Orwell’s 1984: Was Orwell right?
- Paper Presented to the Sixth International Revisionist Conference.
Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.O’Brien in 1984
Every government is run by liars and nothing they say should be believed.I. F. Stone
Many of the predictions made by George Orwell in his book 1984 in relation to “Big Brother” surveillance, corruption of language and control of history have already come about to a great extent in Communist countries and to some extent in the West. The powers of security police in Western countries to intercept mail and tap phones have often been extended, police agencies keep numerous files on law-abiding citizens, and more and more public officials have the right to enter private homes without a warrant. Many government departments keep computerized information on citizens and there is a danger that this information will be fed into a centralized data bank.
Attempts by law enforcement agencies to obtain more information through informer schemes, through new law enforcement agencies, and through new techniques such as computerization of information, are understandable, but the cumulative effect of such Big Brother activities is to make countries such as the United States, Britain and Australia increasingly totalitarian societies. The corruption of language described in 1984 is widespread in the media today, with “Newspeak” terms such as democratic, socialist, fascist, war criminal, freedom fighter, racist and many other expressions being used in a deliberately deceptive, propagandistic way to whip up mass hysteria or simply to ensure that people can never achieve even an approximation of the truth.
Control of the Past
The fact that almost all media commentary, book reviews and feature articles about the book 1984 have ignored the crucial role of controlling the past indicates that Orwell’s prophecy has already been partially fulfilled. The central theme of his book, the control of history, has already been largely written out of references to his book and has disappeared down the memory hole.1
The book’s hero, Winston Smith, works in the Ministry of Truth rewriting and falsifying history. The Ministry writes people out of history — they go “down the memory hole” as though they never existed. The Ministry also creates people as historical figures who never existed. Big Brother, who controls the State of Oceania, uses “thought police” to ensure that people in the inner and outer Party are kept under control. Oceania is at perpetual war with either Eurasia or Eastasia. Alliances between these three states change without rational explanation. “Hate weeks” are organized against Goldstein, the leader of an alleged underground opposition to Big Brother, and hate sessions are organized against either Eurasia or Eastasia. O'Brien, a member of the inner Party, pretends to Smith that he is part of the Goldstein conspiracy against Big Brother. He asks Smith what he would most like to drink a toast to. Smith chooses to drink a toast, not to the death of Big Brother, the confusion of the Thought Police, or Humanity, but “to the past.” Both Smith and O'Brien, the main characters of 1984, agree that the past is more important. Unfortunately, almost all of last year’s media commentary about Orwell’s greatest book ignored the importance of the past and control of the past as a theme in 1984. The extent of censorship of history is indicated by suppression of the fact that Orwell originally considered giving the title 1948 to his book because of widespread Big Brother tendencies already in the year 1948, including control of history.2 It is also indicated by the suppression of the fact that Orwell queried the allegation that there were gas chambers in Poland.
Orwell wrote that
indifference to objective truth is encouraged by the sealing off of one part of the world from another, which makes it harder and harder to discover what is actually happening. There can often be doubt about the most enormous events…The calamities that are constantly being reported — battles, massacres, famines, revolutions — tend to inspire in the average person a feeling of unreality. One has no way of verifying the facts, one is not even fully certain that they have happened, and one is always presented with totally different interpretations from different sources. Probably the truth is undiscoverable but the facts will be so dishonestly set forth in that the ordinary reader can be forgiven either for swallowing lies or for failing to form an opinion … 3
Because of his experience in the Spanish civil war that media reports of the conflict bore no relation to what was happening, Orwell developed a great skepticism about the ability of even a well intentioned and honest writer to get to the truth. He was generally skeptical of atrocity stories.
It should be noted that Orwell worked for the BBC for a time, and the Ministry of Truth is modeled to some extent on the BBC. Orwell noted that the BBC put out false hate propaganda during World War II, and controlled history by censoring news about the genocidal Allied policy of leveling German cities by saturation bombing. Orwell’s beliefs about the control of the past, including the recent past, also derived from his experiences in the Spanish civil war, where he found that “no event is ever correctly reported in a newspaper, but in Spain for the first time I saw newspaper reports which did not bear any relation to the facts."4
The popular perception of history is based on brainwashing by the mass media, indoctrination by the education system, peer group pressure, self-censorship and television “docudramas.” Docudramas such as Winds of War; Tora, Tora, Tora; Gandhi; Gallipoli; and Holocaust, which pervade people’s 1984-like telescreens, are a blend of fact and fiction. They give a clear and believable, but usually completely misleading view, of historical events. Such devices to indoctrinate and mislead people are not new. Shakespeare’s docudramas, such as Richard III, served a similar purpose. The pervasiveness of television and widespread literacy make people more susceptible to brainwashing by Big Brother agencies than was possible in the past. The twentieth century is the century of mass propaganda. Due to different systems of propaganda, people in different countries such as Russia, China, and the United States will have quite different beliefs about history. The “Winston Smiths” in Communist countries who query approved history are likely to be more harshly treated than their counterparts in the West.
Book Censorship and Treatment of Dissidents
Many of the books mentioned in this essay are, for a variety of reasons, including direct censorship, trade boycott and self-censorship by booksellers, distributors and librarians, difficult to obtain. (However, many of them can be ordered from the Institute for Historical Review.) Obtaining banned books and access to restricted information plays a major role in Orwell’s best-known work. One of the most important developments in 1984 is when Winston Smith obtains a book by Goldstein which had been effectively banned by the Thought Police. Pressure from people with a thought-police mentality inhibits freedom of speech in my own country, Australia, and has helped to restrict the circulation of some books. Extreme cases of book censorship in the West have occurred in West Germany, where Professor Helmut Diwald was forced to delete revisionist portions from his History of the Germans. Retired judge Dr. Wilhelm Stäglich had his book on Auschwitz seized, and the University of Tuebingen, which had granted him his law degree, deprived him of it, ironically under a law passed by the Nazis. In Sweden, Ditlieb Felderer’s writings were also recently seized and he was imprisoned for the “thought crime” of querying the Holocaust. His arrest and detention should alarm all people concerned with civil liberties. Mr. Felderer, who has questioned the extent of alleged German war atrocities and pointed out the extent of Allied war atrocities, including one million civilian deaths from saturation bombing of German and Japanese cities, was jailed because of his writings. Following the precedent of Soviet authorities in dealing with dissident thinkers, he was forced to undergo psychiatric examinations. The jailing of Felderer for querying the establishment version of history and his harassment by psychiatrists is clearly an attempt to intimidate him and other free thinkers who have dared to ask challenging questions about the past. The harassment or persecution of Felderer is part of a worldwide attempt to silence revisionist writers. An unsuccessful effort was made to silence Professor Robert Faurisson, a French revisionist historian, by court proceedings in 1983 involving potential penalties of $200,000, while moves are currently being made, supported by some so-called historians, to remove Professor Arthur Butz from his teaching position at Northwestern University. Canadian postal authorities denied the use of the postal system to revisionist publicist Ernst Zündel for a time. Various West German writers have been imprisoned, while a French revisionist was assassinated a few years ago. Many civil libertarians, such as the distinguished Jewish intellectuals Noam Chomsky and Alfred Lilienthal, have protested against the attempts to silence revisionist historians, while other so-called civil libertarians have been strangely silent, preferring to defend only the civil liberties of those whose views they agree with.
Gandhi and Bose
Henry Ford said that history is bunk, while Dean Inge noted that historians have the power denied to almighty God of altering the past. These statements are relevant to the film Gandhi, which was mainly financed by the government of India and which won numerous best-film, best-actor and best-director awards. It is widely accepted as an accurate biographical portrayal of Mohandas K. Gandhi. The film portrays the Indian political leader as a saintly figure virtually without fault and suggests that he and his campaign of non-violent resistance to British rule was the reason India gained independence in 1947. The portrayal of Gandhi in the film of that name is a massive distortion. The film ignores Gandhi’s tyrannical habits, his hypocrisy, his appalling treatment of his wife and children, his bizarre fixation on bowel functions, and his support for violence in various wars. The film ignores Gandhi’s views that sexual attraction between men and women is unnatural and that he demanded celibacy between even married members of his entourage. He was so fanatical about his views on sex that he disowned his son Harilal for wishing to marry, and repeatedly tested his own will by sleeping nude with young women. The film Gandhi ignores the Mahatma’s elitist attitudes. He is portrayed as a champion of freedom and individual rights, but in real life he was steadfastly opposed to granting additional rights to India’s millions of Untouchables. The film’s portrayal of Gandhi as a pacifist is incorrect. He supported the British military in the Boer War and World War I. The so-called pacifist gave his approval to men who, as he put it, were “using violence in a normal cause.” He gave his blessing to the Nawab of Maler Kolta when he gave orders to shoot ten Moslems for every Hindu killed in his State. Gandhi’s hypocrisy and double standards (not mentioned in the film) are also indicated by his opposition to modern medicine and his refusal to allow his wife to receive a life-saving shot of penicillin when she was dying of pneumonia. When he contracted malaria shortly afterwards, however, Gandhi accepted for himself the alien medicine of quinine, and when he had appendicitis he allowed British doctors to operate to save his life.
