Nineteen Eighty-Four

“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.” 

Thoughtful words from a book first published in 1949, which could be still applicable to the political engagement of citizens. Aren’t they? Orwell’s prediction of the nature of the current war is a stroke of genius.