2084: The Reawakening
Entry 5 & 6
In 2084 all is peace and harmony. Dissent is a forgotten relic of the past. But can new ideas and individual thought be permanently suppressed? Should they be?
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ENTRY FIVE
It’s been a while since I’ve been able to get back to this journal. Things have been working out well, in a sorry sort of way. We apprehended the ‘suspect’ after monitoring her for about a month. She insisted she had never so much as had a disloyal thought. But of course, that’s what they all say!
I felt bad at what was happening to her, but she would suffer no consequences in the end. I assured her there would be no problems if she cooperated. She was not really guilty of anything, or at least, guilt is relative. But she was not as popular as others in her department, didn’t try to fit in, and when the others were prompted to find a conspirator, she was a sitting duck. No one would speak on her behalf, given that they had previously condemned her. Those who had previously refrained from speaking against her, would now refrain from speaking for her, in order to protect their own self-interest. With very little effort, I had control of the dynamics.
I don’t know how I didn’t anticipate this moment. Maybe it’s because I wasn’t sure that it would work. Would the office really turn on someone, with only a little suggestion? Yes, I now know, they would. I have to think of the many times that this has probably happened, and no one even realized it. Not the people involved, not the Investigators or Prosecutors. No one. This, in a System that is supposed to protect us all, equally!
I think of the old man. There was no reason for any of it, yet they pushed him through The System for no other reason that it’s The System. Before, I tentatively questioned the System. Now, I condemn it outright. Before, I wondered if it was just me, if I was the oddball that couldn’t comprehend; now I know I’m not. I don’t know if there are just two like me, or many thousands, millions, but I will not make it about numbers. The System is wrong. It demands compliance of us, but has no soul, no sense of the individuality of the spirit. I have been slow and reluctant to reach this conclusion, but there it is. Call me Heretic. Call me a Disloyalist. If I am those things, I have no problem with it!
My immediate problem was with what to do with this woman who I had to arrest, but could not harm. I hoped that Reeducation would work out. It would satisfy those in the office, and after Reeducation she could put it all behind her. I went through the motions of an arraignment, but assured her from the start that I saw no problem with getting the entire situation behind us.
She was surprised when we apprehended her. She swore that she had never thought or said anything inappropriate. But we had the evidence to prove her wrong. We had numerous affidavits from coworkers attesting to her subversive nature. Reading the affidavits, the suspect was perplexed. She didn’t remember the occasions in the same way as the affidavits stated. Over the course of just a few days I had her convinced that she really was guilty, even if it had been unintentional. A truly innocent person would not even inadvertently make the kind of statements that others claimed she made. I suggested that, since she was mostly a good person, I was sure she could be Reeducated. Yes, there was a significant fine, but if she refused to comply, Reeducation II meant total confiscation of all possessions and assets. I told her that if she made a full confession, I would recommend Reeducation I. I well remember the look of relief! She would say anything I wanted. Confess to anything I asked her to, if she could get off with Reeducation I.
I never processed the fine. I am personally seeing to her Reeducation. I feel like a creep, that I have done this, but I dare not reveal myself. My convictions concerning The System are valid, but I cannot honestly say that I am above reproach. I see now that nearly anyone can be accused and convicted of almost anything. It’s frightening. How many has this happened to? How many will it happen to?
And what do I do now? I can’t keep prosecuting, following the protocol, when I know how hollow it is. I can resign, but that only gets me out from under. There are innocent people who need to be protected, and perhaps I have a unique means of protecting them. As far as I know, I and my two conspirators are the only ones in the ministry who are even aware there is a problem. And, speaking of problems, with my recent success at uncovering a ‘seditionist’ within the ministry, there are now more people being accused of sedition.
I remember reading about the Salem witch trials. This is like that. Except that I know they aren’t witches. I started this, now I need to find a way to see it through without harming innocent people. The Salem witch trials. The prosecutor was convinced that there were witches and that what he was doing furthered the cause of justice, protected the community. We think of that as ancient history, in a time when people weren’t so wise. We are no more wise, now.
In only a few weeks, I have had two more cases brought to me. I could track both to instances of bad blood and office rivalry. One was a strategic move by one clique to gain political advantage over another clique.
I was on a tightrope. I could have called them out for their hypocrisy and vindictiveness, but they would have turned on me, and I have no idea how that might have worked out. The accusers supplied affidavits that had official bearing, but were absurd in fact. This is The System! I worked the cases through and got the defendants nice, easy Reeducation I. That process worked somewhat to the advantage of the defendants, with relocation to offices away from their accusers. I like to think I benefited them overall.
