In George Orwell’s 1984, an agent of the state, O’Brien, tortured Winston Smith in Room 101 until he was convinced that Smith believed two plus two was not four, but five.
For the past little bit, I have been trying to quantify the one thing that most roasts my turnips about the left and it turns out to be their penchant, not for tolerance, but that I must absolutely and unequivocally believe everything they say and do is real.
It is not enough to tolerate things like adult gender dysphoria in a “well, not for me but you do you” kind of way, if a bearded, penis-having man claims to be a woman, I must BELIEVE it in an Orwellian, Winston Smith being tortured to believe two plus two equals five, kind of way.
The fact of the matter is that tolerance is allowing the existence, occurrence, or practice of (something that one does not necessarily like or agree with) without interference. Acceptance is to believe or come to recognize something as valid or correct.
For example, Christian belief requires tolerance of the existence of homosexuality, but it does not demand acceptance, therefore opposition to the gay lifestyle or gay marriage isn’t “hate”, it is principle.
Hate the sin, not the sinner.
A business refusing to cater a gay wedding is not “hating gays”, it is acting on its owner’s principles – but these days, it isn’t enough to politely decline to serve a gay wedding and refer the excited couple to another bake shop that will, the left says you must swallow your principles and beliefs and serve them anyway because you must bend to their will and their choice. Where they have the power to choose, you do not. Their right to choose supersedes your right to refuse.
So, when the rabid pro-transgenderists who want to carve the breasts off little girls and saw penises off little boys scream about intolerance, what they are campaigning for in their rage-hate is acceptance.
In conjunction with the Orwellian “you must believe” attitude, I am fascinated with the American left’s total devotion to the word “disinformation”, something Orwell called “wrongthink”. Wrongthink must be punished and eliminated because you must believe ONLY what the left says, even if it contradicts or changes every day.
Here’s my personal definition of the word “disinformation”: It is any information, speech or written word that is directly opposed to known reality or truth. Disinformation isn’t just being wrong or deceptive, it is being knowingly wrong or deceptive. This is completely divorced from an opinion, which may or may not be intentional but is not disinformation because they are statements about something of which the reality or truth is not proven or known at the time.
Yelling “Disinformation!” every time someone points out that something does not really comport with reality is just another form of torture.
Men can be women if they want to be bad enough. If a person objects to Drag Queen Story Hour for a five-year-old, that person hates gay people. Up is down, Joe Biden really garnered eighty million votes from his basement, elections are secure, the border is secure, inflation is good, Republicans are the extremists, and Hunter’s laptop is Russian disinformation.
And the trick is that those on the American left know what they are doing is a falsehood. It’s not about the truth, fact, opinion, or reality, it is about forcing you to capitulate to their views. Once they put that ring in your nose, they can lead you about as they wish.
It is just the American left bringing to bear a constant barrage of social torture, just as O’Brien did to Winston Smith in Room 101.
Two plus two equals five.
See, I’m just not down with that.
The minute people are forced to abandon their beliefs simply because another group wants to forcibly legitimize a certain behavior or perspective, we are no longer free.
As the Right Reverend Al Sharpton said, “Resist we much.”
Locked in Room 101
Happy Thanksgiving Day, Michael.
And always remember.... you CAN'T roller skate in a buffalo herd. Some things will always remain the same. Fifty years from now, if the Golden Billion and the BRICS do not go to war, we will still be hearing that the ice caps are melting and the world is ending in ten years.
Great one Michael. To put it succinctly, there was a point to the torture and accepting 2+2=5: you must come to love Big Brother, which in the end, Winston did. It goes beyond simple capitulation - they want not only acceptance, but approval and celebration.
I do not believe I know of a more fitting description of the left than this passage (though this exists not only on the left, it certainly is the prevailing position of those who align themselves with the left):
"And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them." - Rom. 1:28-32