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The Kavanaugh Hearings: One Step Away from “Room 101” in 1984?
Perhaps some day we will come to see Justice Kavanaugh as the closest thing we have in modern times to the abjectly miserable Winston Smith in Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984, who suffered unspeakable forms of torture in “Room 101,” the worst torture chamber of all in Oceania.
Perhaps, in fact, that day is here, as the final day of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings brought us to a new low of ruthless cruelty in an attempt to destroy a man and his family. I would posit that this kind of barbarity and savagery is just one baby step away from the “creative” methods of torture administered to Winston Smith and any of his fellow Oceanians who ran afoul of the dreaded “Thought Police”.
And, what was in Room 101? As O’Brien told Winston as he was being led to the room of so many nightmares on Oceania:
“You asked me once,” said O’Brien, “what was in Room 101. I told you that you knew the answer already. Everyone knows it. The thing that is in Room 101 is the worst thing in the world.”
“The worst thing in the world,” said O’Brien, “varies from individual to individual. It may be burial alive, or death by fire, or by drowning, or by impalement, or fifty other deaths.”
“‘In your case,” said O’Brien, “the worst thing in the world happens to be rats.”
In the novel, recalling an earlier incident when Winston and his (forbidden) paramour were intruded upon by a large rat, surveilled by the “Thought Police” through the all knowing telescreens installed everywhere in the country, the “worst thing in the world” to Winston was a rat. O’Brien goes on to explain the nature of the horrific torture he has planned for Winston, involving an imaginative device which fits onto Winston’s face containing very large, and very hungry, brown rats. The thing, a cage with several chambers which can be opened in sequence allowing the rats to get closer and closer to the face of the “enemy of the State” until he or she either dies of shock or tells the Thought Police what they want to hear. O’Brien describes their demonic reasoning in this passage:
“By itself,” he said, “pain is not always enough. There are occasions when a human being will stand out against pain, even to the point of death. But for everyone there is something unendurable—something that cannot be contemplated. … It is the same with the rats. For you, they are unendurable. They are a form of pressure that you cannot withstand, even if you wish to. You will do what is required of you.”
For those of you who followed this National disgrace as we did, you will know where this is going, because what would be the worst thing in the world for a man like Judge Kavanaugh, a man whose life’s record of accomplishment is simply, there is no other word for it, legendary in the annals of law and jurisprudence? While none of us can claim to know the answer to that question, we may reasonably surmise an answer based upon the intensity and emotion of his responses at the now-iconic speech he gave in answer to the gutter slanders of the despicable creatures on the Democrat side of the committee.
The “worst thing in the world” for this devoted and loving husband of Ashley and father of Margaret and Liza, son of his Mom and Dad, brilliant student and lawyer and closest assistant to a President of the United States, a Judge whose 312 opinions are masterpieces of legal erudition—would be for his honor and integrity to be besmirched before the world—but so much more importantly to this fine man—before his wife and little girls and Mom and Dad.
And so it was in our modern version of Room 101, which contained “the worst thing in the world” for The Honorable Brett Kavanaugh.
And, don’t believe the remnants from Oceania such as Spartacus and the blandly sinister Feinstein and Stolen Valor Blumenthal and their fellow brown rats didn’t know exactly what the “worst thing in the world” was for this truly Honorable man.
To those who may feel I have become just a tad overwrought about this: I have in my family beautiful little girls I absolutely adore, I have a wife who has been my life partner for almost half a century without whom I cannot envision life, I had a Mom and Dad I revered and I have been blessed with some of the most amazing friends, far and wide, anyone could hope to have. I simply cannot imagine what a man of such towering quality must have gone through while having his obviously adoring wife and precious little girls hearing this steady stream of raw sewage being poured all over their Dad and Husband by bottom feeding vermin like those who mounted this dreadful lynching.
Room 101?
Yes!
Complete with a pack of avariciously hungry rats.
Published in General
However, Justice Kavanaugh did not succumb to the RATS. I cried with him prior to his swearing in, and cried after he was sworn in, in relief. His wife and daughters will stand by him and have learned how to withstand the RATS.
Indeed. The Orwellian stuff was already in full swing under Obama, and it’s getting worse. Newspeak, Doublespeak, Wrongthink, Thought Police. It’s all unfolding before our eyes.
Thanks a lot for reminding me of the rats.
I do not suspect that we will be that lucky.
While I find all of the Nineteen-Eighty Four references these days refreshing with respect to interest in the old and classic offerings by intelligent, knowledgeable people, I find myself more partial to a slightly older reference – The Iron Heel by Jack London:
Scary, fictional stuff. But, to your point, there is the losing of ones own history to the official, documented “story”:
@jimgeorge: Nailed it. Thank you.
@philo: Gilded the lily. Well done. Haven’t read that London work. Will now.
@jimgeorge, I was just beginning to recover from my anger, and now you’ve rekindled it. There is no milder way to describe what those despicable people deliberately did to Justice Kavanaugh than outrageous.
Thanks for reminding me of what the Democrat leadership has become.
Thank you for the cite to the book, with which I must admit I was not familiar; like @bossmongo, I will put it on my reading list, which is hopelessly lengthy!
Not in an argumentative way at all, but I did want to ask you to clarify the meaning of your statement that we will not be that lucky; I can’t imagine anyone reading my opening statement and taking it as a description of something to be desired as a future outcome. If it was obvious, I enter a plea of advancing Senioritis, in advance.
