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A comment on '1984' at Seventy: Why We Still Read Orwell. Parent comment

Re:'1984' at Seventy: Why We Still Read Orwell by natechols on Tuesday June 11, 2019 @05:09PM (#20159561)
I think Orwell's point was even simpler: the overriding purpose of totalitarian political systems is power over individuals, "a boot stamping on a human face - forever". The actual ideology and stated goals are just window dressing towards this end.
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Re:'1984' at Seventy: Why We Still Read Orwell by arethuza on Wednesday June 12, 2019 @04:33AM (#20162784)
As O'Brien says:

"We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power."

Edit: Personally, it's this self-awareness of their own real motives that make the Inner Party of Ingsoc so scary.

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