Perhaps the most serious distortion of history in the Gandhi propaganda film is the total suppression of the role played by Subhas Chandra Bose in the events leading to the independence of India. (This subject was examined in detail by Mr. Ranjan Borra in an essay published in the Winter 1982 issue of The Journal.) At the time that India attained independence, British Prime Minister Clement Attlee regarded the armed insurrection led by Bose as a far more important factor leading to independence than Gandhi’s activities. However, Bose is not even mentioned in the Gandhi film. The eminent Indian historian, Dr. R.C. Majumdar, wrote: “There is… no basis for the claim that the civil disobedience movement (led by Gandhi) directly led to independence. The campaigns of Gandhi… came to an ignoble end about fourteen years before India achieved independence."5
There is ample evidence to substantiate the fact that the armed assault on British India by Bose and his Indian National Army (INA) during World War II was the decisive factor that forced the British withdrawal from the Asian sub-continent. The exploits of this army, when they became known, undermined the loyalty of the Indian soldiers, or sepoys, of the British. These men were the mainstay of colonial rule in India. Bose and the INA ignited the spark of a potential military revolt within the country, which the British dreaded above all else. This forced their decision to quit India honorably, while there was still time. As Majumdar wrote: “In particular, the revelations made by the INA trial, and the reaction it produced in India, made it quite plain to the British, already exhausted by the war, that they could no longer depend upon the loyalty of the sepoys for maintaining their authority in India. This had, probably, the greatest influence upon their final decision to quit India."6
Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace
The changing alliances between Oceania, Eurasia and Eastasia described in 1984 are similar to the changing alliances between the United States, Russia, and China. The state of perpetual war described by Orwell is also reflected in the three hundred wars since 1945, the thirty-seven armed conflicts under way in 1980, and recent conflicts in Afghanistan, Lebanon, Central America, and Grenada. Perpetual civil war also seems to prevail in various multi-racial societies.
“Doublespeak” propaganda terms are used in these conflicts. “Peace-keeping forces” are used to make war, invasions such as in Grenada are described as “landings,” planning for aggressive war is described as “defense strategy.” The book Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace edited by Harry Elmer Barnes describes the permanent war economy of the United States, the trickery employed by the U.S. government to enter World War I and World War II, and the censorship of dissident historical views by the media, the book trade, libraries, the curricula sections of education departments, and book reviewers. The Dynamics of War and Revolution by Lawrence Dennis discusses the need for preparation for perpetual wars to overcome unemployment, boost profits, and use up excess capital. Foreign markets are secured through war and foreign aid. Huge loans are made which cannot be paid back by debtor nations such as Poland and Brazil.
The role of international banks in financing wars and revolutions has been documented in numerous books, few of which are available in bookshops or libraries. Dr. Anthony Sutton documented the link between international finance and the Russian Revolution in Wall Street and the Russian Revolution. The American Red Cross mission to Moscow in 1917 had more financiers than medical doctors. Wall Street banks helped finance the revolution. This has been almost entirely swept under the rug by historians since it cuts across conventional ideas about the political left and right. Uncovering the Forces of War by Conrad Grieb deals with the role of international financiers in simultaneously bankrolling both sides in wars.
Organized Incitement to Hatred
The media in all countries are a vehicle for whipping up hatred against Goldstein-like figures. The aim of hate-week incitement is to divert attention from domestic problems, promote national unity, and, where necessary, motivate people to kill other people in wars. Hate-week campaigns in the Soviet Union direct invective against the Chinese and Western “imperialists.” In China hatred is whipped up against the Russians, sometimes the Vietnamese, and, until recently, the Americans. Iran and Iraq use their media outlets to control history, including recent history, and to keep their respective captive populations in the psychological state of hatred required to maintain their current war. Other countries at war or on a war footing use similar tactics. Hate propaganda is used in the civil-war conditions which prevail in many multiracial societies such as Zimbabwe, Chad, Sri Lanka, Zaire, Ethiopia, Burma, Uganda and Cyprus, which are paying the price demanded by the fallacious belief that multi-racial societies are viable.
The most pervasive hate campaigns in the West are still directed against Hitler, who died almost forty years ago. Hitler is treated in the Western mass media as a Goldstein figure with no redeeming features. Hate sessions directed against Hitler and the Nazis are so pervasive that a visitor from Mars might think that World War II was still in progress. More than four hundred feature films have been produced since 1945 with negative stereotyping of Germans, as well as numerous television series and countless books. (By contrast, the Nazis made only two or three anti-Semitic feature films between 1933 and 1945.) Recent films include Sophie’s Choice, Playing for Time, The Boys from Brazil, Marathon Man, and The Odessa File. Recent television series include Winds of War, Holocaust, Kessler, and The Secret War. Many more films, television series, and books are in the pipeline. The cumulative effect of this media avalanche of negative stereotyping of Germans is to incite ethnic hatred against people of German extraction of whom there are more than twenty million in the United States. Civil-rights, human-rights and church groups which have been quick to oppose racism and anti-Semitism have done almost nothing to stem this incitement to ethnic hatred.
The 18-hour Winds of War television saga is a good example of the docudrama blend of fact, fiction and fantasy ("faction") which is accepted by many viewers as objective history. The Winds of War film is an instructive example of gross distortion of history, of incitement to ethnic hatred, and of the use of the electronic media as a vehicle for propaganda. Winds of War was written by Herman Wouk, a devout Orthodox Jew. It’s an American-Jewish version of the last world war in which the persecution of Jews is a dominant theme and war atrocities committed by the Allies, such as the terror bombing of cities, are almost completely ignored. A Washington Post reviewer wrote “if you miss the Winds of War you will be adding 18 hours to your life,” while another critic called the series “essentially a cartoon, a child’s history of the war with all the stock characters of a Hollywood propaganda movie.”
Wouk tries to make the Jewish people the axis around which American and world history revolves. Without exception, he portrays Jews as warm, sensitive, admirable people who are innocent victims of mindless persecution. The Germans are stereotypes of evil who are barely recognizable as real people at all. The German people are portrayed as suffering from a national character disorder to explain why they admired and supported Hitler, who is portrayed by Wouk as a raving comic-book lunatic. If an 18-hour television series were to be shown at peak viewing time with comparably derogatory portrayals of Jews, there would be a massive protest about “anti-Semitism.” The argument that films such as Winds of War are made because of popular demand is incorrect, since much of the demand is created by massive advertising and promotional campaigns, often as expensive as the films themselves.
The book Dealing in Hate by Michael Connors examines anti-German hate campaigns in both world wars. Falsehood in Wartime by Arthur Ponsonby deals with the Allied propaganda lies against Germany in World War I. Second World War propaganda lies are still being churned out on an almost daily basis. If the Germans had won the last world war, and had influence in the media, we would doubtless be having a series of hate sessions against England, America and Russia. If there is another world war, the victors will once again write the history books and cowardly court historians, acting as thought police, will ensure that the history of the war is not objective. Finally, to make a fairly trite but important point — if the conditions described in Orwell’s 1984 actually existed in the United States and Australia today, we would not be able to publicly attack official security agencies or query establishment history. Western countries are still the most free and, fortunately, freedom of speech is still widely respected.
The Ministry of Truth and World War II
The attempt to portray the Second World War as a conflict between total good and total evil is slowly breaking down. Despite decades of brainwashing by the media, censorship of revisionist historians, and the cowardice of establishment court historians, a more balanced history of the origins and course of the war is slowly emerging. The Origins of the Second World War by A.J.P. Taylor establishes that Hitler did not plan the war and that the Allies bore important responsibility for the outbreak of the conflict. Germany’s Economic Preparation for War by Burton J. Klein establishes that Germany was spending a smaller percentage of its GNP on war preparations than either Britain or France in the late 1930s.
The extent of Allied war crimes is slowly being documented. Bomber Command by Max Hastings shows that saturation bombing of cities was initiated by the British and that some 600,000 German civilians were killed in the levelling of German cities. A review of Hastings' book in the London Spectator was headlined “Devastating and Exterminating” and described the aerial destruction of German cities and the killing of 600,000 German civilians as “the greatest war crime of the Second World War."7 Other Allied war crimes such as bombing of Japanese cities, the execution of more than 12,000 Polish officers and other leaders at Katyn and elsewhere by the Soviets, have also been documented, although the Katyn massacre is still not widely known in the West. The forced repatriation of millions of Russians and other Soviet subjects back to the USSR, resulting in many deaths, has also been set out in books such as The Last Secret. The Nuremberg trials were illegal and yet another Allied crime. This is discussed in Failure at Nuremberg, Profiles in Courage by the late President John F. Kennedy, and Dönitz at Nuremberg by H. Keith Thompson.
However, for every book and film about Allied war crimes there are literally thousands of books and films about German and Japanese war crimes, particularly those dealing with the concentration camps. The greatest war crime of the war, the bombing of German cities, is never dealt with in films, apart from very rare exceptions such as Slaughterhouse Five.
