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Thought for the Day

Old 08-12-2012, 04:58 PM
  #21  
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"switch places", "life of ease"... What??
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Old 08-12-2012, 05:28 PM
  #22  
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“Now I will tell you the answer to my question. It is this. The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power, pure power. What pure power means you will understand presently. We are different from the oligarchies of the past in that we know what we are doing. All the others, even those who resembled ourselves, were cowards and hypocrites. The German Nazis and the Russian Communists came very close to us in their methods, but they never had the courage to recognize their own motives. They pretended, perhaps they even believed, that they had seized power unwillingly and for a limited time, and that just around the corner there lay a paradise where human beings would be free and equal. We are not like that. We know what 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. Now you begin to understand me.”
― George Orwell, 1984


“In past ages, a war, almost by definition, was something that sooner or later came to an end, usually in unmistakable victory or defeat. In the past, also, war was one of the main instruments by which human societies were kept in touch with physical reality. All rulers in all ages have tried to impose a false view of the world upon their followers, but they could not afford to encourage any illusion that tended to impair military efficiency. So long as defeat meant the loss of independence, or some other result generally held to be undesirable, the precautions against defeat had to be serious. Physical facts could not be ignored. In philosophy, or religion, or ethics, or politics, two and two might make five, but when one was designing a gun or an aeroplane they had to make four. Inefficient nations were always conquered sooner or later, and the struggle for efficiency was inimical to illusions. Moreover, to be efficient it was necessary to be able to learn from the past, which meant having a fairly accurate idea of what had happened in the past. Newspapers and history books were, of course, always coloured and biased, but falsification of the kind that is practiced today would have been impossible. War was a sure safeguard of sanity, and so far as the ruling classes were concerned it was probably the most important of all safeguards. While wars could be won or lost, no ruling class could be completely irresponsible.”
― George Orwell, 1984


“This work was strictly voluntary, but any animal who absented himself from it would have his rations reduced by half.”
― George Orwell, Animal Farm

“For if leisure and security were enjoyed by all alike, the great mass of human beings who are normally stupefied by poverty would become literate and would learn to think for themselves; and when once they had done this, they would sooner or later realise that the privileged minority had no function, and they would sweep it away. In the long run, a hierarchical society was only possible on a basis of poverty and ignorance.”
― George Orwell, 1984




“Consider the subtleness of the sea; how its most dreaded creatures glide under water, unapparent for the most part, and treacherously hidden beneath the loveliest tints of azure. Consider also the devilish brilliance and beauty of many of its most remorseless tribes, as the dainty embellished shape of many species of sharks. Consider, once more, the universal cannibalism of the sea; all whose creatures prey upon each other, carrying on eternal war since the world began.

Consider all this; and then turn to the green, gentle, and most docile earth; consider them both, the sea and the land; and do you not find a strange analogy to something in yourself? For as this appalling ocean surrounds the verdant land, so in the soul of man there lies one insular Tahiti, full of peace and joy, but encompassed by all the horrors of the half-known life. God keep thee! Push not off from that isle, thou canst never return!”
― Herman Melville, Moby Dick

Last edited by jungle; 08-12-2012 at 05:47 PM.
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Old 08-12-2012, 06:37 PM
  #23  
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^^^^^^^^^^^
I see someone else is a George Orwell fan .



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Old 08-12-2012, 07:42 PM
  #24  
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Originally Posted by di1630 View Post
I see the food stamp card abused all the time. I've seen it used for food and then they pull out cash for the cigarettes and booze. Makes me angry at the system.
Although it should be against the rules, that would make me a little angry at the system, but booze and cigarettes are not apple juice. That's the ultimate straw-man argument if I ever heard one. That guy was angry because someone was buying APPLE JUICE. Pilots use food stamps for gods sake. So would it be different if it was a pilot earning 25K trying to support a family and thinking that it would be nice to get his/her children name-brand apple juice?

Last edited by JamesNoBrakes; 08-12-2012 at 07:58 PM.
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Old 08-12-2012, 08:04 PM
  #25  
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Originally Posted by DYNASTY HVY View Post
^^^^^^^^^^^
I see someone else is a George Orwell fan .



Ally
Orwell wrote the best prediction of the future, most of it has come true. Sad to say that most don't recognize the future has come to rest exactly as he described it.
Thanks Ally.

Last edited by jungle; 08-12-2012 at 08:21 PM.
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Old 08-13-2012, 06:24 PM
  #26  
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Originally Posted by jungle View Post
Orwell wrote the best prediction of the future, most of it has come true. Sad to say that most don't recognize the future has come to rest exactly as he described it.
Thanks Ally.
Thanks for posting this thread.
The one thing that sticks out for me anyway is this -
"One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship."
Makes me wonder how my homeland when the time comes is going to cover our revolution.
I remember the old man telling me long ago "we ignore the voices of the past at our own peril ".

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Old 08-14-2012, 02:40 PM
  #27  
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“It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so.”
Mark Twain

" Concerning the difference between man and the jackass: some observers hold that there isn’t any. But this wrongs the jackass."

"There are many humorous things in the world; among them, the white man’s notion that he is less savage than the other savages.

"I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it.”
― Mark Twain


“God created war so that Americans would learn geography.”

“Let us be thankful for the fools. But for them the rest of us could not succeed. ”
― Mark Twain

Last edited by jungle; 08-14-2012 at 03:23 PM.
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Old 08-14-2012, 04:51 PM
  #28  
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We know what 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. Now you begin to understand me.”
― George Orwell, 1984

I like this part.
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Old 08-14-2012, 06:50 PM
  #29  
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"Before you judge a man, walk a thousand miles in his shoes. After that, who cares, you're 1,000 miles away and have his shoes"
- Captain Jack Sparrow
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Old 08-15-2012, 03:14 AM
  #30  
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Default update on a classic

The love of theory is the root of all evil. (William Briggs)

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