Neurostoicism asserts the primacy of the individual over the state. The state exists to serve the individual not vis versa, but the state serving itself is just a dreadful tyranny. Authoritarianism is when an elite works to dominate all power. Increasingly, contemporary politicians try to justify restrictions on freedoms for some supposed public good. But freedom cannot be given up for any objective. The core issue that Socrates encountered in his trial in Athens was what should have priority, conscience or obeying conventional ideas about what the gods wanted. Socrates attended to his “daimonion” which was simply his own conscience. It never directed him to do any wrong. So, he trusted it. But the authorities interpreted this as heresy in that they believed that one must only listen to conventional interpretations of the wishes of the gods. But who “knows” what are the wishes of the gods? Euripides keyed into this problem with his play the Bacchae where he clearly showed that mortals are on dangerous ground if they think they know what the gods want. The political powers of Athens answered that the authorities knew, but this is doubtful. Socrates indeed believed there was no dichotomy between conscience and the wishes of the gods for a moral person. But Socrate’s questioning ultimately disturbed the Athenians. Thus, his last act of defiance was to inform his friends to make a sacrifice on his behalf to Asclepius. This is the god of medicine, health, and healing. Thus, he demonstrated his piousness. This was his final dig at his accusers. The god was relieving him of all his worldly suffering through death. The value of any state is judged by the yardstick of the extent it promotes liberty and protects civil rights.
In his book 1984, George Orwell critiques amoral politics, censorship, and surveillance as trends in modern society that undermine individual freedom. There are now even greater dangers with the advance of technology and governmental power. Orwell's visionary fiction is relevant to our current political reality. He analyzes amoral politics by contrasting the advertised goals and the actual results when a ruling elite uses these questionable methods and considers that its objectives supersede the interests of any individual.[1] The author examines censorship in the form of restricted language and revisionist history. Authoritarian governments have the horrific power of editing history and perceptions of reality. What is true is what the Party says is true. Orwell illustrates the use of surveillance in terms of constantly watching cameras, secret police, emotional manipulation in the form of “hate sessions,” and comprehensive indoctrination.
The ends do not justify the means. Possibly the most destructive concept of the twentieth century has been amoral politics; the idea that political goals validate any forceful methods. Such thought extends the conditions of war into political processes. It is conceivable that amorality entered politics along with the general degradation of society because of the death and destructiveness of World War I. The Bolshevik Party of the Russian Communists was the first organization to utilize amoral politics in the modern era. To them, every violent means was justified in the seizure of power. The revolution was not possible without the conditions caused by WWI. The Communists believed that their manifestation of a political utopia was so globally and historically important, that it justified any action. In 1984, Oceania is ruled by the dictatorship of the Ingsoc Party (English socialist).[2] The author by allusion draws a parallel between the Ingsocs and the Bolsheviks.
Amoral politics is followed closely by the worship of power like a religion. The cult of power is the belief that power has the property of righteousness; the proverbial principle of “might makes right.” The character O'Brien states in the novel:
"... always there will be the intoxication of power, constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler. Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless. "[3]
In this quote, Orwell articulates the cult of power. The challenge with this world view is that once the elite class is all powerful, it is accountable to no one. Any society without self-correction will be dysfunctional. Therefore, abuses must follow.
Orwell negatively assesses the idea that technocracy can control society for the collective good. Unlimited technocracy is a dictatorial tool. V.I. Lenin, of the Bolsheviks, refined this strategy as a vanguard leadership of the Communist Party that would be empowered to carry out the revolution and govern. How could the Party ever be “wrong?” It was theoretically ruling in the interests of the “people.” This fallacy is easily disproven because the Party line ultimately comes to represent the interests and self-interested opinions of one or a group of people. In the later Soviet Union, the Party line was whatever Stalin said it was. The dogma in the novel for the rule of the Party is that through its administration a perfect society may be achieved. Therefore, the Party does not need morality, because all actions of the Party are for the improvement of the civilization.[4] Thus, the Party has license to commit any act in the furtherance of this policy. All dissension is treason. Therefore, all dissenters are traitors, and the elimination of political opposition is empowered. Errors must follow. Moreover, the underlying motivation of the Party is simply to retain power forever.
