Two Minute Hate

 

As I once mentioned in a post on another blog, with every U.S. Presidential election cycle, a reference to 1984 and Big Brother is leveled against one - or sometimes, both - candidates. In that post, I included images of Presidents Bush, Obama and Trump as Big Brother. The post also includes a similar image with Hillary Clinton.

In an earlier post on this blog, I wrote that I would be reading (and re-reading) a number of dystopian novels this month. I've just finished re-reading 1984 and I noticed something that has been frequently used in Presidential elections, but never mentioned out loud, as far as I can tell.

Early in the novel, Orwell writes of the Two Minutes Hate where Outer Party members of Oceania view a film of enemies of the State - usually Emmanuel Goldstein - and are encouraged to openly display their hatred for the enemy. While I was reading this section, I immediately thought of the Left's reaction to Donald Trump. The hatred is similarly coming from raw emotion, rather than logic.

It didn't take long for me to understand that not only were these "Two Minute Hates" recently directed at Trump, but had been used earlier by Republicans against Obama and Hillary Clinton. The Left had also used the same tactic against George W. Bush.

As I write this, I haven't noticed the same "Two Minute Hate" technique used against Biden. Perhaps because his persona as a tried old man works better for the Republicans.

Unfortunately, noticing this doesn't help stop it. Just more evidence of the U.S. going to Hell in a hand-basket.