The central allegation made against the Nazis is that they exterminated six million Jews during the war, mainly by gassing in gas chambers. This claim has been established as false by Professor Arthur Butz in The Hoax of the Twentieth Century, by Dr. Charles Weber in The Holocaust, by Walter Sanning in The Dissolution of Eastern European Jewry, by Dr. Wilhelm Stäglich in The Auschwitz Myth, by Dr. Robert Faurisson in The Problem of the Gas Chambers, and by Professor Paul Rassinier in Debunking the Genocide Myth. Due to thought-police pressure and self-censorship by the media and book trade, these books are not readily available. These books demonstrate that there was no plan to exterminate Jews in World War II, no mass gassings in gas chambers, that fewer than 500,000 people died in concentration camps and that most Jewish deaths were due to diseases such as typhus. Numerous Jewish writers, including civil libertarians such as J. Cohn-Bendit, C. Karnoouh and J. Assons, accept the revisionist view of the Holocaust. Most academics dealing in modern European history are too cowardly even to investigate the revisionist evidence.
The Holocaust story is repeated ad nauseam to drum up emotional support for Israel, and Zionist Jews have accurately described it as “Israel’s number one propaganda weapon.” Anti-Zionist Jews such as Dr. Alfred Lilienthal describe the constant Holocaust drum-beating as “holocaustomania” and point out that the Holocaust has become a kind of new religion among Jews. Jewish intellectual Noam Chomsky described Dr. Rubenstein’s reactions to Professor Faurisson’s claims that there were no gas chambers as the reactions of a religious fanatic. The Holocaust is so important to Zionist Jews that Professor Friedlander has said that “the Revisionist School of historians, those who say the Holocaust never existed, that it is a Jewish invention, are more worrying than countries' political positions,” while Professor H. Littell has said “you can’t discuss the truth of the Holocaust. That is a distortion of the concept of free speech. The United States should emulate West Germany which outlaws such exercises.” Despite cogent evidence that revisionists are censored and persecuted, one so-called intellectual recently stated that it is fashionable to claim that Hitler’s gas chambers did not exist.8 A five-page attack in the Australian magazine Quadrant described revisionists such as Professor Butz, Professor Faurisson and myself as “lone wolf malcontents,” the “John Hinckley Juniors of the intelligentsia,” and possibly more evil than Himmler and Pol Pot.9 As is customary with such attacks, no right of reply was allowed.
Down the Memory Hole
Chairman Mao, once the Big Brother of China, has almost vanished down the Chinese memory hole. He has been virtually written out of Chinese history. A similar fate has befallen Stalin in official Soviet history. Hitler, on the other hand, has not been written out of history. He is larger than life, appearing on our 1984-style telescreens on a regular basis as a Goldstein hate figure He is needed to assist in the portrayal of World War II as a war between total good (the victors) and total evil (the vanquished). Hitler is also useful for the Hollywood World War II industry which churns out a mind-boggling number of films and TV series about the war. Dr. Alfred Lilienthal has pointed out in The Zionist Connection that the three major television networks (NBC, ABC and CBS), the major film companies, book distributors, and influential newspapers such as the New York Times and the Washington Post, as well as influential news magazines such as Time and Newsweek, are owned and controlled by Zionist Jews who use the evil Hitler image and the Holocaust as propaganda weapons for Israel.
Some aspects of popular history are shrouded in secrecy and receive little publicity. Thus, collaboration between the Nazis and the Zionists in World War II, revisionist evidence about the treatment of Jews during that war, the role of Subhas Bose in the struggle for Indian independence, massacres by the Soviets at Katyn, Vynnytsia and elsewhere, and the sinking of the passenger ships Wilhelm Gustloff, General Steuben, and Goya, in each case with greater loss of life than the Titanic, are seldom mentioned in the controlled media of the West. Collaboration between the Nazis and the Zionists is established by Jewish writers in books such as Perfidy by Ben Hecht, The Holocaust Victims Accuse by M. Shonfeld, Eichmann in Jerusalem by Hannah Arendt and Zionism in the Age of the Dictators by Lenni Brenner. The massacre of Polish leaders by the Soviets in 1940 is documented in Katyn by Louis Fitzgibbon, while the massacre of some 10,000 Ukrainians at Vynnytsia is covered in The Crime of Moscow in Vynnytsia. The sinking of three passenger ships in the Baltic in 1945 with more than 18,000 deaths, mainly German women and children, is dealt with in The Cruelest Night by Dobson. Anne Frank’s Diary, A Hoax by Ditlieb Felderer, which proves that Anne Frank did not write the famous “diary,” has been given the silent treatment by the media. In case after case, historical truth has been consigned to the memory hole.
There has also been a fairly successful cover-up in relation to the American entry into the Pacific war in 1941. The largest ethnic group in America is of German origin. Resistance from this and other groups had to be overcome to get the United States into the First and Second World Wars. The attack against the Lusitania was used as a pretext for entry into World War I. The attack against Pearl Harbor was the excuse for entry into World War II. Both of these attacks involved gross deception of the American public. The Watergate cover-up was nothing compared with the cover-up over Pearl Harbor. Roosevelt incited the attack with an oil embargo, and knew that the attack was coming. It was not a surprise attack. The Pacific war began in deception and cover-up and ended the same way. The Japanese offered to surrender prior to the bombing of Hiroshima on condition that the office of Japanese Emperor be retained, and after the bombing the war was concluded with that condition accepted. Why then was Hiroshima bombed? Most people’s understanding of the Pearl Harbor attack is based on popular portrayals such as the docudrama film Tora, Tora, Tora, which presents the attacks as a surprise. The Final Secret of Pearl Harbor by Rear Admiral Theobald, which examines the days immediately preceding the attack, shows that it was not a surprise. It shows instead that Washington authorities had ample foreknowledge of the time and place of the Japanese attack, and that the failure to warn General Short and Admiral Kimmel was due to Roosevelt’s order that no warning be sent lest their preparations for defense might deter the Japanese from attacking. Theobald also shows that Pearl Harbor was denied a “Purple” decoding machine lest the commanders there might independently decode Japanese messages and take steps to ward off the attack.
Similar deceptions were used by the U.S. government in the Gulf of Tonkin incident, the bombing of Cambodia, and in military interventions in the Middle East, Central America and Grenada.
Some of Simon Wiesenthal’s activities have likewise gone down the memory hole. His wartime collaboration with the Nazis was discussed by the former Chancellor of Austria, Bruno Kreisky, himself of Jewish origin, and others. Wiesenthal’s criminal “Nazi hunter” role in persecuting innocent individuals such as Frank Walus and wrecking their lives has been amply documented but has received only minimal media coverage.
Down With Big Brother
Control of the past, Big Brother surveillance, and the use of “doublethink” are much more extensive in Communist and many third world countries than in the United States, western Europe or Australia. People in the West can help combat Big Brother control in Communist and other quasi-totalitarian countries by supporting Amnesty International and by helping human rights groups in those countries. Unfortunately, effective human rights groups can be established only in countries where basic civil rights are already relatively secure. Individuals who attempt to establish such groups in repressive countries are often persecuted and imprisoned.
Although civil liberties are entrenched in the West, there are still some areas of concern. Control of the past, the central issue of Orwell’s 1984, remains pervasive, especially with regard to World War II history which is, to use Napoleon’s phrase, “lies agreed upon by the victors.” The lies are repeated to justify the carnage of the war and to explain the Allied policy of unconditional surrender in the war. The six million Holocaust allegation, the hoax of the twentieth century, is used as a propaganda weapon to promote support for Israel. Uncritical support for Israel, particularly by the United States, could contribute to starting World War III.
Challenging the official version of anything may be a civic responsibility and even great fun, but it is still difficult for those who dispute the establishment version of history to have their views heard. The best way to combat Big Brother control of the past is to ask questions and challenge the claims put out by the high priests of sanctioned history repeatedly. People should ask, for example, whose interests are served by the repetition of particular atrocity stories? What real evidence is there for various mass murder allegations? Who controls the media? And so forth.
Citizens should support bona fide civil liberties groups and actively oppose government measures restricting basic freedoms. Freedom of speech is a basic civil liberty and people should fight to retain it. They should defy group pressure, think for themselves and speak out. The price of liberty is eternal vigilance.
- See, for example: New Society, 12 May 1983; Commentary, May 1983; New Republic, December 1982; Commentary, March 1983; Harper’s January 1983.
- New Society, 5 October 1978.
- Orwell, Notes on Nationalism.
- Orwell, Homage to Catalonia.
- R.C. Majumdar, Three Phases of India’s Struggle for Freedom.
- The Spectator, 29 September 1979.
- Quadrant, (Australia), August 1983.
- Quadrant, October 1981. See also: New Statesman, November 1979, and Commentary, December, 1980.
|Orwell’s 1984: Was Orwell right?
|The Journal for Historical Review
|Volume 6 number 1
|“Reprinted from The Journal of Historical Review, PO Box 2739, Newport Beach, CA 92659, USA.”
|Please send a copy of all reprints to the Editor.
