September 27, 2005

'1984': Sound Familiar? part 3

Here's another exerpt from George Orwell's "1984". Again, this is from the book in the story that the main character reads called The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism.

"In the past, the ruling groups of all countries, although they might recognize their common interest and therefore limit the destructiveness of war, did fight against one another, and the victor always plundered the vanquished. In our own day they are not fighting against one another at all. The war is waged by each ruling group against its own subjects, and the object of the war is not to make or prevent conquests of territory, but to keep the structure of society intact. The very word "war," therefore, has become misleading. It would probably be accurate to say that by becoming continuous war has ceased to exist."

Remember, this shouldn't be taken directly as Orwell's word, this was something that one of his characters wrote. It came from Orwell, but its not necessarily his idea or opinion or view or stance or belief. Its not for me to say whether meant it to be taken seriously, but we can all agree that it's a worthy quote.

No comments: