1984

1984 is a novel by George Orwell. In it, he shared his vision of a totalitarian government, which subjected all their people to pervasive surveillance (telescreen shadowing you the entire day to scrutinise your every action, ThoughtPolice and extent to which they monitor even your thoughts) and incessant mind control (Newspeak to drastically reduce words in the English Language and hence limiting the range of human thought, Anti-Sex campaigns to re-direct the people's energies to wars and being stoked by government propaganda).

I thought it was an excellent read, which got even better upon chancing across a certain passage. The passage bears close resemblance to a previous phase of my life, when I scorned religion and spoke out vehemently against it. I read very deeply into the subject of religion, debating arguments for and against blind faith. I remained objective, reading works by authors on opposing sides. When I pointed out these arguments to some of my believer friends, I was almost amused to discover that they had no inkling of such discourse. It didn't matter to them. All that mattered was that they believed, and they shut all opposing opinions out, almost like the petulant little child who sticks his fingers into his ears and shuts his eyes upon learning that he has lost the argument.

The relevant portion is duly reproduced here:
In the ramifications of Party doctrine she had not the faintest interest. Whenever he began to talk of the principles of Ingsoc, doublethink, the mutability of the past and the denial of objective reality, and to use Newspeak words, she became bored and confused and said that she never paid any attention to that kind of thing... If he persisted in talking of such subjects, she had a disconcerting habit of falling asleep... In a way, the world-view of the Party imposed itself most successfully on people incapable of understanding it. They could be made to accept the most flagrant violations of reality, because they never fully grasped the enormity of what was demanded of them, and were not sufficiently interested in public events to notice what was happening. By lack of understanding they remained sane. They simply swallowed everything, and what they swallowed did them no harm, because it left no residue behind, just as a grain of corn will pass undigested through the body of a bird. (pg. 163)

I've since moved on from that phase of my life. Now I mostly prefer to speak when talked to, and voice my opinions when probed.