Journal / Issues / Volume 1 / Volume 1, Issue 3 / Post Truth Doublethink

In his classic novel of a dystopian future ‘1984’, George Orwell defines the idea of ‘doublethink’, which I believe perfectly describes the character of our political conversations today:

Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them. …To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then, when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just so long as it is needed, to deny the existence of objective reality and all the while to take account of the reality which one denies… Even in using the word doublethink it is necessary to exercise doublethink.” 

I have written this poem to illustrate the idea:

POST TRUTH DOUBLETHINK

In a Post Truth world with its populist king
Why fear for Democracy? It’s just the rule of the popular!
Pre-emptive wars guard peace for us all
The conquered are now free to submit to our order

Conservatives object to the conservation of nature
“It’s clear”, they will tell you, “it’s Progress we’re after
You Greenies are driven by a religious fervour
Get back to work, ‘Jobs and Growth’ is the mantra!”

Progressives progressing we know not where
As long as it’s progress none of us care
Are Conservative Liberals, free-thinking traditionionalists?
Or perhaps they just favour traditional freedoms

The country’s in debt, many of us more so
Yet lucky to live in the land of the free
Freedom to work and freedom to buy,
Indebted freedom just don’t dare ask why

Socialists tell us they have the solution
More welfare, more funding, called Redistribution
From middle to bottom but never the top
The top make the rules so why would they not

So let’s all aspire to get to the top
More wealth and more power and continue the rot
With division and class struggle, in Nirvana we’ll be
And Growth is The Way with a Kapital G

Close eyes and believe the egalitarian story
There’s no more to do and nothing to worry
Let others all envy Our life and Our culture
A Fair Go for all—but first mates and sponsors

If the Orwellian doublethink future is present
Where war is now peace, our freedom is slavery
And ignorance empowers the populist king
Then a seed we must sow to Regenerate our Story

From growth and more growth to growth and decay
The cycles of nature are pointing The Way
The seasons and rhythms, the songs and the tides
Connections and networks, not ladders to climb

Find freedom from work and from meaningless jobs
Do what you love, discover your passion
Sing with the land and it will offer its bounty
The future’s distributed and the future is present

Steven Liaros

Staff Writer

Director of PolisPlan. Find more of his writing on Medium.

Steven Liaros is a town planner and author of ‘Rethinking the City’—an exploration of the historical ideas that underpin the organisation of cities—showing how these ideas are being transformed by the Internet. With qualifications in civil engineering, town planning and environmental law, Steven is currently undertaking a PhD research project at the University of Sydney’s Department of Political Economy. The project aim is to create a new model for regenerative land development based on the principles of the circular economy and as an organisational principle for building resilient and globally connected, local communities.

See all articles by Steven Liaros

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