"Where there is equality there can be sanity." -- George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-four, page 181 (Signet Classic edition)
Sunday, October 24, 2010
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"Where there is equality there can be sanity." -- George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-four, page 181 (Signet Classic edition)
Posted by stripey7 at 9:52 PM
4 comments:
Equality with regards to what? Isn't denial of inequality a denial of reality?
He was talking (in the voice of Winston Smith) about political and economic equality.
I somehow have come to believe that inequality is inherent in human experience. Even if there was one political party, or several "equal" parties, constituents would be bound to be pushed to the side. If everyone had the same amount of money, some people would have higher status because of what they choose to buy. Am I a pessimist? Lately, I've just come think that "equality" -- in today's world-- is nothing more than an ideology used to keep people in the mainstream politically. If any group is ever to get too uppity, they can easily be smacked down by suggesting that they are fomenting inequality in society. Too often, I see the promotion of a civic value like "equality" to be every bit as dogmatic as an Evangelical's imposition of their moral perspective onto the rest of the world!
Anon, you're describing the totalistic abuse of the term equality, which is inherently hypocritical since it takes a hierarchy to enforce it. Orwell, on the other hand, was talking about the idea that people should enjoy equal rights, meaning that no one would be in position to enforce conformity on someone else. If you haven't read _Nineteen Eighty-four_, I recommend you do so. It's considered one of the great dystopias.
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