Monday, January 23, 2017

Creed for the Trump Age


It is just this common basis of agreement, with its implication that human beings are all one species of animal, that Trumpism destroys. Trump theory indeed specifically denies that such a thing as ‘the truth’ exists. There is, for instance, no such thing as ‘Science’. There is only ‘Liberal Science’, ‘Progressive Science’, etc. The implied objective of this line of thought is a nightmare world in which the Leader, or some ruling clique, controls not only the future but the past. If the Leader says of such and such an event, ‘It never happened’ — well, it never happened. If he says that two and two are five — well, two and two are five. This prospect frightens me much more than bombs — and after our experiences of the last few years that is not a frivolous statement.

(with apologies to George Orwell).