But maybe I’m just kidding myself. I started all this just to see if I could do it, just to see if my suspicions were right. I never thought about how right I might be. And now I wonder if I should have just left well enough alone. What have I done? Is it my fault that I have started this? Or their fault that it works? At the very least, we are all flawed, and The System does nothing to counter it. Exacerbates it, even.
But the third case caused more concern. Or joy, depending on how you look at it. He was a believer! In a one-on-one interview, it was easy enough to see. But what could I do? He refused to go along. He would not confess, even if there was no punishment. He could not be convinced, cajoled into believing he had done anything wrong. He challenged me on it. He challenged me rather than merely defend himself! He called out The System for its hypocrisy! He would not enter Reeducation.
The old man came back to mind. Cancellation came to mind. This man, being in the Ministry, was more aware than most of the ramifications. But he, too, would take Cancellation over Reeducation. I felt guilty. This might never have happened if I hadn’t tried to test my hypothesis about how corrupt The System is. I begged the man to just take the Reeducation and get it over with. I told him I could make the fine go away. He would have none of it. He would not confess to impure thoughts or to subverting anything.
I guess, when you don’t know what to do, do nothing. I was able to get him released on bail. I even managed to get him transferred to another department. Maybe, in time, I can drop the charges, and no one will notice. I have grown a bit, within myself, since I prosecuted the old man. I didn’t strictly follow protocol in this case, and I made it work out. Things can work so much better, when you think for yourself rather than follow the rules!
But the floodgates are open! I get more and more cases. Suddenly, people believe in witches! What authorities do I turn to, when the authorities are the problem?! The good news is, I’ve been finding out there’s more than two of us. A lot more than two of us!
And, bless their hearts, people are finding witches in the general population. I mean, ‘seditionists’. I remember how alone I felt, not so long ago. Not so long ago, I was trying to find anyone who saw what I saw, thought as I thought. I’m not feeling so alone now! But I still have to keep things under wraps. If it were known what is playing in my mind, well Cancellation is not out of the question.
They say that in the witch trials, those who insisted on their own innocence were presumed to be witches because only witches would deny their sin; good people readily confess. Those who confessed were witches also, but they might be redeemable if they properly begged forgiveness of their sins.
During the height of the madness, little thought was given to the possibility that the accused might be innocent! The lives of the accused were quite literally in the hands of people who would judge the sincerity of their confessions to crimes that never happened! Totally innocent people were hanged, because they would not admit to being witches.
The book in which I read about this says that it was really about weeding out non-conformists, individualists. People who put their self- identity and self-respect ahead of the dictates of their culture were the ones who were hanged. The witch trials were a sort-of test; those who were willing to subjugate their individuality and self-respect by confessing their sins, confessing their transgressions against the will of the people, generally lived. Those who refused to capitulate, were hanged. Is it really all that different today? We don’t hang them these days, but otherwise the parallels are frightening!
“Make lemonade”, they say, when someone finds themselves surrounded by lemons. So, I am taking advantage of my position to do workarounds for the believers any way I can. They mostly end up out on bail, but I can’t keep doing this. People in the Ministry will want to know what’s up, why the cases aren’t settled. As for those innocent witches who have been caught up in this hunt, I find ways to get them through the process as painlessly as possible.
My conspirator, Ted, is now my deputy assistant. My supervisor readily agreed to let me appoint him. I had only to tell Lorna that there were signs of a deeper conspiracy than we had anticipated, and that I would need help. So, I had a partner in crime, so to speak. Our third conspirator, Mary, does not directly participate. She stays on the sidelines, able to innocuously sway opinions as needed. I find that it is easy to sway people whose lives revolve around being led. Mary had a situation that was heating up, heading toward more accusations of innocent people. She managed to turn the tide against the accusers, convincing some people to make counter accusations against them. Once the accusers saw that they stood to lose, they backed down. What is going on here? Do they not see? Do they not care?
It's funny. I knew there was a problem. I decided that I would do something about it. But I didn’t know what. And I still don’t know, exactly. I wanted to find a way to locate believers without tipping my hand. Now, they are being brought to me! So many of my peers, most of my peers, desire to be led. Emotionally, they seek someone who will lead them such that they need make no decisions, nor have to form their own opinions. Even our titular leaders are really followers. So, with only a little campaigning, I am now the head of the newly reformed Bureau of Subversion Control. Somehow, I made it happen, even if I didn’t have it all figured out. But now I’ve got more to figure out. I am finding the believers that I wanted to find. But, what to do with them?
