Does O'Brien love Big Brother?

[Gladys]

In what sense, if any, does O'Brien love Big Brother? Hardly in the same way as Parsons, Syme, or Winston in the Chestnut Tree Café.


Does O'Brien really think he's doing Winston a favour in Room 101? Surely O'Brien knows he's a viscous torturer, working to dehumanise Winston. O'Brien seems to defend Ingsoc primarily to preserve the privileged existence of he and his mates.


Does O'Brien regard 'Big Brother' as anything more than a euphemism for his personal claim to power and privilege? O'Brien seems a man without conscience or creed.


Are all Inner Party members, like O'Brien, as culpable as Eichmann, Hitler’s gas chamber bureaucrat?

[The Atheist]

Doublethink:


In what sense, if any, does O'Brien love Big Brother? Hardly in the same way as Parsons, Syme, or Winston in the Chestnut Tree Café.

O'Brien loves Big Brother as deeply, truly and passionately as any man has loved another. (even though he knows for sure that BB doesn't exist)


Does O'Brien really think he's doing Winston a favour in Room 101? Surely O'Brien knows he's a viscous torturer, working to dehumanise Winston. O'Brien seems to defend Ingsoc primarily to preserve the privileged existence of he and his mates.

No.

O'Brien realises that Winston is a flawed being and must be fixed for his own good.



Does O'Brien regard 'Big Brother' as anything more than a euphemism for his personal claim to power and privilege? O'Brien seems a man without conscience or creed.

BB is god.

Conscience and greed are not found in the Newspeak Dictionary, and even thinking about such concepts is Thoughtcrime.

Is there something we should know?



Are all Inner Party members, like O'Brien, as culpable as Eichmann, Hitler’s gas chamber bureaucrat?

Don't be silly, the Holocaust was a crime against humanity; the Inner Party, by fixing broken individuals is actually working towards perfection of the human race.

We should celebrate their selflessness in spending all that time in dank old Room 101 when they could be out Partying.

:D

[Gladys]

O'Brien loves Big Brother as deeply, truly and passionately as any man has loved another. (even though he knows for sure that BB doesn't exist) Wonderfully witty.

I had overlooked not only the role self deception (via Doublethink) would play within the Inner Party, but also the divine nature of Big Brother. Silly indeed.

[Richier]

Don't be silly, the Holocaust was a crime against humanity; the Inner Party, by fixing broken individuals is actually working towards perfection of the human race.

The Holocaust is a crime against Humanity to us now, in the cold light of History. At the time, "the Nazis" must have believed in it in the same way the Inner Party believe in BB.

Also, I think I'd question the point that (to O'Brien) the party is working towards the perfection of the human race - the Party is maintaining power, forever. The reason they fix the individuals is to prevent Martyrs being created. The evidence for this is in O'Brien's explanation to Winston in the MOL, with the Boot stamping on the face.

[Gladys]

"the Nazis" must have believed in it in the same way the Inner Party believe in BB.

Also, I think I'd question the point that (to O'Brien) the party is working towards the perfection of the human race - the Party is maintaining power, forever.

Have you missed the irony in The Atheist post?

Apart from doublethink, the Inner party only believes in its own right to power, personified in the divine phantom, Big Brother. By doublethink, 'perfection of the human race' is achieved by perpetuating the power of the Inner Party.

[Richier]

What's Irony? Is that something from Oceania? ;)

O'Brien explains that the Party is not perfecting the human race but perpetuating its' own existence (that's how I read it anyway)

[The Atheist]

...its' ...

Apostrophe abuse!

Stamp it out today.

[Richier]

good spot, but any comment to make on the point I made, that the Party is not perfecting the Human Race but maintaining power?

[The Atheist]

It's correct and has been said so quite a few times. That's why Gladys mentioned irony.