"Kama ilivyoelezwa katika kitabu cha Orwell cha ""1984,"" ""Kama"" ni ""Kwanini""?" - Karatasi iliyowasilishwa kwa Mkutano wa Sita wa Kimataifa wa Revisionist. Anayedhibiti wakati uliopita, anadhibiti wakati ujao. "Mtu anayedhibiti wakati wa sasa, anadhibiti wakati uliopita."" - O'Brien, 1984: ""Kila serikali inaongozwa na waongo na hakuna chochote wanachosema kinachopaswa kuaminiwa.""" "Mambo mengi ambayo George Orwell alitabiri katika kitabu chake cha ""1984"" kuhusu ""Big Brother"" - ufuatiliaji, ufisadi wa lugha na udhibiti wa historia - tayari yametokea kwa kiasi kikubwa katika nchi za Kikomunisti na kwa kiasi fulani katika Magharibi." Mamlaka ya polisi wa usalama katika nchi za Magharibi ya kukamata barua na kupiga simu mara nyingi imeongezwa, mashirika ya polisi yana faili nyingi juu ya raia wanaotii sheria, na maafisa zaidi na zaidi wa umma wana haki ya kuingia nyumba za kibinafsi bila kibali. Idara nyingi za serikali huhifadhi habari za kompyuta kuhusu raia na kuna hatari ya habari hii kuingizwa katika benki ya data ya kati. """Jitihada za mashirika ya kutekeleza sheria kupata habari zaidi kupitia mipango ya kutoa taarifa, kupitia mashirika mapya ya kutekeleza sheria, na kupitia mbinu mpya kama vile kompyuta ya habari, zinaeleweka, lakini athari ya jumla ya shughuli kama hizo za Big Brother ni kufanya nchi kama vile Marekani, Uingereza na Australia kuwa jamii za kiutawala." Ufisadi wa lugha ulioelezwa katika 1984 umeenea sana katika vyombo vya habari leo, na maneno ya "Newspeak" kama vile kidemokrasia, ujamaa, ufashisti, uhalifu wa vita, mpiganaji wa uhuru, ubaguzi wa rangi na maneno mengine mengi yanatumiwa kwa njia ya udanganyifu, propaganda ili kuchochea hysteria ya wingi au kuhakikisha kwamba watu hawawezi kamwe kufikia hata ukaribu wa ukweli. "Kama ilivyoelezwa katika makala ya kwanza ya kitabu cha ""1984,"" ""Utawala wa Wakati uliopita"" na ""Utawala wa Wakati uliopita,"" ""Utawala wa Wakati uliopita"" ni sehemu ya unabii wa Orwell." "Mtazamo wa ""Utawala wa Historia"" umepungua sana na kupotea katika kumbukumbu za watu wengi, na sasa ni muhimu sana kwa Winston Smith, mhusika mkuu wa Wizara ya Haki, ambaye anafanya kazi katika Wizara ya Haki ya Haki." Wizara huondoa watu katika historia <unk> wao huenda <unk> chini ya shimo la kumbukumbu <unk> kana kwamba hawakuwahi kuwepo. Wizara pia huunda watu kama watu wa kihistoria ambao hawajawahi kuwepo. Big Brother, ambaye anadhibiti Jimbo la Oceania, hutumia " Polisi ya mawazo " ili kuhakikisha kwamba watu ndani na nje ya Chama wanawekwa chini ya udhibiti. Oceania iko katika vita vya kudumu na Eurasia au Eastasia. Ushirikiano kati ya majimbo hayo matatu hubadilika bila ufafanuzi wa kiakili. "Majuma ya chuki" hupangwa dhidi ya Goldstein, kiongozi wa upinzani wa chini ya ardhi kwa Big Brother, na vikao vya chuki hupangwa dhidi ya Eurasia au Eastasia. O'Brien, mwanachama wa Chama cha ndani, anajifanya kwa Smith kwamba yeye ni sehemu ya njama ya Goldstein dhidi ya Ndugu Mkuu. Anamuuliza Smith ni nini angependa kunywa kwa ajili yake. Smith anaamua kunywa toast, si kwa kifo cha Big Brother, machafuko ya Polisi ya Mawazo, au Ubinadamu, lakini kwa wakati uliopita. "Kwa bahati mbaya, karibu maoni yote ya vyombo vya habari mwaka jana juu ya kitabu kikubwa cha Orwell, ilipuuza umuhimu wa zamani na udhibiti wa zamani kama mada ya ""1984.""" "Uwezo wa ""kuficha"" historia unaonyeshwa na kufichwa kwa ukweli kwamba Orwell awali alifikiria kutoa jina la kitabu chake ""1948"" kwa sababu ya mwelekeo wa ""Ndugu Mkuu"" uliosambazwa sana tayari katika mwaka wa 1948, ikiwa ni pamoja na udhibiti wa historia." Orwell aliandika kwamba kutojali ukweli wa kweli huchochewa na kufungwa kwa sehemu moja ya ulimwengu kutoka kwa nyingine, ambayo hufanya iwe ngumu zaidi na ngumu zaidi kugundua kile kinachotokea. Mara nyingi kunaweza kuwa na shaka kuhusu matukio makubwa zaidi... Misiba ambayo inaripotiwa daima - vita, mauaji, njaa, mapinduzi - huwa na kuchochea katika mtu wa kawaida hisia ya kutokuwa halisi. Mtu hana njia ya kuthibitisha ukweli, mtu hata hana uhakika kabisa kwamba umetokea, na mtu daima hutolewa na tafsiri tofauti kabisa kutoka vyanzo tofauti. "Kwa sababu ya uzoefu wake katika vita vya wenyewe kwa wenyewe vya Hispania kwamba ripoti za vyombo vya habari za mgogoro hazikuwa na uhusiano wowote na kile kilichokuwa kikiendelea, Orwell aliendeleza shaka kubwa juu ya uwezo wa hata mwandishi mwenye nia nzuri na mnyoofu kupata ukweli. """ Kwa kawaida alikuwa na shaka kuhusu hadithi za ukatili. Orwell aliwahi kufanya kazi katika shirika la BBC, na Wizara ya Ukweli ni mfano wa BBC. Orwell alisema BBC ilitoa propaganda ya chuki wakati wa Vita Kuu ya Pili ya Dunia na kudhibiti historia kwa kudhibiti habari kuhusu sera ya mauaji ya kimbari ya Muungano ya kuleta miji ya Ujerumani kwa mabomu ya saturation. "Kama Orwell alivyosema, ""Hakuna tukio ambalo limewahi kuripotiwa kwa usahihi katika gazeti, lakini katika Hispania kwa mara ya kwanza niliona ripoti za magazeti ambazo hazikuwa na uhusiano wowote na ukweli.""" "Ufahamu wa watu wa historia unategemea ""kuosha ubongo"" na vyombo vya habari, ""kufundisha"" na mfumo wa elimu, ""ushikamano wa kikundi cha wenzao,"" ""kujizuia"" na televisheni ""docudramas"" kama vile ""Mvua ya Vita,"" ""Tora, Tora, Tora,"" ""Gandhi,"" ""Gallipoli,"" na ""Holocaust,"" ambayo huenea kama televisheni ya 1984." Zinaonyesha waziwazi na kwa njia yenye kuaminika, lakini kwa kawaida zinachanganya kabisa, matukio ya kihistoria. Mbinu kama hizo za kuwafundisha na kuwapotosha watu si mpya. Maonyesho ya Shakespeare, kama vile Richard wa Tatu, yalifanya kazi hiyohiyo. Ule upana wa televisheni na elimu ya kuelimisha watu hufanya watu wawe na uwezekano mkubwa zaidi wa kuoshwa ubongo na mashirika ya Big Brother kuliko ilivyokuwa iwezekanavyo zamani. Karne ya ishirini ni karne ya propaganda ya wingi. Kwa sababu ya mifumo tofauti ya propaganda, watu katika nchi tofauti kama vile Urusi, China, na Marekani watakuwa na imani tofauti kabisa kuhusu historia. "Winston Smiths" katika nchi za Kikomunisti ambao huuliza historia iliyokubaliwa huenda wakatendewa kwa ukali zaidi kuliko wenzao katika Magharibi. "Kutengwa kwa vitabu na kutendewa kwa wapinzani: ""Mengi ya vitabu vilivyotajwa katika insha hii ni, kwa sababu mbalimbali, ikiwa ni pamoja na udhibiti wa moja kwa moja, kupiga marufuku biashara na udhibiti wa kibinafsi na wauzaji wa vitabu, wasambazaji na maktaba, ni vigumu kupata." (Hata hivyo, nyingi kati ya hizo zaweza kuagizwa kutoka kwa Taasisi ya Uchunguzi wa Kihistoria.) Kupata vitabu vilivyopigwa marufuku na upatikanaji wa habari zilizozuiwa hutimiza fungu kubwa katika kazi inayojulikana zaidi ya Orwell. Mwaka 1984 Winston Smith alipata kitabu cha Goldstein ambacho kilikuwa kimepigwa marufuku na polisi wa mawazo. "Mfumo wa ""serikali ya mawazo"" unazuia uhuru wa kujieleza katika nchi yangu, Australia, na umesaidia kuzuia usambazaji wa vitabu fulani." Katika Ujerumani Magharibi, Profesa Helmut Dybwalt alilazimika kuondoa