Orwell and Havel

I am a huge fan of George Orwell. My favorite book of his is Homage to Catalonia which is his memoir of his participation in the Spanish Civil War. It seems that the recently departed Vaclav Havel (leader of and the best thing to come out of the post-Communist Czechoslovakia) is also a big fan of George. Orwell wrote of the potentiality of totalitarianism. Havel lived in it. Today, I picked up this quote from Havel, which could have come straight from Orwell.

The post-totalitarian system touches people at every step, but it does so with its ideological gloves on. This is why life in the system is so thoroughly permeated with hypocrisy and lies: government by bureaucracy is called popular government; the working class is enslaved in the name of the working class; the complete degradation of the individual is presented as his ultimate liberation; depriving people of information is called making it available; the use of power to manipulate is called the public control of power, and the arbitrary abuse of power is called observing the legal code; the repression of culture is called its development; the expansion of imperial influence is presented as support for the oppressed; the lack of free expression becomes the highest form of freedom; farcical elections become the highest form of democracy; banning independent thought becomes the most scientific of world views; military occupation becomes fraternal assistance. Because the regime is captive to its own lies, it must falsify everything. It falsifies the past. It falsifies the present, and it falsifies the future. It falsifies statistics. It pretends not to possess an omnipotent and unprincipled police apparatus. It pretends to respect human rights. It pretends to persecute no one. It pretends to fear nothing. It pretends to pretend nothing.

 Ladies and gents: This is as good an example of clear thinking as you'll ever see.