Crimestop: The mental art of self-repression

In his masteful novel 1984, George Orwell at one point describes a form of social control known as crimestop:

"...The first and simplest stage in the discipline, which can be taught even to young children, is called...crimestop. Crimestop means the faculty of stopping short, as though by instinct, at the threshold of any dangerous thought. It includes the power of not grasping analogies, of failing to perceive logical errors, of misunderstanding the simplest arguments if they are inimical to [the party ideology], and of being bored or repelled by any train of thought which is capable of leading in a heretical direction. Crimestop, in short, means protective stupidity."

-Orwell, 1984

There are many things in 1984 that are relevant to today's world. People usually focus on the survalience aspects, but here we see something deeper, sicker: a type of deliberately instilled self-monitoring on an instinctive or perhaps subconsuous level. Perhaps "monitoring" is not the right word here. It is, as Orwell puts it, the mental art of "stopping short."

I see examples of "crimestop" every day in the way people stubbornly refuse to question their ideology or belief-system of choice. Hysterical political correctness on the left, delusional towing the party line on the right. It can also take religious or other doctrinal forms. In Orwell's hideous world, this is something instilled by the state in a top-down manner. There may indeed be tendencies towards such efforts (please point them out if you think they exist). But what might be even sicker is the possiblity that people are quite happy to do this of their own free will. That there may even be no need for TPTB to work towards mental crimestop...perhaps its even a fudamental aspect of the psyche, serving survival needs by creating social cohesion.

Discuss.

Is it simply a matter of not 'knowing' another option exists? My mother wouldn't allow me to eat raw cookie dough as a child for fear of illness from raw eggs. As an adult my stomach turns when the prospect of eating it comes my way. I know the danger is minimal if even existent, but the imposed decision sent my brain into subjugated reasoning. Now I am in the 'knowing no other options' course. If behaviors are avoided long enough due to being socially unacceptable, one will loose desire, will and eventually the knowledge of any other choices.

"Ignorance is bliss" and conditioned behavior.

2nd line

This stuff has a serious grip on people already, definitely.


For example here is a building:




And here is that building after it has been rendered destroyed:




Notice that the debris rests where the base of the building used to be?


Not according to the people who have been arguing the obvious with me lately.

They totally ignore the amount of debris in the footprint of this building to insinuate that it fell somewhere else instead.

Perfect example of the OP.


Anyone with eyes can see where the debris went by simply looking at those images. But then look how "crimestop" prevents people from seeing the obvious anyway.

This is all about belonging.

Humans are pathetically weak and inept when left alone in the wild, so we evolved as social creatures. Human evolution has been the evolution of groups just as much as the evolution of individuals. Survival meant being part of a group, so we developed in some ways like bees, evolving a "groupthink" that bound the group together.

As belonging was essential to survival, it became important to believe what the group believed and seeing the world through your own eyes became a danger, as this could make you different. So we developed the ability of blindness to fit in.

Orwell's 1984 is powerful and full of truth because he was not just imagining a future, he was keenly observing the present. He was aware of this human ability to see or not see, in order to be one with society.

9/11 was a splendid example of this, with people being told over and over what it was they had seen, and the message being put out continually that if you did not see these events in the "correct" manner, you are not part of American society; you are "other."

This is why paid debunkers continually use ridicule in their debunking. They are getting the message across to observers that such ideas put you outside the norm, and you will be left alone and unprotected if you don't follow the official line.

Crimestop is just an extension of the same mechanism. A person's brain can filter out a train of thought which may lead to an undesirable action.