As I read, I kept chuckling at myself for thinking every few pages, "As in Mormonism... As in Mormonism..."

This passage about doublethink fits so well with the way ChurchCo deals with its history, doctrines and "truth," and how members are complicit:

>>And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed— if all records told the same tale— then the lie passed into history and became truth. ‘Who controls the past,’ ran the Party slogan, ‘controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.’ And yet the past, though of its nature alterable, never had been altered. Whatever was true now was true from everlasting to everlasting. It was quite simple. All that was needed was an unending series of victories over your own memory. ‘Reality control’, they called it: in Newspeak, ‘doublethink’.

>>...His mind slid away into the labyrinthine world of doublethink. To know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully-constructed lies, to hold simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them; to use logic against logic, to repudiate morality while laying claim to it, to believe that democracy was impossible and that the Party was the guardian of democracy; to forget whatever it was necessary to forget, then to draw it back into memory again at the moment when it was needed, and then promptly to forget it again: and above all, to apply the same process to the process itself. That was the ultimate subtlety: consciously to induce unconsciousness, and then, once again, to become unconscious of the act of hypnosis you had just performed. Even to understand the word ‘doublethink’ involved the use of doublethink.<<

And, of course, there are the second and third points of The Party's motto:

FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

Recent GAs have preached that total obedience is actually freedom. (Yeah, right.) And we all know how they feel about knowing too much (despite the glory of God being intelligence).



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/12/2014 10:18AM by Stray Mutt.

Interesting post, Mutt. I had surgery a few months ago and gathered up some books to read while I recovered. I hadn't read 1984 since High School but decided to give it another whirl since it is so often quoted on RfM.

OMG!! The brainwashing, obsessiveness to obedience, and the re-writing of history was identical to the mind games played by the church.

When questioned about the doctrine of Godhood on national television, The Prophet Gordon B. Hinkley denied that we can become Gods. "I don't know that we teach that," he said.

WHAT THE HELL?!

I'd been taught the principle of eternal progression my entire adult life! Then *poof* it all disappears down the worm hole. It seriously disturbed me that core doctrines could be changed in the blink of an eye. Everyone just accepted the prophets words, forgot about achieving Godhood, earning our own planets, and creating worlds/posterity without end.

I felt like Winston in my confusion.

So there is no alternative but to go along with the current political (religious) beliefs. Unless, of course, you want to become an enemy to the state (church) and all that entails - everything from becoming a social pariah, to losing your family and job, to actual death.

So, for survival's sake, our thoughts must conform to the party line. Say it with me now . . . .

"We have always been at war with Eastasia."
"I know the church is true."

Scary stuff, mind control.

;o)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/12/2014 11:13AM by shannon.

I read "1984" as required reading in high school. Even at that tender age, I couldn't help but notice the correlation between that world and the LDS Church. But I was so young then that I just sort of blew it off.

As a sophomore at BYU, I read "1984" again, and this time, it really disrupted my testimony. I really, really started thinking that the Church might not be true.

Fast forward a couple of decades. I suggested to my high school son that he read "1984." By the time he did, he was done with TSCC.

Bottom line -- don't read "1984" if you expect to maintain faith in LDS Inc.

From my perspective, 1984 is the best LDS faith-destroying book there is, with the possible exception of the Tanner's book. The beauty of "1984" is that the LDS Church is never mentioned but any astute reader cannot fail to see the similarities.

Jethro Tull Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> From my perspective, 1984 is the best LDS
> faith-destroying book there is, with the possible
> exception of the Tanner's book.

Please elaborate - can you or someone else provide more details about "Tanner's book"? It sounds like something I need to read.

The Tanner's book is called "Mormonism - Shadow or Reality." It has been around for decades. You can get a copy at

http://www.utlm.org/booklist/titles/mormonismshadoworreality_ub001.htm


A few hours of reading this book will destroy any LDS testimony.

Thank you - I 'll give it a read.

this 1984 quote just posted as my status on FB...

I read "1984" in 1964...on a trip to Utah to spend Christmas at my aunt's place in Mount Pleasant. Now, 50 years later, that book was waaaaay too prophetic...and not JUST about Mormonism.

Ron Burr

Obedience, the most popular word in all of Mormondom, is the central conceit of 1984. For members of the outer party (unconnected), obedience was everything. Members of the inner party could feign rebellion, but they wouldn't think of really abandoning their gravy train. So obedience and fealty were all they had. I have seen this among my own TBM family members:

Following without conscience. Obeying without questioning. Covenanting without regard. Judging without tolerance. Pontificating without study. Reproducing without a thought of the consequences.

donbagley Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Pontificating without study.

Yes, oh yes.

IIRC, the Party in 1984 was trying to reduce the entire language to a single irreducible word-"Ingsoc." I'm thinking that the single Mormon word that includes all others would be "testimony." Or possibly "sustain," maybe 'covenants."

It seems as though Orwell's last paragraph in 1984 sums up the moment in many questioning TBM's minds when they give in. Edited below for TSCC context -

"He gazed up at the enormous face of Thomas S. Monson on the conference center jumbotron. Forty years it had taken him to learn what kind of dark men were hidden behind the PR polished prophets. O cruel, needless misunderstanding! O stubborn, self-willed exile from the loving breast! Two jello-scented tears trickled down the sides of his nose. But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved the Big Prophet."

I wonder how many know and stay? How many have gone "Winston" and have convinced themselves the 15 really care beyond the business? How many times have you heard "I love the prophet" in F&T?