The believers are viscerally opposed to Reeducation, even if it is physically harmless. Reeducation would cage their sense of freedom, and they will not do it.
I have a conundrum. My plan, which was never a perfect one, is working almost too well. I am finding the believers. They are being delivered to my doorstep, as it were. But now that I have them, what do I do with them? If they will not go to Reeducation, that leaves Cancellation. But what is Cancellation? There are rumors and legends of course, but nobody knows for sure. I need to find out.
ENTRY SIX
How do I causally ask the Judge, “What is Cancellation?” Cancellation is so complete, that no good citizen would have any reason to want to know what it is. Honest people don’t get Cancelled, and those that get Cancelled are worthy of no further consideration.
But I need to know. Reeducation is not an option for believers. Even if they accepted it, what would it be good for? We’d be right back where we started the next time they were reported. And there would be a next time.
Perhaps there are degrees of Cancellation or some such that make Cancellation a viable alternative. The Cancellation Courts are necessarily secretive. If a Prosecutor, as I have become, recommends Cancellation, that’s pretty much it. The Cancellation Courts make a final assessment, but it’s rare that a Prosecutor’s recommendation is not followed. Apparently, in years before, the Courts made the findings, not the Prosecutors. And they even had open courtrooms and juries of their peers, as I’ve seen mentioned in old civics books.
I need a way to find out what Cancellation really is. It seems unlikely that it means death, since that goes against all the Thoughts of the Thought Leaders. But is it possible that the Thought Leaders don’t have authority over the Judges? Nobody seems to know. I have been able to discern so much, but the Cancellation Court has been nearly impenetrable.
I discussed this with my compatriot, phrasing the discussion in such manner as it aroused no notice. He suggested that, instead of trying to find out what Cancellation is, we should consider what it is intended to accomplish, and try to discern how that could be accomplished. Knowing the why would inform the how.
That ended up being a simple conversation. Cancellation is intended to keep the Thought Process pure. Those who will not adhere strictly to the Thought Process needed to be removed so as not to taint it. That is the point. People react to Cancellation with fear, but its only intent is to remove free thinkers, believers, from the population. It was never represented as punishment; still the populace is generally terrified of it. That’s worked well enough for the Prosecutors. The threat of Cancellation is all it takes to get most people to agree to Reeducation. I have found that people, apart from the believers, have little dread of Reeducation. Essentially, if I say they need it, they believe they need it.
But not Cancellation! Anything but Cancellation! Yet, we can find no reason to think that Cancellation is punitive. When Ted and I considered the possibilities, it seemed that Cancellation was a place more than it was a thing. Where were these people sent to?
The most obvious way to find out was hazardous: If we could follow a Cancelled individual out of the Courthouse, we could merely follow to wherever they were taken. But we could not be known to be following. It would be Untruthful, at the very least. I know of nothing that says we couldn’t do this, but there was no common knowledge of where the Cancelled were sent, or how they got there, so it must be a secret, even if no one said so.
We took it one step at a time. It seemed almost silly, the way we did this, but we could not risk using normal electronics or GPS. When one of the Prosecutors sent a Citizen to be Cancelled, I casually followed. I couldn’t risk following behind, all the way. But I followed long enough to see the Citizen loaded into a carry-all van. The Citizen was placed in, but no one else got in with him. I assume he was locked in. The van had only a small insignia indicating Thought Police, but otherwise was entirely normal looking. It could have been delivering groceries. It drove out of sight, going west on Leadership Way.
And that was all for today. A few days later, I made it a point to unsuspiciously be walking west on Leadership Way at the point I had lost sight of the van. After a while, the van went by. I could then see that it continued west without turning, again going out of sight. My compatriot and I found ways to discuss this without saying anything unusual. We couldn’t surmise any other place that it would be going, except to be going further west, so he committed to being on Leadership Way, even farther west. As long as there was no risk, we figured we could keep doing this until we found a destination.
Then, we realized that there were a number of these vans, all travelling the same route, so they were a little easier to track; lose sight of one, wait for the next one. There seemed to be no schedule, but they perhaps averaged one every half-hour or so.
We found, as we have in many other things, that when we just look for answers, they aren’t so hard to find. The vans go to the Wall, through the West Gate, into the Wilderness.