When philosopher Erich Fromm introduced George Orwell’s novel 1984, he warned readers that the book was not about the Soviet Union and life under communism. 1984 was about the West, about democracy and the ease with which it can turn itself into dictatorship by succumbing to fear and hatred. The novel was Orwell’s warning that in the conflict between the western democracies and the communism of the Eastern Bloc, both systems would become less distinct, more like each other. Eventually, in fighting an ideological struggle, democracy would become more ideologically orthodox, more totalitarian. Communism would for its part borrow ever more the Western language of liberation and freedom. Orwell and Fromm both argued that, in ideological conflict, the main danger is not being defeated from the outside by the enemy. The main danger is that in fighting their enemy, each side will assume the characteristics of the other until…
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