I was so glad to cast my early vote today. After breakfast, I drove my wife and I to the Brook Hollow Library, which I have been going to since I was a pre-teen. In fact, I still remember my excitement when the library was built in December, 1983, and how I would visit it often to check out bags of books. Before that, my parents had to take me to the San Pedro Library, which was a distance away. Now, ironically, I travel the same distance to Brook Hollow Library that I once did as a child to San Pedro Library.
To get learning, books, and wisdom, you must travel or embark on a journey. Without the journey, it’s not as much fun.
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| Photo Source: SAPL Brook Hollow Library |
It seems quite appropriate to visit Brook Hollow Library to cast my early vote for democracy. If you haven’t voted yet, you should. These days, it’s easy to get caught up in the double-think of MAGA, Christian Nationalism, etc.
I found this quote by Carl Sagan to a nice complement to George Orwell’s work:
“Without the courage to question, interrogate, and challenge authority, we risk falling prey to the whims of charlatans—be they political or religious—ready to exploit our complacency.”
—Carl Sagan
Some Examples
To expand a little on the concept of double-think, consider these examples:
| Contradictory Beliefs/Actions by President Trump (2017-2021) | Relation to Orwell’s Doublethink |
|---|---|
| Publicly expressing trust in the intelligence community while also casting doubt on their findings, particularly regarding Russian interference in the 2016 election. | Holding two opposing views about the credibility of the intelligence community and accepting both as true. |
| Claiming to support the LGBTQ+ community but banning transgender individuals from serving in the military. | Advocating for a group’s rights while simultaneously enacting policies that restrict those rights. |
| Stating he wants to lower the national debt, yet signing legislation and enacting policies that significantly increased the debt. | Promoting fiscal responsibility while practicing fiscal expansion. |
| Calling for unity and condemning violence but making statements that are seen as inciting or endorsing violence among certain groups. | Advocating for peace while using language that could provoke conflict. |
| Praising and expressing support for individuals when they are aligned with him, but quickly disparaging the same individuals if they criticize him or do not show loyalty. | Simultaneously lauding and denigrating the same person, depending on their alignment with his views. |
| Promoting “America First” policies while also engaging in actions that sometimes alienated allies and partners, potentially undermining the position of the United States on the global stage. | Upholding nationalistic policies while taking actions that could weaken the nation’s international standing. |
Please note that the above examples are based on public statements and actions that were widely reported and discussed during Trump’s presidency. The concept of doublethink is used here as a theoretical framework to understand the contradictions and is not meant to diagnose or attribute specific intentions to President Trump. (Source:An AI, identity hidden to protect it from crazy attacks, 2/25/2024)
Isn’t that fascinating?
“If a person gave away your body to some passerby, you’d be furious. Yet you hand over your mind to anyone who comes along, so they may abuse you, leaving it disturbed and troubled.” —EPICTETUS
On a Journey
I sat on the bench in front of the library reading Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, which took me back to my early English major days when I first read it in British Literature in Old English (or tried to). My wife, seated on the opposite bench in the shade, snapped a picture of me. It was a lot of fun to see the story begin and start reading it again.
Oh, I forgot, I also picked up another old favorite read of mine. Alas, Babylon.
After a moment of staring at the two books, I decided to start reading The Canterbury Tales.
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