Orwellian Lesson in Lie Detection

By Ethan Indigo Smith

Despite the constraints of  our  educational systems, there are some excellent teachers. And there are some not so excellent instructors. We learn a lot in school, but it is also important to learn outside of school as well.  Some of the most valuable  lessons are not found in the teacher’s answer book, and yet some teachers operate by the book, at right angles, making no adjustments for the humanity of their students.

Not surprising given that  the school system itself is geared toward creating two things: employment and expectation.

Like most people who are interested in history I dreaded math and algebra, and may actually have found my  interest in history out of my disdain and fear of division and multiplication. What I didn’t realize then was how much addition and subtraction is actually involved in writing our history.

I remember the first time I learned how to add. I thought I had tackled the math thing then and there. I also remember the first time I was frozen in front of the class, unable to do long division on the chalkboard. And yet the mathematical lesson I have used the most since its revelation to me, and the one I remember most distinctly, turned out to be more than just a mathematical lesson.

A Tangible Math Lesson

An elder grew up in a country where government lies and propaganda were commonplace.

One day, when I was a child, he was grilling a friend and I on our multiplication tables.  After a while he paused and said,

“Let me think of a hard one  —  alright, what is eight times seven?”

My friend and I deliberated and answered “fifty-six”.

“Wrong. Think again.”

Well we checked and double checked our arithmetic.

“Fifty-six.”

“No.”

“It’s fifty-six, I think.”

“You’re wrong, it’s fifty-eight.”

“I think it’s fifty-six.”

“Wrong it’s fifty-eight.”

We held our guns, but because he was the authority figure, finally capitulated to his insistence that he held the correct answer.

“Ok fifty-eight.”

After  we gave in, he explained the lesson.

Never submit to the half-truths, distortions and lies  of  authorities, particularly when you already know  the answer.

*(Today one would have to remove all electronic devices with a calculator to teach this lesson.)

Idiots and Elitists

The reality  is, authorities are bound to distribute  lies and half-truths  in  support of  their own ends and agenda.

This lesson is huge part of George Orwell’s novels 1984 and Animal Farm. The removal and replacement of whole segments of language by those in control is a key part of the dystopian backdrop of  1984. Over time, the state dictionary shrinks, while events are changed or removed altogether from “history”.  In Animal Farm, the agreed social rules of the farm, posted in public  for all to see, are progressively altered in both word and in spirit  by an  emerging  power faction, who  argue linguistic technicality while  insisting that  everything is  unchanged and enforcing the altered  “rules” to their own ends.

Orwell’s works were an eerily accurate exploration of the inherent potential for corruption in our heavily institutionalized society.  The real world is full of similar such occurrences. Elitists often censor, suppress and  obscure the truth, while information is removed, falsely discredited, even  replaced  or entirely  conjured. Meanwhile,  euphemisms are inserted into the wider  vocabulary  to  steer not only people’s perceptions and decision making, but the very subjects they will reasonably consider.

“Idiots don’t question relevance and act on ignorance. Zealots question limitedly, in accordance to preconceptions. Elitists question in order to advance power and do not share information. Patriots question and share information openly.”  ~ from The Matrix of Four.

In accordance with the Matrix of Four, there are four types of lie, all of them involving some nugget of truth. For the sake of this discussion, let’s look to the nuclear experimentation industry for examples.

• The first type of lie is the addition of information. Sometimes the addition of a small bit of information can change the story entirely. For example: yes the ailing Fukushima reactor is still spewing radioactive pollution…  but did you know, according to nuclear industry supporters, low level exposure to  radiation is  actually good for you?
• The second type of lie is the subtraction of information. The removal of small key components can result in entirely different meaning. For example: with the nuclear site in Miami operating dangerous above standard ‘safety’ limits, the regulator temporarily  increased the limit, averting an “emergency” by subtraction.
• The third type of lie is multiplication of information. Exaggerations of situations connected with the story as well as exaggerations of extraneous information are included in the presentation to dilute it.
• The fourth type of lie is division of information. The facts are interlaced with disconnects and the significance of information is separated or underplayed. To exemplify  the third and fourth types: nuclear industry advocates claim  nuclear energy to be ‘clean’ and ‘safe’. To support this belief (not fact), they  exaggerate the relevance  of nuclear’s  low carbon emissions  in comparison to other energy systems while  ignoring or downplaying  the permanent environmental destruction  their  nuclear waste causes and discrediting the science that clearly proves radiation exposure = cancer  and death.

The problem for the ‘powers that were’  is,  we each  have a mind that  can compute math tricks as well as self-serving political gimmicks  –  both of which are constants in today’s  institutional operations.

