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http://www.liferesearchuniversal.com/1984-17.html#seventeen
George Orwell: "Crimestop means the faculty of stopping short, as
though by instinct, at the threshold of any dangerous thought. It
includes the power of not grasping analogies, of failing to perceive
logical errors, of misunderstanding the simplest arguments if they are
inimical to Ingsoc, and of being bored or repelled by any train of
thought which is capable of leading in a heretical direction.
Crimestop, in short, means protective stupidity."

http://www.liferesearchuniversal.com/1984-22.html#twentytwo
George Orwell: "He set to work to exercise himself in crimestop. He
presented himself with propositions - "the Party says the earth is
flat", "the party says that ice is heavier than water" - and trained
himself in not seeing or not understanding the arguments that
contradicted them. It was not easy. It needed great powers of
reasoning and improvisation. The arithmetical problems raised, for
instance, by such a statement as "two and two make five" were beyond
his intellectual grasp. It needed also a sort of athleticism of mind,
an ability at one moment to make the most delicate use of logic and at
the next to be unconscious of the crudest logical errors. Stupidity
was as necessary as intelligence, and as difficult to attain."

George Orwell's text modified so as to describe a physics student's
self-education:

"He set to work to exercise himself in crimestop. He presented himself
with propositions - "Einsteiniana says that, when the observer starts
moving towards the light source, the wavelength of light shifts but
the speed of light remains constant", "Einsteiniana says that, in
accordance with Einstein's 1905 light postulate, a 80m long pole can
safely be trapped inside a 40m long barn" - and trained himself in not
seeing or not understanding the arguments that contradicted them. It
was not easy. It needed great powers of reasoning and improvisation.
The arithmetical problems raised, for instance, by such a statement as
"two and two make five" were beyond his intellectual grasp. It needed
also a sort of athleticism of mind, an ability at one moment to make
the most delicate use of logic and at the next to be unconscious of
the crudest logical errors. Stupidity was as necessary as
intelligence, and as difficult to attain."

Pentcho Valev
pvalev@yahoo.com