Today I'll bring up the idea of War is Peace. War, according to the book by Emmanuel Goldstein within 1984, is necessary to consume the surplus goods of industry. Failing to consume the goods would lead to people having more leisure time in which to educate themselves, and ultimately the breakdown of the hierarchical society. Thus, Oceania, Eastasia, and Eurasia maintain a state of perpetual war in order to prevent people from becoming aware of their oppression. What Orwell overlooks in 1984 is the possibility that industry can be put to use creating goods that have no effect of educating people.

Perhaps in the times in which Orwell was writing the book it seemed far-fetched to think that mindless techno-gadgetry would be a driving force in what industry would produce. The assumption that industry surpluses need to be products that give people time to educate themselves seems absurd in a world where you can buy televisions at any price level between 100 USD and 20000 USD, CD players, gaming consoles, and computer games at any of the half-dozen Foo-Marts withing spitting distance of your residence. Television, as envisioned by Orwell, served only to keep people afraid of their actions, and keep them up to date on the most recent propaganda. The role of TV in seducing the populace into empty-headed lethargy seems like a glaring omission in light of today's world.

It would seem that the other approach to maintaining the hierarchical society would be to keep everybody so stupidly happy and pleased with themselves that nobody would think to question the status quo. Brave New World presents entirely this scenario, and my vote is for reading it next as a compare/contrast type thingy.

All right, I've got to return to the salt mines for the afternoon, and I'll be out of town from this evening through Thursday evening. Kill your television while I'm gone.