Writing during World War Two, George Orwell, despite being a man of the left had begun to see the depths of self-deception that even the smartest people are capable of because of his experiences in the Spanish Civil War. Despite fighting in a leftwing militia, he had almost become the victim of a Stalinist purge. (Eileen, his wife, had saved both of them).
His essay Notes on Nationalism has great insights into how even brainy people can get things mixed up when their belief in a cause distorts their view of reality. Obadiah simply observes that this can apply to Christians.
It is, I think, true to say that the intelligentsia have been more wrong about the progress of the war than the common people, and that they were more swayed by partisan feelings. The average intellectual of the Left believed, for instance, that the war was lost in 1940, that the Germans were bound to overrun Egypt in 1942, that the Japanese would never be driven out of the lands they had conquered, and that the Anglo-American bombing offensive was making no impression on Germany. He could believe these things because his hatred for the British ruling class forbade him to admit that British plans could succeed. There is no limit to the follies that can be swallowed if one is under the influence of feelings of this kind. I have heard it confidently stated, for instance, that the American troops had been brought to Europe not to fight the Germans but to crush an English revolution. One has to belong to the intelligentsia to believe things like that: no ordinary man could be such a fool. When Hitler invaded Russia, the officials of the M.O.I. issued ‘as background’ a warning that Russia might be expected to collapse in six weeks. On the other hand, the Communists regarded every phase of the war as a Russian victory, even when the Russians were driven back almost to the Caspian Sea and had lost several million prisoners. There is no need to multiply instances. The point is that as soon as fear, hatred, jealousy and power worship are involved, the sense of reality becomes unhinged.
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Coffee unsnobbery: family spies report to Obadiah that good Coffee is available from Blacktown railway station – actually in the station – for $3.70. Good coffee, using the requisite La Marzocco machine. Does anybody know of a good coffee that is cheaper?
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The end of the morning: Obadiah attended an author’s talk by Nadia Wheatley, biographer of the author (Mermaid Singing and Peel Me a Lotus) and newspaper columnist Charmian Clift, featuring the release of Clifts’ unfinished autobiographical novel The End of the Morning. It led to a conversation on the way home, actually, in an Officeworks’ car park, of so many talented women married to fellow creatives being stifled by their spouses. George Orwell (Eric Blair) and Eileen Blair, Ellis Blaine (a renowned ABC broadcaster) and Anne Deveson, as well as George Johnston (author of the great trilogy My Brother Jack, Clean Straw for Nothing, Cartload of Clay) and Charmilan Clift.
Why are men such destructive bastards?
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Surely I heard you: a reader close to Obadiah upon reading the appreciation of First Nations’s Christian leader Dongarra’s life by Ray Minniecon remembered the giant 1988 protest meeting which gathered to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders rejecting the triumphalism of the tall ships in the harbour.. From memory, Dongarra spoke as a director of Reconciliation Australia, and Obadiah listened.
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Headlining: Obadiah spots a headline in his email “when giants fail” first thought was “that’s a bit tough”
Obadiah was thinking about his team the GWS Giants – he was at the game against the Swans, the best team in the comp And the result went as predicted.
But no. It was a Roy’s Report headline about yet another US pastor falling into sin.
Obadiah is so glad he is not chronicling all those stories.