Orwell on Gaza

Posted By Stephen M. Walt Tuesday, January 6, 2009 - 1:45 AM Share

Over at TPMCafe, Israel Policy Forum's M.J. Rosenberg spotlights a telling quotation from George Orwell that is directly relevant to the current furor over the attack on Gaza. Money sentence:

Actions are held to be good or bad, not on their own merits, but according to who does them, and there is almost no kind of outrage -- torture, the use of hostages, forced labour, mass deportations, imprisonment without trial, forgery, assassination, the bombing of civilians -- which does not change its moral colour when it is committed by 'our' side."

Orwell also said "In an age of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act." Kudos to M.J.: a truth-teller, and quiet revolutionary.

EXPLORE:MIDDLE EAST, ISRAEL/PALESTINE

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POET

4:46 AM ET

January 7, 2009

speaking of revolutionary act

i think putting mondoweiss at the top of your blogroll is a revolutionary act.

you have no idea how many people you've rattled with that little act.

i know you didn't mean it like that.

wink wink.

great pick with tikun olam as well. though the philosophy of tikun olam - we must restore G-D who is broken into a million little pieces - is hella idealistic and doesn't fit your world view.