Notes for Remarks to Carleton University – September 5, 2012
By Allan R. Gregg
“Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities” – Voltaire
In his novel 1984, George Orwell paints a portrait of a nightmarish future where rights that we now take for granted – the freedom of assembly, speech and to trial – have all been suspended. Acceptance of this totalitarian state is justified by the interests of stability and order, and by the needs a perpetual war. But what makes 1984 endure where other dystopian novels have been forgotten is that Orwell removed one more right that is even more unimaginable in a modern context – the right to think. Read the full essay on Allan Gregg’s blog.
