Thursday, October 18, 2007

1984 for Prospective Students

In the book 1984, O'Brien briefs Winston about grad school...

Nineteen Eighty Four, Part III, Chapter III
George Orwell
"
The advisors seek power entirely for their own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power. Not wealth or luxury or long life or happiness: only power, pure power.
Power is not a means, it is an end.
(...)
'How does one man assert his power over another, Winston?'
(...)
By making him suffer. Obedience is not enough. Unless he is suffering, how can you be sure that he is obeying your will and not his own? Power is in inflicting pain and humiliation. Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing.
(...)
In our world there will be no emotions except fear, rage, triumph, and self-abasement. Everything else we shall destroy everything. Already we are breaking down the habits of thought which have survived from before the Revolution. We have cut the links between child and parent, and between man and man, and between man and woman.
(...)
If you want a picture of grad school, imagine a boot stamping on a human face -- for ever.'
(...)
"
Source: George-Orwell.org keeping the texts online.

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