Hillary Clinton has an interesting interpretation of George Orwell’s “1984.”
In her 2016 presidential race tell-all, “What Happened,” the former first lady argues the lesson to be drawn from the classic dystopian novel is to trust one’s leaders, the press and experts.
“Attempting to define reality is a core feature of authoritarianism,” Mrs. Clinton writes. “This is what the Soviets did when they erased political dissidents from historical photos. This is what happens in George Orwell’s classic novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, when a torturer holds up four fingers and delivers electric shocks until his prisoner sees five fingers as ordered.
“The goal is to make you question logic and reason and to sow mistrust towards exactly the people we need to rely on: our leaders, the press, experts who seek to guide public policy based on evidence, ourselves,” she continues.
Mrs. Clinton argues the Trump administration resembles the regime portrayed in the novel.
“If he stood up tomorrow and declared that the Earth is flat, his counselor Kellyanne Conway might just go on Fox News and defend it as an ’alternative fact,’ and too many people would believe it,” she writes.
• Bradford Richardson can be reached at brichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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