sehemu za marekebisho kutoka kwa Historia ya Wajerumani. "Muhakimu mstaafu Wilhelm Steglitz alipoteza kitabu chake cha Auschwitz, na Chuo Kikuu cha Tübingen, ambacho kilikuwa kimempa shahada yake ya sheria, kilimnyima shahada hiyo, kwa sababu ya sheria iliyopitishwa na Wanazi.""" Nchini Sweden, maandishi ya Ditlieb Felderer pia yalitekwa hivi karibuni na alifungwa gerezani kwa "uhalifu wa mawazo" wa kuuliza kuhusu Maangamizi Makubwa. Kukamatwa kwake na kukamatwa kunapaswa kuwaogopesha watu wote wanaohusika na uhuru wa kiraia. Felderer, ambaye amekuwa akishutumu mauaji ya kijeshi ya Ujerumani na kuelezea mauaji ya kijeshi ya Muungano, ikiwa ni pamoja na vifo vya raia milioni moja kutokana na mabomu ya Ujerumani na Japani, alifungwa gerezani kwa sababu ya maandishi yake. Kwa kufuata kielelezo cha mamlaka za Sovieti katika kushughulika na wasomi waliopinga, alilazimishwa kufanyiwa uchunguzi wa kisaikolojia. Kufungwa kwa Felderer kwa kutilia shaka toleo la historia la taasisi na unyanyasaji wake na waganga wa akili ni jaribio la kumtisha yeye na wasomi wengine wa bure ambao wamethubutu kuuliza maswali ya changamoto juu ya zamani. Mnyanyaso au mateso ya Felderer ni sehemu ya jaribio la ulimwenguni pote la kuwazuia waandishi wa marekebisho. "Mfano wa ""mshindi"" wa kesi ya mwaka 1983 ni Profesa Robert Faureisson, ambaye alishindwa kuifunga kwa kukusanya dola milioni 200 kwa ajili ya kuondoa profesa Arthur Butz katika nafasi yake ya ualimu katika Chuo Kikuu cha Northwestern." Mamlaka za posta za Kanada zilimkataza mwandishi wa habari wa marekebisho Ernst Zündel kutumia mfumo wa posta kwa muda fulani. Waandishi mbalimbali wa Ujerumani Magharibi wamefungwa gerezani, huku mwandishi mmoja Mfaransa wa marekebisho akiuawa miaka michache iliyopita. "Wanafalsafa wengi wa uhuru wa kiraia, kama vile Noam Chomsky na Alfred Lilienthal, wamepinga majaribio ya kuwazuia wanahistoria wa marekebisho, wakati wengine wanaojulikana kama ""wanafalsafa wa kiraia"" wamekuwa kimya kwa kushangaza, wakipendelea kutetea tu uhuru wa kiraia wa wale ambao wanaunga mkono maoni yao." "Gandhi na Bose Henry Ford walisema ""historia ni kitu cha kipumbavu,"" wakati Dean Inge alisema ""wanahistoria wana nguvu ambazo Mungu wa Mwenyezi hakutaka kuwa nazo za kubadilisha wakati uliopita.""" "Hiyo ni kwa sababu filamu ya ""Gandhi"" ilichaguliwa na serikali ya India na kushinda tuzo nyingi za filamu bora, mwigizaji bora na mkurugenzi bora." Inakubaliwa sana kuwa picha sahihi ya wasifu wa Mohandas K. Gandhi. Filamu hiyo inamuonyesha kiongozi huyo wa kisiasa wa India kama mtu mtakatifu asiye na makosa na inadokeza kwamba yeye na kampeni yake ya upinzani wa kutokuwa na vurugu dhidi ya utawala wa Uingereza ndio sababu India ilipata uhuru mnamo 1947. Mchoro wa Gandhi katika filamu ya jina hilo ni upotoshaji mkubwa. Filamu hiyo inapuuza tabia za Gandhi za ukatili, unafiki wake, jinsi alivyotendea mke na watoto wake, jinsi alivyopenda sana utendaji wa matumbo, na jinsi alivyopendelea kutumia jeuri katika vita mbalimbali. Filamu hiyo inapuuza maoni ya Gandhi kwamba kuvutiwa kingono kati ya wanaume na wanawake ni kinyume cha asili na kwamba alidai kutokuwa na ndoa hata kati ya washiriki waliooa wa kikundi chake. Alipokuwa na mawazo ya kutamani ngono, alikataa mwanawe Harilal kwa sababu alitaka kuolewa na mara kwa mara akajaribu mapenzi yake mwenyewe kwa kulala uchi na wanawake wachanga. Filamu hiyo ya Gandhi inapuuza mitazamo ya kiuchumi ya Mahatma. Yeye huonyeshwa kama bingwa wa uhuru na haki za mtu binafsi, lakini katika maisha halisi alikuwa imara dhidi ya kutoa haki za ziada kwa mamilioni ya India ya Untouchables. Filamu hiyo inaonyesha kwamba Gandhi alikuwa mpinzani wa amani lakini haifai. Aliunga mkono jeshi la Uingereza katika Vita vya Boer na Vita vya Kwanza vya Ulimwengu. "Mwenyeji huyo wa India aliwaunga mkono watu ambao, kama alivyosema, walikuwa ""wakitumia vurugu kwa sababu ya kawaida"" na kumpa baraka Nawab wa Malerkotla alipotoa amri ya kuwaua Waislamu kumi kwa kila Hindus mmoja aliyeuawa katika jimbo lake." Uwongo na viwango viwili vya Gandhi (haijatajwa katika filamu) pia vinaonyeshwa na upinzani wake kwa dawa ya kisasa na kukataa kwake kuruhusu mkewe kupokea risasi ya kuokoa maisha ya penicillin wakati alikuwa akifa kutokana na nimonia. Hata hivyo, alipopata malaria muda mfupi baadaye, Gandhi alikubali dawa ya kigeni ya quinine, na alipokuwa na ugonjwa wa appendicitis aliruhusu madaktari wa Uingereza kufanya upasuaji ili kuokoa maisha yake. "Huenda kupotosha kwa historia kwa uzito zaidi katika filamu ya propaganda ya Gandhi ni kukandamiza kabisa jukumu lililochezwa na Subhas Chandra Bose katika matukio yaliyoongoza kwenye uhuru wa India.""" "Mwandishi wa gazeti la The New York Times, Ranjan Bora, aliandika hivi: ""Ninaamini kwamba kuna wakati wa kutafakari kuhusu jambo hili." Wakati India ilipopata uhuru, Waziri Mkuu wa Uingereza Clement Attlee aliona uasi wa silaha ulioongozwa na Bose kama sababu muhimu zaidi inayoongoza kwa uhuru kuliko shughuli za Gandhi. Hata hivyo, Bose hata haitajwi katika filamu ya Gandhi. Mwanahistoria mashuhuri wa India, Dakt. R.C. Majumdar, aliandika: <unk>Hakuna... msingi wowote wa madai kwamba harakati ya uasi wa kiraia (iliyoongozwa na Gandhi) ilisababisha moja kwa moja uhuru. Kampeni za Gandhi... zilimalizika kwa aibu miaka kumi na minne hivi kabla ya India kupata uhuru. """Kuna ushahidi mwingi wa kuthibitisha ukweli kwamba shambulio la silaha dhidi ya India ya Uingereza na Bose na Jeshi lake la Taifa la India wakati wa Vita Kuu ya Pili lilikuwa sababu muhimu ambayo ililazimisha Uingereza kujiondoa kutoka bara la Asia." Mafanikio ya jeshi hilo yalipojulikana, yalidhoofisha uaminifu wa askari-jeshi wa India, au askari-jeshi wa Uingereza. Wanaume hao walikuwa nguzo kuu ya utawala wa kikoloni nchini India. Bose na INA waliwasha moto wa mapinduzi ya kijeshi nchini humo, ambayo Waingereza waliogopa zaidi ya yote. Hilo liliwalazimisha kuamua kuondoka India kwa heshima, huku bado wakiwa na wakati. "Majumdar aliandika: ""Hasa, ufunuo uliofanywa na kesi ya INA, na athari iliyozalishwa nchini India, ilifanya iwe wazi kabisa kwa Waingereza, tayari waliochoka na vita, kwamba hawangeweza tena kutegemea uaminifu wa sepoys kudumisha mamlaka yao nchini India.""" Yaelekea hilo ndilo lililokuwa na uvutano mkubwa zaidi juu ya uamuzi wao wa mwisho wa kuondoka India. "Kama ilivyoelezwa katika kitabu cha 1984, ""Mabadiliko ya muungano kati ya Oceania, Eurasia na Asia Mashariki"" ni sawa na mabadiliko ya muungano kati ya Marekani, Urusi na China." Hali ya vita ya daima iliyoelezwa na Orwell pia inaonyeshwa katika vita mia tatu tangu 1945, mapigano thelathini na saba ya silaha yaliyoendelea mnamo 1980, na mapigano ya hivi karibuni nchini Afghanistan, Lebanon, Amerika ya Kati na Grenada. Vita vya wenyewe kwa wenyewe vya kudumu pia vinaonekana kutawala katika jamii mbalimbali zenye jamii nyingi. Maneno ya propaganda ya "maongezi mawili" hutumiwa katika migogoro hii. "Kama ilivyoelezwa katika