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Saturday, August 06, 2005

Thoughts

I was reading 1984 by George Orwell when this thought struck me. I had read The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand recently and there is this common theme which I found running in both these books. Both the authors seem to be screaming one single thing. Asking their readers to do that one thing which enables them to be reading their books. The thing that makes the readers human beings. They are asking us to THINK.

The negative characters in both the books (I haven't read 1984 completely yet) establish a supremacy not on the physical but instead on the mental aspect of other people. When we read stories with villains who use violence to spread their dominance, we invaraibly come across heroes who match their physical strength in some way and usually succeed in overthrowing the villain by the end of the story. However, in Fountainhead, Ellsworth Toohey continues to govern how thousands of people think. Big Brother of 1984 , it seems, will continue watching.

While a person knows when he is being physically assaulted, mental manipulation goes undetected. The victim does not realise when he loses his power to think independently. Once he starts thinking what he is told to think, obedience in actions follow. Thus, the manipulator is able to establish complete control without the use of violence.

Thinking independently is a right, a privelege, a luxury we very readily surrender. Some of us have never done it all our lives. Parents, elder siblings or "wiser" peers govern what we think or do. Opinions are rarely one's own. If we start examining the thoughts we have in our head, we are likely to find that a lot of them are borrowed.

An area where I find myself struggling to think independently is Books. I usually read famous books and am generally not the first person in my acquaintance to be reading it. Famous books usually carry reviews from leading critics. Add to that the opinion of my acquaintance who has already read it and possibly recommended it. Hence, even before I start reading the book, I have preconceived notions in my head about what is that one thing that makes the book special and worth the read. All this results in a frequent absence of finding the reason why I enjoyed the book or why I would recommend others to read the book or in some extraordinary cases, whether or not I enjoyed the book! I have come across others who when asked how they found a book say it was nice or a good read. Probe them further and you will find them struggling for words.

Thinking. Thinking Independently. Questioning and Reasoning. Using logic. Analysing. We need to do all this. And to begin, we first need to identify the areas where we have already submitted our intellect.

4 Comments:

At August 07, 2005 9:10 PM, Blogger Domesticated Bachelor said...

Havent read Fountainhead, but i have read her Anthem which is pretty much on the same lines, but more of a search of the "I"

Its no different and i guess we are heading Big Brother's way - the govt is telling us what not to show in movies. and next we will be showing only moralistic tales! GAH! They should all be taken out and shot in the head and maybe some sense will get in.

I usually avoid popular fiction, and i select my reading.

 
At August 09, 2005 7:46 PM, Blogger Eastmancolour said...

I love this :D
you're right !
we need to find this method.
we need to enhance our skills!
we need to learn !!!

we need to take over the world!

ahem

But that you said..is true. The rule of the mind.. dont let the masses think. That's smooth :)

you must've already read it..but it not.. try reading "Sophie's World" by Jostien Gaarder :)

 
At September 10, 2005 11:03 AM, Blogger The Tobacconist said...

We do end up reading books that are "famous" don't we. Now that I have access to a really large collection of books I still find myself searching for ones that have been read the most. For eg. when I am not too sure about how good a book is, I open the jacket and take a look at how many times it has been stamped. That's a measure for me :)

And I have nothing against nose rings. It just looks funny on Sania. And I was mega-grumpy when I wrote that post.

You have a neat blog here.

BTW, 1984 is simbly awesum no?

 
At September 10, 2005 11:59 AM, Blogger The Tobacconist said...

Hyper? You don't know hyper. I've gotten worse.

Anyway thanks for dropping by.

 

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