An infirmity once characterizing the past century’s most severe
totalitarian regimes has now taken root in Western public discourse and
practice, a process akin to Orwellian “double think” acting as a form of
de facto censorship preempting consideration of major issues and
events. This mindset is obliquely shared by a majority of professional
journalists, academics, and public office holders—in short, those who
represent and lead public opinion. Their collective publicity of the
unsaid preserves and perpetuates existing belief systems and power
relations. To be sure, there are self-evident injunctions for those
straying from such unspoken protocols, including expulsion from this
professional class.
Once a state-endorsed narrative of a questionable event has been
presented to and conveyed by the mainstream news media, it is almost
invariably accepted without question by “Inner Party” members. Such
silence is abetted by a mechanical allegiance to prevailing authority
figures and institutional power. In possessing such a worldview one
reflexively forfeits personal integrity to uphold the collective
publicity of the unspeakable and an overarching faith in the given
sociopolitical system’s artificial spontaneity. Alternative
interpretations of such events by the laity can be dismissed out-of-hand
as “conspiracy theories,” thereby further confirming the Party’s creed.
The publicity of the unspeakable ensures that, under
penalty of de facto or formal censure, deference to official narratives
will increasingly eclipse free inquiry and expression in the West.
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