kitabu cha ""Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace"" cha Harry Elmer Barnes, Marekani ilijaribu kuanzisha vita vya pili vya dunia kwa kutumia mbinu za udanganyifu na udanganyifu wa serikali ya Marekani ili kuingiza Marekani katika Vita vya Kwanza vya Dunia na Vita vya Pili vya Dunia, na pia kwa kutumia mbinu za udanganyifu na udanganyifu wa vyombo vya habari, biashara ya vitabu, maktaba, na wahakiki wa vitabu." "Kama ilivyoelezwa katika kitabu cha Lawrence Dennis, ""The Dynamics of War and Revolution,"" ""Mashambulizi ya vita"" ni hatua muhimu ya kupambana na ukosefu wa ajira, kuongeza faida, na kutumia mtaji wa ziada." Masoko ya kigeni yanahifadhiwa kupitia vita na misaada ya kigeni. Mikopo mikubwa inafanywa ambayo haiwezi kulipwa na mataifa ya deni kama vile Poland na Brazil. """Jukumu la benki za kimataifa katika kufadhili vita na mapinduzi limeandikwa katika vitabu vingi, na ni vichache tu vinavyopatikana katika maduka ya vitabu au maktaba." Anthony Sutton, mwanasayansi wa fedha wa Marekani, aliandika juu ya uhusiano kati ya fedha za kimataifa na mapinduzi ya Urusi katika Wall Street na Mapinduzi ya Urusi. Mjumbe wa Msalaba Mwekundu wa Marekani huko Moscow mwaka 1917 alikuwa na wafadhili wengi kuliko madaktari. Benki za Wall Street zilisaidia kufadhili mapinduzi hayo. Hii imepigwa karibu kabisa chini ya zulia na wanahistoria tangu inapunguza mawazo ya kawaida juu ya kushoto na kulia kisiasa. Uncovering the Forces of War ni kitabu cha Conrad Grieb ambacho kinaelezea jinsi fedha za kimataifa zilivyotumiwa kuendeleza vita. """Vichapo vya habari katika nchi zote ni chombo cha kuchochea chuki dhidi ya watu kama Goldstein." Lengo la wiki ya chuki ni kugeuza umakini kutoka kwa matatizo ya ndani, kukuza umoja wa kitaifa, na, inapohitajika, kuhamasisha watu kuua watu wengine katika vita. Kampeni za wiki za chuki katika Muungano wa Sovieti zinaelekeza mashambulizi dhidi ya Wachina na "wafalme" wa Magharibi.Huko China chuki inachochewa dhidi ya Warusi, wakati mwingine Wavietnam, na, hadi hivi karibuni, Wamarekani. Iran na Iraq zinatumia vyombo vya habari vyao kudhibiti historia, ikiwa ni pamoja na historia ya hivi karibuni, na kuweka idadi ya watu waliokamatwa katika hali ya kisaikolojia ya chuki inayohitajika kudumisha vita vyao vya sasa. Nchi nyingine zilizo vitani au zilizo katika hali ya vita hutumia mbinu kama hizo. Uenezaji wa chuki hutumiwa katika hali ya vita vya wenyewe kwa wenyewe ambazo zinatawala katika jamii nyingi za makabila kama vile Zimbabwe, Chad, Sri Lanka, Zaire, Ethiopia, Burma, Uganda na Cyprus, ambazo zinalipa bei inayotakiwa na imani ya uwongo kwamba jamii za makabila mengi zinaweza kuishi. Kampeni za chuki zilizofichika zaidi katika nchi za Magharibi bado zinaelekezwa dhidi ya Hitler, ambaye alikufa karibu miaka arobaini iliyopita. Hitler anatendewa katika vyombo vya habari vya Magharibi kama mtu wa Goldstein asiye na sifa za ukombozi. "Mkutano wa chuki dhidi ya Hitler na Wanazi umepita sana hivi kwamba mgeni kutoka Mars anaweza kufikiri kwamba Vita vya Pili vya Ulimwengu bado viko ""katika mwendo.""" Tangu 1945 zaidi ya filamu 400 zimetengenezwa na kuwaonyesha Wajerumani kwa njia isiyofaa, pamoja na vipindi vingi vya televisheni na vitabu vingi. "Kwa upande mwingine, ""Nazi"" walifanya filamu mbili au tatu tu za kupinga Wayahudi kati ya 1933 na 1945." Filamu za hivi karibuni ni pamoja na Sophie's Choice, Playing for Time, The Boys from Brazil, Marathon Man, na The Odessa File. Mfululizo wa televisheni wa hivi karibuni ni pamoja na Winds of War, Holocaust, Kessler, na The Secret War. Filamu nyingi zaidi, mfululizo wa televisheni, na vitabu viko katika mstari wa kutayarishwa. "Hii ni athari ya jumla ya media ya ""avalanche"" ya stereotyping hasi ya Wajerumani ni kuchochea chuki ya kikabila dhidi ya watu wa asili ya Ujerumani ambao kuna zaidi ya milioni ishirini katika Marekani." "Mashirika ya haki za kiraia, haki za binadamu na makanisa ambayo yamekuwa ya haraka kupinga ubaguzi wa rangi na upinzani wa Kiyahudi hayajafanya karibu chochote kuzuia uchochezi huu wa chuki ya kikabila. """ "The Winds of War ni mfululizo wa vipindi vya televisheni vya saa 18 na ni mfano mzuri wa mchanganyiko wa ""docudrama"" ya ukweli, hadithi za uwongo na fantasy (""faction"") ambayo inakubaliwa na watazamaji wengi kama historia ya lengo." "Filamu ya ""Winds of War"" ni mfano wa kupotosha historia, kuchochea chuki ya kikabila, na kutumia vyombo vya habari vya elektroniki kama chombo cha propaganda." Winds of War iliandikwa na Herman Wouk, Myahudi Morthodoksi mwenye kujitoa. Ni toleo la Marekani-Yahudi la vita vya mwisho vya dunia ambapo mateso ya Wayahudi ni mandhari kuu na ukatili wa vita uliofanywa na Washirika, kama vile mabomu ya kigaidi ya miji, karibu hupuuzwa kabisa. "Mchambuzi mmoja wa gazeti la Washington Post aliandika: ""Ukipoteza The Winds of War utaongeza masaa 18 kwenye maisha yako,"" wakati mchambuzi mwingine aliita mfululizo huo ""katika kiini katuni, historia ya mtoto ya vita na wahusika wote wa sinema ya propaganda ya Hollywood.""" Bila ubaguzi, yeye huonyesha Wayahudi kuwa watu wenye uchangamfu, wenye hisia-mwenzi, na wenye kupendeza ambao ni waathirika wasio na hatia wa mateso yasiyo na akili. Wajerumani ni mifano ya uovu ambao ni vigumu kutambuliwa kama watu halisi wakati wote. Watu wa Ujerumani wanaonyeshwa kama wanaosumbuliwa na ugonjwa wa tabia ya kitaifa ili kueleza kwa nini walimheshimu na kumsaidia Hitler, ambaye anaonyeshwa na Wouk kama mchafu wa vitabu vya vichekesho. "Ikiwa mfululizo wa televisheni wa saa 18 ungeonyeshwa wakati wa wakati wa kutazama kwa wakati na picha za kupuuza za Wayahudi, kungekuwa na maandamano makubwa juu ya ""upinzani wa Kiyahudi."" hoja kwamba filamu kama vile Upepo wa Vita hutengenezwa kwa sababu ya mahitaji ya watu ni sahihi, kwani mahitaji mengi hutengenezwa na matangazo makubwa na kampeni za uendelezaji, mara nyingi kama gharama kubwa kama filamu zenyewe." Kitabu Dealing in Hate cha Michael Connors huchunguza kampeni za chuki dhidi ya Wajerumani katika vita vyote viwili vya ulimwengu. Uongo katika Wakati wa Vita (Falsehood in Wartime) ni kitabu cha Arthur Ponsonby, ambacho kinazungumzia uongo wa propaganda ya Muungano dhidi ya Ujerumani katika Vita vya Kwanza vya Ulimwengu. Uongo wa propaganda ya Vita vya Pili vya Ulimwengu bado unazungumzwa karibu kila siku. Kama Ujerumani ingekuwa imeshinda vita vya mwisho vya dunia na kuwa na ushawishi katika vyombo vya habari, bila shaka tungekuwa na mfululizo wa vikao vya chuki dhidi ya Uingereza, Marekani na Urusi. """Ikiwa kutakuwa na vita nyingine ya dunia, washindi wataandika tena vitabu vya historia na wanahistoria wa mahakama wavivu, wakifanya kazi kama polisi wa mawazo, watahakikisha kwamba historia ya vita haikuwa na lengo." "Mwishowe, kwa kusema jambo la kawaida lakini muhimu: kama hali zilizoelezwa katika kitabu cha Orwell cha ""1984"" zingeweza kuwepo katika Marekani na Australia leo, hatungeweza kushambulia kwa umma mashirika rasmi ya usalama