The Orwell aficionados (and there seems to be a lot of them here) know the concept of doublethink: this devious mental technique of simultaneously knowing something and believing in the contrary (i.e., in Orwell’s own example, firmly believing that 2 + 2 = 5 if the Party says so).
I’ve been thinking about this, and my impression is that doublething is practiced a lot in the real world, and has been for a long time. Of course, real-world totalitarian regimes did actually use it (many top-rank Nazis had Jewish friends while simultaneously believing in the concept of Aryan superiority), but IMO it’s widespread even in democratic states, albeit it’s not promoted by the governments. The world simply seems to be most paradoxical to me, and many, if not most, people act in a way that contradicts their own conviction every day, without seeing any problem in it.
What’s your opinion about that?
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