(it’s not satire – it’s the UK today!)
Sue Ryder – volunteering is mandatory!
I’ve written before about how we are seeing more and more of what George Orwell in his novel 1984 called ‘Doublethink‘ - the ability to maintain two contradictory ideas in one’s head simultaneously and believe them both to be true.
Orwell imagined that a whole new vocabulary would have to be created in order to facilitate ‘Doublethink‘ – something he called ‘Newspeak‘ – and we’re seeing more of that too.
The Liberal Democrats are past masters of both ‘Doublethink‘ and ‘Newspeak‘ but unfortunately it seems to be spreading to organisations other than political parties.
I’ve just noticed the charity Sue Ryder has used a stunning example of it in their recent explanation of why they are continuing to participate in the government’s much criticised workfare programme.
You know – the programme where unemployed people are forced to work without pay or face losing most of their benefits.
In its statement – you can see it here – Sue Ryder points out how useful ‘volunteers‘ are to their organisation, which is why are going to continue to use ‘volunteers‘ from the government’s Mandatory Work Activity programme (see the footnote at the end of its statement).
Call me picky, but I always thought if you volunteered to do something it meant it was voluntary – not mandatory.
But Sue Ryder is openly expecting us to believe that people who are working for them from the Mandatory Work Activity programme are ‘volunteers’.
Surely to believe that – you’d have to hold two contradictory ideas in your head simultaneously and believe them both to be true.
Or as Orwell would have put it – you would have to engage in a spot of pure DOUBLETHINKING.
Wouldn’t you?
.
Pride's Purge
