Weird binary: Not hypocrisy, compliance signalling
This weird binary displays that the member is able to project two contradictory positions (virtually simultaneously) without processing error; it shows he is Party compliant.
When it comes to the persecution of conservatives (especially white conservatives) and demographic shift, progressives put out peculiarly alternating messages: “It’s great – it isn’t happening – it’s great – it isn’t happening – it’s great”. To the right wing, this flipping between celebration and denial looks like an NPC trapped in a loop of cognitive dissonance. To any logician this looks like an error because it is clearly contradictory and inconsistent. However, that is not a correct reading of what is happening.
Here is a quote from Orwell’s 1984:
“Oceanic society rests ultimately on the belief that Big Brother is omnipotent and that the Party is infallible. But since in reality Big Brother is not omnipotent and the party is not infallible, there is need for an unwearying, moment-to-moment flexibility in the treatment of facts. The keyword here is BLACKWHITE. Like so many Newspeak words, this word has two mutually contradictory meanings. Applied to an opponent, it means the habit of impudently claiming that black is white, in contradiction of the plain facts. Applied to a Party member, it means a loyal willingness to say that black is white when Party discipline demands this. But it means also the ability to BELIEVE that black is white, and more, to KNOW that black is white, and to forget that one has ever believed the contrary.”
What is happening with Party members of the American establishment (“the Cathedral”) is not just doublethink; it is something else we can call “weird binary”. It is the Party member signalling compliance (without a flicker of doubt) by demonstrating a proven record of being able to contradict himself in order to further the needs of the Party. Unlike Orwell’s example, it requires no positional shift, because the Party member understands that this is not even temporary. It is like having two lights (red and green) constantly illuminated at the same time under hoods and uncovering them alternately, as required. Both positions are neither true nor false because the only truth is the utility of serving the Party, hence there is no conflict and cognitive dissonance cannot occur. This weird binary displays that the member is able to project two contradictory positions (virtually simultaneously) without processing error; it shows he is Party compliant. He is a component in a system, one that displays not that he is defective but that he is functioning correctly.
When someone outside the Party points out contradictory statements of a Party member and calls it hypocrisy, it is useful to us but not in the obvious way. There is no hypocrisy because neither the positive position (“it’s great”) nor the negative position (“it isn’t happening”) is held honestly. Of course, when a sceptic exposes this, it is met by indifference by Party members and weariness by fellow sceptics. Both accused and accuser know (perhaps only on an instinctive level) that no level of contradiction will be enough to lead to shaming or disciplining. But these exposures of weird binary signals tell us a truth: there is power – its acquisition, its effective and ineffective application – and nothing else, nothing we could call legal, logical or moral restraint. The mocking distortions of truth projected by mainstream news outlets and bold lies told by fact-checking organisations demonstrate that.
When there are enough flashing lights on a board, that is not an indication of imminent meltdown caused by internal contradiction. It is a signal that you have a critical mass of followers who are ready to commit moral atrocities and who see no internal contradictions and feel no restraining conscience. Once the following pre-conditions are established – abolition of meaningful legal oppositional activity, removal of mass channels for dissent, vague laws, absence of consistent transparent law enforcement, firm in-group/out-group identification, lack of social restraint, mass compliance, social polarisation, a grievance narrative, widespread abandonment of evidence-based governance, a cadre of zealots willing to kill, a command structure ready to sanction violence, plus sufficient compliance signalling – then the stage is set for anything, even violence.
