"Do you begin to see what kind of world we are creating?"

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"A world of fear and treachery and torment, a world of trampling and being trampled upon, a world which will grow not less but more merciless as it refines itself.

The old civilizations claimed that they were founded on love or justice. Ours is founded upon hatred.

In our world there will be no emotions except fear, rage, and triumph. Everything else we shall destroy."

Adapted from George Orwell's 1984.

The text was extracted and modified from a longer quote from 1984 that I previously posted.

Properly marked up it would look like this:

"Do you begin to see ... what kind of world we are creating? ... A world of fear and treachery and torment, a world of trampling and being trampled upon, a world which will grow not less but more merciless as it refines itself. ... The old civilizations claimed that they were founded on love or justice. Ours is founded upon hatred. In our world there will be no emotions except fear, rage, [and] triumph ... Everything else we shall destroy ...

But it is a little harder to read and a lot less punchy that way (I think).

Comments

Barbara said…
In any form, not exactly uplifting! I hope 1984 never becomes actuality.
February 07, 2008 4:19 PM
Peko-peko said…
what a scary reality!! i think human being are really a capable of creating and destroying...but on brighter side i hope people will learn a lot from mistakes that we made it the past..and this world won't be that gloomy future :-)
February 08, 2008 8:48 AM
Richard said…
barbara: but don't we already live in? In our world there will be no emotions except fear, rage, and triumph. Do we not fear those who are different? Rage against those who will not conform to us? And exult in teh triumph of crushing them?

peko-peko: it is. I have long lost the expectation that people learn from the past. People don't want to learn lessons from it, they want to imitate it.
February 08, 2008 2:05 PM
Grumpy but sweet said…
I see everyone as so individual. Reactions are sometimes prompted by external factors, but I think ultimately we are all responsible for how we react.

I'm not sure much has actually changed over time. I'm not convinced it has.

I have seen people learn from the past and not learn from the past. It is such an individual thing.

I refuse to accept 1984 as prophetic. It is more reflective.
February 11, 2008 9:20 AM
Richard said…
ingrid: Of late (well, over the past few years), I too wonder if we have actually progressed and improved and become more civilized. The veneer of civilization seems so thin and hardly universal - even within "civilized" societies which boast the "rule of law".

I believed, until quite recently (if you call 3 years ago recent), that we were advancing that strides in "humanization" were well underway and that any aberrations were simply the remnants and last throes of an unjust and ignorant past.

Yet, the more I observe the world, the more I read ancient literature, I see that little has changed.
February 13, 2008 10:27 AM
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