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Contributor: Vox
Date: 2003-03-02 19:55:45
You're right, it isn't desirable but it isn't truly "doublethink" either. It seems to me to be self-delusion by selfish but twisted people. The webpage that you cite appears to be merely one interpretation of how a person might use "doublethink". I'll try to provide some additional information on "doublethink" for consideration:
- "doublethink" is a mental tool that is useful when people don't have all the facts or complete understanding that would enable a clear answer
- in life, for a thoughtful person, it is a not uncommon to feel a lack of sufficient facts and understanding when confronted with difficult decisions
- the ability to "doublethink" allows one to function effectively when one does not have the luxury to procrastinate
- it also allows one to be faithful to more than one belief and act effectively for all of them if one should hold them all to be relevant and meaningful
So, to correct your misunderstanding (and to augment the web-author's "singlethink" polemic on "doublethink"), "doublethink" is merely a mental capacity that can be learned by anyone. IME, some people will find it more difficult to master "doublethink" than others. To best develop this ability, one has to start by shedding all of one's prejudices and mental blocks. In a sense, one has to start with a clean slate; something that is best done with either an enlightened mind or with the benefit of responsible mentoring.
Just like the ideas condemned on the webpage you cite, I also know of people who use "doublethink" to justify their twisted indulgences. In all of those cases, those people appear not to have truly shed their prejudices and mental blocks but rather, used "doublethink" as a convenient way to justify their prejudices to their conscience. Unfortunately, whether you or I choose to understand "doublethink" and use it for betterment, such people will still exist. I agree with you, it can be frightening because they may really think they are conscionable. Such people may effectively lack a social conscience.
People of position are invariably able to "doublethink" because so much is demanded of them but sometimes it also takes a more enlightened mind to tell when a person of responsibility is using "doublethink" for noble versus selfish reasons, consciously or unconsciously.
Remember that mental capacity can be used towards "good" or "bad" ends. There are some very intelligent but twisted individuals and systems the coexist in this world. I suspect they will always exist. Some are consciously so while others are unconsciously so. If one wishes to turn away from a more enlightened way of being open to different ideas and views, one does it at one's own peril and to one's own disadvantage. Ignorance may be bliss but it is also self-limiting. Think of "doublethink" as being hand-in-hand with what Adam received when he bit into the forbidden fruit. It's neither inherently "good" or "evil".
Vox Canadiana
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