“Eternal vigilance” by Keith Gessen in the New Statesman 2009-05-28
… he thought a mature totalitarian system would so deform its citizenry that they would not be able to overthrow it.
Orwell may have gotten it right. Some citizens have overthrown totalitarian governments. But dictatorship does correlate with minds incapable of overthrowing it. Which came first?
University is where you sometimes get loaded up with fancy terms whose meaning you’re not quite sure of.
Orwell encapsulates Wilson’s argument with a remarkable concision: “Dickens had grown up near enough to poverty to be terrified of it, and in spite of his generosity of mind, he is not free from the special prejudices of the shabby-genteel.” This is stark, and fair, and that “terrified” is unforgettable.
Just as people get the government they deserve, so too a government gets the supporters it deserves. Like calls to like.
We got Bush. Now we get Obama.
What makes the difference? Perhaps there is none.
Comment by Eric Bagai — Monday 186 @ am