Amoral politics have infected our own society. An example of this is the "war on drugs." The reasoning is that since drugs are destructive, then the government should spend tens of billions of dollars fighting narcotics every year. Now, the United States has the highest rate of incarceration globally with no success in sight. Freedom cannot be exchanged for social improvement. A few terrorist groups want to attack the United States, and therefore citizens are asked to give up more civil rights. Liberty cannot be exchanged for security. Any time policy makers believe that a given social problem can be solved by making more restrictive laws, they are liable to make serious mistakes. At every step of human progress, the question must be asked: is the problem being made better or worse by a given policy? The cure must never be more destructive than the illness.
A major criticism in the novel is of censorship. Specifically, in practices of the Ministry of Truth, where the main character Winston works. He revises public documents to remove any references to political enemies. The author asks the provocative question: if all records of an event are destroyed, has that event ceased to exist? The key moment in the text is when Winston is interrogated under torture about a photograph he had discovered. Winston says, "He had never seen the photograph that disproved their guilt. It had never existed."[5] George Orwell states through Winston that once all records of an event have been erased, including memories, then the truth is destroyed. History can be erased.
Newspeak is the manipulation of language so that only ideologically "correct" thoughts and speech are possible in 1984. The goal of the Records Department in the book is to reduce English to such an extent that thoughts against the regime are not possible. Winston's friend Syme is responsible for making an official Newspeak dictionary to achieve this goal. Syme states, “Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thought crime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it."[6] Through this example, Orwell illustrates the terrifying power of manipulating language for mind control. Newspeak is an extreme form that is analogous to current efforts to control thought through "politically correct" speech.
The Party in the novel takes the practice of surveillance to the extreme. All behavior of Party members is observed and scrutinized. The central tool for this surveillance is the telescreen: a television-like device with an embedded camera and microphone. The inciting event of Winston's rebellion against the State is in keeping a secret journal to record his seditious thoughts. He is fortunate in that there is a blind spot in his apartment where the telescreen is not able to observe him.[7] Throughout the novel, Orwell is very effective in conveying the oppressiveness of the ever-present surveillance of telescreens. This practice destroys privacy and means that the State has invaded every place of individual sanctuary. It is human nature to need moments alone and to desire privacy. Deprivation of privacy is a crime against humanity.
The Thought Police[8] are the State security forces in 1984, and they extend the surveillance of the Party. The true power of the Thought Police is to internalize State terror to such an extent that the individual lives every minute in perpetual fear of being arrested, tortured, and murdered. It is horrific to disappear without a trace. It is awful to have any evidence of one's very existence destroyed. From the moment that Winston decides to rebel against the State, he resigns himself to being arrested eventually. “We are the dead... Six months, a year --five years."[9] Thus, the individual under totalitarianism lives and breathes fear. The result is that the human being is too paralyzed to dissent. Orwell conveys what it is like to live under authoritarianism. In our society, a few people share copyrighted material online, and therefore the government wants to monitor the internet usage of all its citizens. This action is wrong. The free exchange of information cannot be sacrificed to provide more protection for the intellectual property rights of a few corporations.
George Orwell criticizes amoral politics, censorship, and surveillance in his novel. He accomplishes this by showing the negative effects of these developments in modern society on individual freedom. The goal of the Party is to retain power by pretending to create a political utopia, however the world of 1984 is a nightmare. [10] Thus, the author conveys viscerally the idea that the ends do not justify the means in working toward the ideal society. Neurostoicism asserts the primacy of the individual over the state. Individuals are the only ones who can determine what is right or wrong themselves. By seizing control of our thoughts and moral actions, we take control of our reality.