Sure, this mixed up mathematics, irregular logic, circular reasoning and  ill rhetoric is sometimes just due to a lack of information, combined with an unreasonable unwillingness to admit one doesn’t know everything. But given how extensive and common such twisted representations are in modern politics, one can only assume that,  more often than  not,  we are witnessing  a  web of implicit agendas running  counter to the assumed  program of community  governance. And we all know it.

So  what is still sustaining a system we know is failing? Fear and hate.

Fear, Hate  and  Truth

Hate is  the ultimate control mechanism.  It  prevents us from  seeing the  brotherhood in humanity. It  enables  institutions to promote (very profitable) war and killing. It creates  closed-mindedness and closes the heart to  spiritual healing.  In is endemic to a war mentality, where  both sides  rationalize  violent acts in the name of peace, liberty and freedom,  all the while hating the evil “others” who are invariably demonized or dehumanized by  the  intentional  rhetoric  of  war.

Fear is toxic and debilitating, and worst of all, much like ignorance –  it  is contagious. It’s no secret, most people don’t like change  – particularly large scale change.  Fear  is by definition, an emotional response to the unknown, to a change that has not yet happened or something that does not yet exist. And today, our  institutions are  designed to combat change of all kinds; we’re equipped for war, not peace. We’re busy fighting “climate change” instead of building sustainability. We have built entire institutions around such  fears,  constantly  bracing against  a perceived  and mysterious threat to our future peace and security.

Ironically, it is by  institutionalizing war and this culture of fear that we  embed conflict, lack and separation into our collective consciousness. And it is from this point that acts of  militarism and invasion become normalized in our minds.

[For  a deeper look at the institutionalization of war,  check out my previous article  Where are the Peacemakers? Our Institutions are Designed for War]

The intentional seeding of fear and ignorance into our social psyche  holds us back as a collective, limiting our knowledge of our actual (not perceived) world, our expectations and ultimately, how we manifest our future reality. Initiating a ‘flight or fight’ response, at a primal level,  our self-protective impulses  can propel  us to take aggressive  (re)actions, which in turn seed more hate and fear in those around us.  And when that fear relates to the question of  social programming  or collusion, the deep sense of trust and security that is embedded in our relationship with “society” and “the system”  causes  many to close  their minds, fearful of even  questioning such fundamental beliefs, and hateful toward those who do.

Truth, the antithesis of evil, exists without fear  – of outsiders, of alternative perspectives, of other  lifestyles, of  what  may be seen heard or spoken, of  what may  come next, of  losing control, of truth itself.

In our ongoing  search for truth,  we invariably encounter both  ignorance and pro-institutional propaganda. So,  when encountering those who  espouse the relative merits  of our corrupted, failing structures (while often also  mocking alternative views),  it can  very be difficult to understand which  people are in fact  idiots and which are entangled with elitist philosophies and institutions.  Do they ignore the facts because of fear, imparted ignorance and  mental numbness? Or do they perpetuate  ignorance intentionally, in order to disempower – a common  tactic in executing covert  agenda.

The best mathematical lesson I ever learned taught me to question the deductions and answers of “authority”  of all kinds. Where authority exists, so too does an imbalance of power, and from a point of imbalance, the  truth is easily corrupted – by addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

When you encounter un-truths, you may wonder – are  they idiots, zealots or elitists? Don’t waste your energy. Your best weapon is truth.  True patriots question and share information openly, free of  fear and  agenda. Be a patriot.

The Matrix of Four

The Matrix of Four: The Philosophy of the Duality of Polarity is an exploration of our consciousness, and presents a formula to develop our consciousness and surpass the limitations of traditional political and social constructs. In this work, Ethan relates and explains correlations between the four seasons, Aum, and a myriad of esoteric and exoteric ideas on consciousness to inspire creative thinking and being. He also explores mathematical and philosophical concepts to engage a higher thinking and being, verified using universality and human traditions beginning with the four operations of arithmetic, referencing the four archetypal characters in Plato’s The Allegory of the Cave, and much more.

The Matrix of Four: the Philosophy of the Duality of Polarity is available on Amazon here.

The Complete Patriot’s Guide

Ethan Indigo Smith’s book  The Complete Patriot’s Guide  is  an insightful exploration of  history, philosophy and contemporary politics of today’s heavily institutionalized society.

An inspiration for positive, peaceful individual action,  The Complete Patriot’s Guide  is pro-individual in its perspective and, although political, discusses our society and its institutions  from neither left-wing nor right-wing perspectives, exploring  metaphors and symbolism relative to the fictional work of George Orwell  through real history, philosophy and contemporary politics. Layered with insight, it is in part a literary exploration of the themes raised in  Orwell’s 1984, and  provides theories for  individual and collective empowerment.