Monday, December 19, 2005

In response to this:*


'Are you guilty?' said Winston.

'Of course I'm guilty!' cried Parsons with a servile glance at the telescreen. 'You don't think the Party would arrest an innocent man, do you?' His frog-like face grew calmer, and even took on a slightly sanctimonious expression. 'Thoughtcrime is a dreadful thing, old man,' he said sententiously. 'It's insidious. It can get hold of you without your even knowing it. Do you know how it got hold of me? In my sleep! Yes, that's a fact. There I was, working away, trying to do my bit -- never knew I had any bad stuff in my mind at all. And then I started talking in my sleep. Do you know what they heard me saying?'

He sank his voice, like someone who is obliged for medical reasons to utter an obscenity.

"Down with Big Brother!" Yes, I said that! Said it over and over again, it seems. Between you and me, old man, I'm glad they got me before it went any further. Do you know what I'm going to say to them when I go up before the tribunal? "Thank you," I'm going to say, "thank you for saving me before it was too late."
--from 1984

[Update, 12/27/05: Well, now that (as everyone probably knows), the student in question has admitted to lying, I guess we should all let down our guards and realize that the wiretapping and other domestic spying activities the U.S. government is conducting couldn't possibly endanger the freedoms of patriotic Americans. After all, Colin Powell says it's OK...]

6 comments:

Ahistoricality said...

Indeed. You could have cited the Dear Leader's morning press briefing, too...

Anonymous said...

I assume this means you've gotten around to reading the book? A very good quote.

Anonymous said...

Ahem. That Dartmouth student has admitted lying about the incident.

Jonathan Benda said...

Yeah, I know, but I didn't get a chance to do an update yet. Some liberals celebrate Christmas, too. ;)

Anonymous said...

Clyde Said:

And I thought my students came up with outrageous excuses!!!

Jonathan Benda said...

Yeah--"the DHS ate my homework"...