I was not at all aware that Jack London every wrote anything dystopian, and looking forward to getting it; thanks again,
Sincerely, Jim
I wonder, how many ordinary Americans ended up identifying with Justice Kavanaugh, and will vote against the party of persecution this November? They must know if a decent, honorable human being can be dragged through the mud like they saw, the same thing could happen to them . . .
I kept thinking that too. I’m pretty sure everyone, including every one of those Democrats, knows deep down that Brett Kavanaugh is a good and decent man who has led an honorable life. His college escapades only added a dimension of normalcy to him, keeping him from being an unrealistic goody two-shoes. So they used it against him. Who among us, especially men, didn’t wonder what hope they had if some woman ever got mad at them?
It’s like the converse of my reaction when Hillary allowed Ambassador Stevens to be slaughtered, ignoring his repeated pleas for help. I was shocked when I learned he was her friend, and I thought, If this is how she treats her friends, what hope do the rest of us have?
I wondered about this. Pre-Lovely and Talented Mrs. Mongo, I was kinda/sorta off the chains; too, it took me a while to figure out the “hot vs. crazy” scale. O! Would that we had the internet back in the day.
The only thing I can think (that would be appropriate to/for me) would be to react to near ambush:
Grenades? Assault? Sure.
And on. You want to bring specious claims? Fine. I’ll throw grenades and assault through.
Probably not appropriate tactic for a SC Justice…
@kayofmt, you hit right on the one thing that worried me right after I sent this one out, as my admiration for the tenacity of Justice Kavanaugh–and the rare fortitude shown by the President at at time when many before him have cut and run– and I thought to myself: I’m not being fair enough to the Judge in forgetting all about how strong and courageous he– and his wife, Ashley, and his parents and his little girls, and everyone around him–was in the midst of a firestorm which anyone would be understood if they just said–nothing is worth all this savagery to me and my family. what a wonderful thing to see someone look straight in the eyes of those [ ]s (C of C) and tell them how repulsive and disgusting they all are! How many times have we ever seen that from a prominent political leader?
Thanks for the note, Jim.
My point was that, given the current trends, it is not very likely that the Kavanaugh Event will be “the closest thing we have in modern times to the abjectly miserable Winston Smith…” In fact, we would have to be very lucky for it to be the closest thing. It may be the most public and most high profile (for a while) but there will be worse…and many, many more. The fact is that Kavanaugh was a (farcical) tragedy but this will be played out as statistics. Nineteen-Eighty Four is about the machine, the machine that will mindlessly perform these assassinations of human souls, not only throughout high profile government and media cases but also down through every corporate boardroom and cubicle farm. No matter how big or small.
As for London, I have recommended here before (for those familiar with their Orwell) that The People of the Abyss and The Road are good predecessors to The Iron Heel as a kind of parallel trilogy to Down and Out in Paris and London, The Road to Wigan Pier, and Nineteen-Eighty Four. In both cases, the series is a good way to get into the authors mind and/or his experiences before entering his dystopia.
Huh: we had a room 101 reference in the Flagship Podcast, I believe. I think we may have discussed the 1984 movie here on R a while ago, but it bears repeating: it is a remarkable work, and Richard Burton’s performance as O’Brien brings a quality to the character not evident in Orwell’s words, at least as I recall them. He is not a monster, and is all the more terrifying for it.
@jameslileks, thank you! I think! The reason for the ambiguity in my expression of appreciation to your comment is that in all the years in the practice of “actual law”, stated that way to contradistinghis it from that “practice” engaged in by billboard and TV lawyers, I have had many responses by Judges and adversaries to the quality vel non of my briefs, arguments, cross-examinations, many not kind and a very few complimentary but in all those years I never once had an “huh” unttil this very day! Therefore, your comment sent me scurrying to a dictionary, where I found the following:
continuing:
“huh interjection
\ a grunt articulated as a syllabic m or nwith a voiceless onset or as the syllable ˈhə or ˈhəⁿ, often ending in a glottal stop, and uttered with a range of intonations ; often read as ˈhə\
Definition of huh
—used to express surprise, disbelief, or confusion, or as an inquiry inviting affirmative reply”
Therefore, I wondered whether this was a uniquely Minnesotan expression, with which a Cajun from South Louisiana would not be at all familiar!
Incidentally, having just a little knowledge of your level of erudition, I also want you to know that I accidentally hit the comment button before going back and correcting the misspelled words which probably jumped off the page upon first reading.
As to the source of the idea behind the post, I should note it was definitely not your group’s podcast, as I stopped listening to it a while back as I, along with apparently other Ricochetti from some of the comments I have seen, got weary of the steady dose of Never Trumpism by one of your colleagues, and there are just too many other sources out there to listen to what I found to be a more and more tiresome line of dialogue. Other than that one contributor, I thoroughly enjoyed your podcast. What prompted the idea was watching the agony, pain and hurt of this very fine man in his final speech after just re-reading the novel; it occurred to me that, for this man, what they inflicted upon him and his sterling family was, indeed, “the worst thing in the world.”
Thanks for the note, and all the best,
Sincerely, Jim
That’s a charitable thing to say to a guy who started a post with “Huh.” ;) And thanks!