au kuchunguza historia ya taasisi." Nchi za Magharibi bado ndizo zenye uhuru zaidi na, kwa bahati nzuri, uhuru wa kujieleza bado unaheshimiwa sana. "Kama ilivyoelezwa katika kitabu cha ""The Ministry of Truth and World War II,"" ""Jitihada ya kuelezea Vita vya Pili vya Ulimwengu kama mgogoro kati ya wema kamili na uovu kamili ni polepole kuvunjika.""" Licha ya miongo kadhaa ya kuosha ubongo na vyombo vya habari, udhibiti wa wanahistoria wa marekebisho, na ujasiri wa wanahistoria wa mahakama ya taasisi, historia ya usawa zaidi ya asili na mwendo wa vita inaonekana polepole. The Origins of the Second World War (Mazazi ya Vita vya Pili vya Ulimwengu) Taylor anaanzisha kwamba Hitler hakupanga vita na kwamba Washirika walikuwa na jukumu muhimu kwa mlipuko wa mgogoro. "Kama ilivyoelezwa katika kitabu cha ""Germany's Economic Preparation for War"" cha Burton J. Klein, Ujerumani ilitumia asilimia ndogo ya Pato la Taifa kwa maandalizi ya vita kuliko Uingereza au Ufaransa mwishoni mwa miaka ya 1930." Kiasi cha uhalifu wa vita wa Muungano kinaandikwa polepole. "Bombardment Command ya Max Hastings inaonyesha kwamba ""bombardment saturation"" ya miji ilianzishwa na Waingereza na kwamba baadhi ya raia wa Ujerumani 600,000 waliuawa katika leveling ya miji ya Ujerumani." "History of the World"" ya Hastings ilichapishwa katika gazeti la London Spectator, na kuelezea uharibifu wa majiji ya Ujerumani na mauaji ya raia 600,000 kama ""uhalifu mkubwa wa vita katika Vita Kuu ya Pili ya Dunia.""" "Hata hivyo, mauaji ya Katyn, ambayo yaliwaua maafisa wa jeshi la Poland zaidi ya 12,000 huko Katyn na maeneo mengine, yanajulikana sana katika nchi za Magharibi.""" "Kulazimishwa kurudishwa kwa mamilioni ya Warusi na raia wengine wa Sovieti nyuma ya USSR, na kusababisha vifo vingi, pia imewekwa katika vitabu kama vile ""The Last Secret.""" Majaribio ya Nuremberg yalikuwa haramu na uhalifu mwingine wa Muungano. "Kama ilivyoelezwa katika kitabu cha ""Failure at Nuremberg,"" ""Profiles in Courage"" cha John F. Kennedy, na ""Dönitz at Nuremberg"" cha H. Keith Thompson." Kwa kila kitabu au filamu kuhusu uhalifu wa vita wa Muungano, kuna maelfu ya vitabu na filamu kuhusu uhalifu wa vita wa Ujerumani na Japani, hasa zile zinazohusu kambi za mateso. "Hata hivyo, ""uhalifu mkubwa wa vita"" ambao ulifanyika katika miaka ya mwisho ya vita vya Ulaya, yaani, mabomu ya miji ya Ujerumani, haijawahi kuelezwa katika filamu, isipokuwa kwa matukio machache kama vile ""Slaughterhouse 5.""" Madai ya msingi dhidi ya Wanazi ni kwamba waliwaua Wayahudi milioni sita wakati wa vita, hasa kwa kutumia gesi katika vyumba vya gesi. "Hiyo imethibitishwa kuwa ni uongo na Profesa Arthur Butz katika kitabu chake ""The Hoax of the Twentieth Century,"" na Dk Charles Weber katika kitabu chake ""The Holocaust,"" na Dk Walter Sanning katika kitabu chake ""The Dissolution of Eastern European Jewry,"" na Dk Wilhelm Steglitch katika kitabu chake ""The Auschwitz Myth,"" na Dk Robert Faurisson katika kitabu chake ""The Problem of the Gas Chambers,"" na Dk Paul Rassiner katika kitabu chake ""Debunking the Genocide Myth.""" Kwa sababu ya shinikizo la polisi wa mawazo na kujidhibiti na vyombo vya habari na biashara ya vitabu, vitabu hivi havipatikani kwa urahisi. "Kama ilivyoelezwa katika kitabu hiki, ""hakukuwa na mpango wa kuangamiza Wayahudi katika Vita vya Pili vya Ulimwengu, hakuna mauaji ya gesi ya wingi katika vyumba vya gesi, kwamba watu wachache kuliko 500,000 walikufa katika kambi za mateso na kwamba vifo vingi vya Wayahudi vilitokana na magonjwa kama vile typhus.""" Waandishi wengi Wayahudi, ikiwa ni pamoja na wanaharakati wa uhuru wa kiraia kama vile J. Cohn-Bendit, C. Karnoouh na J. Assons, wanakubali maoni ya marekebisho ya Holocaust. Wasomi wengi wanaoshughulikia historia ya kisasa ya Ulaya ni wavivu sana hata kuchunguza uthibitisho wa marekebisho. "Historia ya Holocaust imerudiwa ad nauseam ili kupata msaada wa kihisia kwa Israeli, na Wayahudi wa Kiyahudi wameielezea kwa usahihi kama "" silaha ya propaganda ya Israeli ya namba moja. "" Wayahudi wa kupambana na Kiyahudi kama vile Dk Alfred Lilienthal wanaelezea kupiga ngoma ya Holocaust mara kwa mara kama "" holocaustomania "" na kuonyesha kwamba Holocaust imekuwa aina ya dini mpya kati ya Wayahudi." Msomi Myahudi Noam Chomsky alifafanua majibu ya Dakt. Rubenstein kwa madai ya Profesa Faurisson kwamba hakukuwa na vyumba vya gesi kama majibu ya mfuasi wa kidini. "Halafu, Friedlander alisema kuwa ""shule ya revisionist ya wanahistoria, wale ambao wanasema Holocaust haijawahi kuwepo, kwamba ni uvumbuzi wa Kiyahudi, ni wasiwasi zaidi kuliko msimamo wa kisiasa wa nchi,"" wakati Profesa H. Littell alisema ""huwezi kujadili ukweli wa Holocaust.""" Hiyo ni upotoshaji wa dhana ya uhuru wa kujieleza. "Watu wengi wanaamini kwamba ""majaribio ya kijeshi"" ni ya kawaida, lakini kwa sababu ya hali ya hali ya hewa, ""majaribio ya kijeshi"" ni ya kawaida, na ""majaribio ya kijeshi"" ni ya kawaida, lakini kwa sababu ya hali ya hewa, ""majaribio ya kijeshi"" ni ya kawaida." "Mwenyeji wa China, Mao Zedong, ambaye wakati mmoja alikuwa ""Ndugu Mkuu"" wa China, amekuwa akipiga kura kwa kura za maoni na kuonekana kama mtu wa kwanza katika historia ya China." Kwa kweli ameondolewa katika historia ya China. Hatima kama hiyo imemkabili Stalin katika historia rasmi ya Sovieti. Kwa upande mwingine, Hitler hajawahi kuondolewa katika historia. "Mtu huyu ni mkubwa kuliko maisha, anaonekana kwenye televisheni zetu za mtindo wa 1984 kwa ukawaida kama mtu wa chuki wa Goldstein, anahitajika kusaidia katika kuelezea Vita vya Pili vya Ulimwengu kama vita kati ya wema kamili (washindi) na uovu kamili (washindi).""" Hitler pia ni muhimu kwa Hollywood, ambayo hutengeneza idadi kubwa ya filamu na mfululizo wa televisheni kuhusu vita. "Alfred Lilienthal, mwanasayansi wa sayansi ya Sayansi, alisema: ""Mashirika matatu makubwa ya televisheni (NBC, ABC na CBS), makampuni makubwa ya filamu, wasambazaji wa vitabu, na magazeti yenye ushawishi kama vile New York Times na Washington Post, pamoja na magazeti yenye ushawishi kama vile Time na Newsweek, ni mali na kudhibitiwa na Wayahudi wa Sayansi ambao hutumia picha mbaya ya Hitler na Holocaust kama silaha za propaganda kwa Israeli.""" Sehemu fulani za historia ya watu wengi zimefichwa na hazijulikani sana. Kwa hiyo, ushirikiano kati ya Wanazi na Wasionisti katika Vita vya Pili vya Ulimwengu, ushahidi wa marekebisho kuhusu jinsi Wayahudi walivyotendewa wakati wa vita hivyo, jukumu la Subhas Bose katika mapambano ya uhuru wa India, mauaji ya kisovieti huko Katyn, Vinnytsia na kwingineko, na kuzama kwa meli za abiria Wilhelm Gustloff, General Steuben na Goyer, kila moja ikiwa na hasara kubwa ya maisha kuliko Titanic, hazitajwi mara nyingi katika vyombo vya habari vya Magharibi. "Kutokana na ushirikiano kati ya Nazi na Zionists ni imara na waandishi wa Kiyahudi katika vitabu kama vile ""Perfidy"" na Ben Hecht, ""The Holocaust Victims Accuse"" na M. Schoenfeld, ""Eichmann