Black Is White
One of my favorite episodes in Seinfeld is when Kramer goes to the AIDS walk. After checking in, he is offered to wear a tiny, red ribbon. Kramer refuses to take it.
“But you have to wear an AIDS ribbon.” The organizer insists.
“I have to? ” says Kramer.
“Yes.”
“See…That’s why I don’t want to. ”
“But everyone wears the ribbon. You must wear the ribbon. ” She insists.
“You know what you are? You are a ribbon bully. “ Kramer walks away.
He starts walking without AIDS ribbon. In the middle of the walk, Kramer gets called out by the crowd and mobbed in an alley.
“I am wearing the ribbon. He is wearing the ribbon. We are all wearing the ribbon. So why aren’t you going to wear the ribbon?” The bully yells at Kramer.
“This is America. I don’t have to wear anything I don’t want to wear.” He cries out.
“I guess we just have to teach him to wear the ribbon” They beat him up.
Nevertheless, Kramer manages to reach the finishing line before collapsing in front of his friends. Laying on the ground, he closes his eyes, trying to catch a breath. “Hey, where is your AIDS ribbon?” says George. Kramer opens his eyes as if he saw a ghost.
It’s a classic example of bullying in the name of kindness, happening everyday in our life armed by social media. You have to support everything branded as “human rights”, LGBTQ, MeToo movement, Black Lives Matter. To show your support, you need to update your social profile with a “Support …” caption. If you disagree or keep silent, you will be attacked or shamed to conformity. The ridiculous logic is that if you are not “kind” enough, you deserve to be bullied.
This dilemma can be traced back to the the word “doublethink” described by George Orwell in 1984. In the dark, gut-wrenching totalitarian dystopia, Big Brother rules minds of masses by exercising “doublethink”. As the name implies, it means thinking in two ways. More than that, it means genuinely believing two contradictory ideas. And such belief is conscious and unconscious at the same time.
“Doublethink” means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them. The key word here is “black-white”. It means the ability to believe that black is white, and more, to know that black is white, and to forget that one has ever believed the contrary. — 1984
That means black can be white, two plus two can be five anytime if the Party wants. Your mind can tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them. After all, “believe” has a “lie” the middle.
When two things are logically contradictory and you feel compelled to believe both of them, be aware that you might be manipulated of doublethink. Here are a few examples.
Discriminating in the name of equality
Job ads usually proudly claim AA/EOE in the end. AA/EOE is Affirmative Action/Equal opportunity Employer. Affirmative action, by definition, means favoring individuals based on their gender, race, or nationality in areas in which they were discriminated against previously.
In other words, it means unfair competition by design. But such unfair competition is phrased as equal opportunity. It shows two things. One, discrimination did exist. Second, they are beating around the bush, discriminating the other side to balance it out and creating more discrimination in the name of equality.
The question is, does favoring you in an unfair sense boost your confidence, or make you feel even worse? If someone gets a job because she is a woman or because she is black, she will be questioned by her coworkers behind her back. Eventually she will feel like an imposter, doubting if she deserves the privilege.
When you feel sympathy for someone, subconsciously you are also feeling you are in a better situation and superior in a certain way. Because favoring can only come from the superior to the inferior. When you practice favoring, you are also reinforcing the idea that two sides are not equal.
If you have to be sympathized or favored because of something you are born with, is it equality or discrimination?
Abusing in the name of love
If you have a toxic parent when you were growing up, you may understand it very well. You used to feel bad about yourself all of time because of criticism, humiliation, and intimidation. At the same time, you were told that it was all because they loved you. They wanted you to succeed. You were beaten or shamed only to be educated to be a better person. All these reasons come down to one word:
Conditions.
Tough love is conditional. They will love you if you become that person in the future. “If you want to be loved, you need to … “ Get higher grades. Take out the trash. Be considerate. Do whatever they want you to do. It’s all about them — their expectations. In their eyes, you are not good enough yet to deserve their love.
Until you grow up, You understand love means respect first foremost. True love is unconditional. If you have to become someone else to deserve the love, that means they don’t love you. No one has the right to hurt you, even if they bring you up through hardships.
Very similar situation also exists in adult relationships. A typical line is “If you love me, you should…” Again, conditions. The tactic is to justify everything they want with love. The truth is you don’t have to do anything to prove your love. Not buying expensive gifts. Not getting married. Not having kids.
War in the name of peace
We’ve fought many wars and battles in the name of peace. In the end, we got more wars, refugees, terrorists, and we experienced more hatred, hardships and poverty. Obviously, you can’t engage in violence and expect kindness and peace in return. Then why do countries still “fight” for peace?
“The object of the war is not to make or prevent conquests of territory, but to keep the structure of society intact. ”George Orwell says in 1984. If everyone enjoys leisure and security, they will become literate, think for themselves, and eventually overthrow the privileged minority. “In the long run, a hierarchical society was only possible on a basis of poverty and ignorance. ”
The problem was how to keep the wheels of industry turning without increasing the real wealth of the world. Goods must be produced, but they need not be distributed. And in practice the only way of achieving this was by continuous warfare. — 1984
In essence, war in the name of peace, is to maintain poverty and ignorance in order to keep a hierarchical society intact. The “peace”, however, is for the privileged minority, the big brother, not for you and me.
In the last fifty years, overall wealth in the world increased dramatically, but individuals are still under the strain of overwork, feeling insecure, and near the brink of hardships. Throughout history, no war, liberation, or revolution has ever brought peace and equality a millimeter near.
When you dive deeper into doublethink, you will find even more intriguing part. A lot of people hold mutually contradictory belief systems without consciously realizing it.
Trinity — There is one God
Trinity, taught by Christians, says that God is one in essence but exists as three persons, Father, Son, the Holy Spirit. “The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, yet there are not three Gods but one God”, as they say. The Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is not the Father. However, they are all God. Essentially, they are saying 1 = 1+1+1.
God creates everything — We have free will
Many people believe God creates everything but still endorsing free will. Free will, in essence, means we can choose and act on our own. When you say God creates everything, you acknowledge nothing exist without God’s creation. Like a computer game, if you have programed the game, its rules, and the players, down to the smallest detail, how can players act in them own will?
Believes evolution — All individuals are equal
Evolution is based on the mechanism of natural selection, which can be summarized as “survival of the fittest”. Organisms that are more fitted to their environment survive. That means, animals that run faster, have longer necks, climb higher win the survival competition. And they are most likely to pass such advantageous traits to the next generation. In a nutshell, evolution is based on difference, not on equality.
