with people sticking their fingers in their ears and going lalalaI'mNotListening while the artists tear their hair out trying to point out to their still-fog-shrouded fellow man what they can already see with alarming clarity.
What about the Military Wives Choir having a number one hit single "Wherever You Are", selling more copies in the week of its release during Christmas than the next 12 singles all added together in the UK. It is putrid sentimentality. The fact that it appeals to millions means that nationalism is alive and well. I never thought in my lifetime I would find such a publically avowed revival of "support our troops at any cost" form of jingoism. Our troops must be supported, no matter whose distant country they are rampaging through. Orwell's words are still needed.
ReplyDeleteSubstitute "Democrats" -- or "Republicans" -- or you name it, whatever tribe you like -- for "nationalists," and you have the same thing.
ReplyDeleteBut the bots don't like to admit it.
This is picking more on the wingnutty conservative tribe (heck, they're my favorite targets), but, yes, I've had much experience with the blinded left ...
ReplyDeleteCharles Pierce's blog today linked to this post in the Daily Telegraph touting the "Top 10 Conservative Movies of the Modern Era."
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/nilegardiner/100126732/the-top-10-conservative-movies-of-the-modern-era/
It's so unabashed in its love for war movies, even imperial ones, with not a drop of shame or irony. It's a perfect example of Orwell's British Tory, being absolutely clueless about the supposed righteousness of the wars and bloodsheed he's extolling.
I will check that out, WM. Thanks for the link.
ReplyDelete"It's so unabashed in its love for war movies, even imperial ones, with not a drop of shame or irony. It's a perfect example of Orwell's British Tory, being absolutely clueless about the supposed righteousness of the wars and bloodshed he's extolling."
ReplyDeleteIndeed. But at least they admit their bloodlust. Unlike millions of self-proclaimed liberals who decried war when Bush was in power but practically extol it now that Obama is doing the drone-sending, bomb-dropping, detaining, torturing, and assassinating.
Also amazing that it's still so spot on all these years later.
ReplyDeleteI disagree. I believe this is an eternal truth of the human condition (albeit one of the profoundly unfortunate ones).