katika Yerusalemu"" na Hannah Arendt na ""Zionism katika umri wa Dictators"" na Lennox Brenner." Mauaji ya viongozi wa Poland na Sovieti katika 1940 ni kumbukumbu katika Katyn na Louis Fitzgibbon, wakati mauaji ya baadhi ya 10,000 Ukrainians katika Vinnytsia ni kufunikwa katika The Crime of Moscow katika Vinnytsia. "Kutoweka kwa meli tatu za abiria katika Bahari ya Baltic mwaka 1945 na vifo vya watu zaidi ya 18,000, hasa wanawake na watoto wa Ujerumani, ni jambo ambalo Dobson anajadili katika kitabu chake ""The Cruelest Night.""" Anne Frank's Diary, A Hoax na Ditlieb Felderer, ambayo inathibitisha kwamba Anne Frank hakuandika maarufu <unk>diary,<unk> imekuwa kupewa matibabu kimya na vyombo vya habari. Katika visa baada ya visa, ukweli wa kihistoria umepelekwa kwenye shimo la kumbukumbu. "Hata hivyo, ""mfano wa kufunika"" kwa Marekani ni kufunika kwa mafanikio kwa ajili ya kuingia Marekani katika vita vya Pasifiki mwaka 1941." Kikundi kikubwa zaidi cha kikabila nchini Marekani ni cha asili ya Kijerumani. Upinzani kutoka kwa kikundi hiki na vikundi vingine ulilazimika kushindwa ili Marekani iingie katika Vita vya Kwanza na vya Pili vya Ulimwengu. Shambulio dhidi ya Lusitania lilitumiwa kama kisingizio cha kuingia katika Vita vya Kwanza vya Ulimwengu. Mashambulizi dhidi ya Pearl Harbor yalikuwa kisingizio cha kuingia katika Vita vya Pili vya Ulimwengu. Mashambulizi hayo yote mawili yalitia ndani kudanganya sana umma wa Marekani. Ufuniko wa Watergate haukuwa kitu ukilinganishwa na ufuniko wa Pearl Harbor. Roosevelt alichochea shambulio hilo kwa kupiga marufuku mafuta, na alijua kwamba shambulio hilo lingeja. Haikuwa shambulio la ghafula. Vita vya Pasifiki vilianza kwa udanganyifu na kuficha na kumalizika kwa njia ileile. Wajapani waliahidi kujisalimisha kabla ya mabomu ya Hiroshima kwa masharti kwamba ofisi ya Mfalme wa Japani ihifadhiwe, na baada ya mabomu vita vilikamilika na hali hiyo ikakubaliwa. Basi kwa nini Hiroshima ilibhomolewa? "Hata hivyo, watu wengi wanaelewa kwamba mashambulizi ya Pearl Harbor yalitokea kwa sababu ya filamu ya ""Tora, Tora, Tora"" ambayo ilionyesha mashambulizi hayo kama ya kushangaza." "Kificho cha mwisho cha Pearl Harbor, kilichoandikwa na Admiral Theobald, kinachohusu siku zilizotangulia mashambulizi hayo, kinaonyesha kwamba hayo hayakuwa mambo ya kushangaza.""" "Kama ilivyotangulia, ilionyesha kwamba mamlaka ya Washington ilikuwa na ujuzi wa kutosha wa wakati na mahali pa shambulio la Kijapani, na kwamba kushindwa kuonya Jenerali Short na Admiral Kimmel ilikuwa kwa sababu ya amri ya Roosevelt kwamba ""hakuna onyo la kutumwa ili maandalizi yao ya ulinzi yaweza kuwazuia Wajapani kushambulia.""" Theobald pia anaonyesha kwamba Pearl Harbor ilikataliwa mashine ya kufuta nambari ya "Purple" ili kamanda huko wasiweze kufuta nambari ya ujumbe wa Kijapani kwa kujitegemea na kuchukua hatua za kuzuia shambulio hilo. Uongo kama huo ulitumiwa na serikali ya Marekani katika tukio la Ghuba ya Tonkin, mabomu ya Cambodia, na katika uingiliaji wa kijeshi katika Mashariki ya Kati, Amerika ya Kati na Grenada. Baadhi ya shughuli za Simon Wiesenthal pia zimepotea katika kumbukumbu. Ushirikiano wake wa wakati wa vita na Wanazi ulizungumziwa na Kansela wa zamani wa Austria, Bruno Kreisky, yeye mwenyewe wa asili ya Kiyahudi, na wengine. Wiesenthal's jinai "Nazi hunter" jukumu katika kunyanyasa watu wasio na hatia kama vile Frank Walus na wrecking maisha yao imekuwa amply kumbukumbu lakini imepokea tu coverage ndogo ya vyombo vya habari. "Kutokana na ""Big Brother"" ya zamani, ufuatiliaji wa Big Brother, na matumizi ya ""doublethink"" ni makubwa zaidi katika nchi za Kikomunisti na nchi nyingi za ulimwengu wa tatu kuliko Marekani, Ulaya Magharibi au Australia." Watu katika nchi za Magharibi wanaweza kusaidia kupambana na udhibiti wa Big Brother katika nchi za Kikomunisti na nchi nyingine za karibu-totalitarian kwa kuunga mkono Amnesty International na kwa kusaidia makundi ya haki za binadamu katika nchi hizo. Kwa bahati mbaya, makundi yenye ufanisi ya haki za binadamu yanaweza kuanzishwa tu katika nchi ambazo haki za msingi za kiraia tayari zimehakikishwa kwa kiasi fulani. Mara nyingi watu wanaojaribu kuanzisha vikundi hivyo katika nchi zenye ukandamizaji wanateswa na kufungwa gerezani. Ingawa uhuru wa kiraia umejengwa katika nchi za Magharibi, bado kuna maeneo fulani yenye kuogopesha. "Kulingana na Orwell, ""Utawala wa zamani"" ni suala kuu la Orwell's 1984, hasa kuhusiana na historia ya Vita Kuu ya Pili ya Dunia ambayo ni, kutumia Napoleon's maneno, "" uongo walikubaliana na washindi. "" uongo ni mara kwa mara ili kuhalalisha mauaji ya vita na kueleza sera ya Allied ya kujisalimisha bila masharti katika vita." Madai ya mauaji ya Wayahudi ya milioni sita, udanganyifu wa karne ya ishirini, hutumiwa kama silaha ya propaganda kukuza msaada kwa Israeli. Kuunga mkono Israeli bila kukosoa, hasa na Marekani, kunaweza kuchangia kuanza Vita ya Ulimwengu ya Tatu. """Kupinga toleo rasmi la kitu chochote inaweza kuwa jukumu la kiraia na hata furaha kubwa, lakini bado ni vigumu kwa wale ambao wanapinga toleo la historia ya taasisi ya kuwa na maoni yao yaliyosikika.""" Njia bora ya kupambana na udhibiti wa Ndugu Mkuu wa zamani ni kuuliza maswali na kupinga madai yaliyotolewa na makuhani wakuu wa historia iliyopitishwa mara kwa mara. Kwa mfano, watu wapaswa kuuliza, ni maslahi ya nani yanayotumiwa na kurudia-rudia hadithi fulani za ukatili? Ni uthibitisho gani halisi unaoweza kuthibitisha madai mbalimbali ya mauaji ya watu wengi? Ni nani anayedhibiti vyombo vya habari? Na kadhalika. Wananchi wanapaswa kuunga mkono makundi ya haki za kiraia na kupinga kikamilifu hatua za serikali zinazopunguza uhuru wa msingi. Uhuru wa kujieleza ni uhuru wa msingi wa kiraia na watu wanapaswa kupigana ili kuhifadhi. Wanapaswa kupinga mkazo wa kikundi, kufikiri kwa ajili yao wenyewe na kusema. Bei ya uhuru ni uangalifu wa milele. "Kwa mfano, tazama: New Society, Mei 12, 1983; Commentary, Mei 1983; New Republic, Desemba 1982; Commentary, Machi 1983; Harper's Januari 1983.""" - New Society, Oktoba 5, 1978. - Orwell, Maelezo juu ya Utaifa. - Orwell, Heshima kwa Catalonia. - R.C. Majumdar, Hatua Tatu za Mapambano ya Uhuru wa India. "The Spectator, 29 Septemba 1979" Quadrant, Australia, Agosti 1983. Quadrant, Oktoba 1981 "Tazama pia ""New Statesman"" (Novemba 1979) na ""Commentary"" (Dekemba 1980)." "Kama ilivyoelezwa katika kitabu cha Orwell cha ""1984,"" ""Kama"" ni ""Kwanini""?" "Jarida la Utafiti wa Kihistoria, Volume 6, namba 1, ""Jarida la Utafiti wa Kihistoria, Box 2739, Newport Beach, CA 92659, USA,"" ni toleo la toleo la toleo la toleo la toleo la toleo la toleo la toleo la toleo la toleo la toleo la toleo la toleo la toleo la toleo la toleo la toleo la toleo la toleo la toleo la toleo la toleo la toleo la toleo la toleo la toleo la toleo la toleo la toleo la toleo la toleo la toleo la toleo la toleo la toleo la toleo la toleo la toleo la toleo la toleo la toleo la toleo la toleo la toleo."