Europe Is Learning to Love Big Brother
Constantin von Hoffmeister
Eurosiberia
The Doctrine of Doublethink
It is a peculiar feature of the age that the most intelligent people are often the most incapable of seeing the contradictions that govern their lives.
The European citizen of 2025 does not live under tyranny in the traditional sense. He possesses bank accounts, passports, and broadband access. He may travel freely, vote regularly, and express opinions within established limits. Yet it is precisely within these limits that the condition of his unfreedom is revealed. For he believes that he is free, even as every mechanism of his civilization is designed to condition his behavior, narrow his vocabulary, and discourage his thought.
This is the triumph of doublethink.
Doublethink, properly understood, is not mere hypocrisy. It is not the act of lying, nor even the act of knowing one lies. It is the cultivated ability to believe two contradictory things simultaneously, and to believe both with equal conviction. It is to say, “I support free speech,” and to mean, “I support the regulation of speech I consider harmful.” It is to assert, “There are no forbidden ideas,” and to follow that statement with, “except those ideas which challenge the moral consensus.” The function of doublethink is not to deceive but to stabilize. In an unstable world, the lie that is believed by all becomes more comforting than the truth that shatters the narrative.


















