“Progress and reaction have both turned out to be swindles. Seemingly there is nothing left but quietism — robbing reality of its terrors by simply submitting to it.” — George Orwell, “Inside the Whale,” 1940.
If there were ever a week to re-read “Inside the Whale,” it was last
week. George W. Bush won an election with both the popular vote and the Electoral College vote. Republicans picked up seats in both the House and Senate (including Senate minority leader Tom Daschle’s highly symbolic seat), and Measures 36 and 37 passed with clear majorities. Bush will soon have the opportunity to entrench a long-term conservative
majority on the Supreme Court.
Given that, and the situation in Congress, it’s hard to argue with Karl Rove’s prediction of a long-term Republican hegemony.
It’s become increasingly clear that we live in an age of stark conservatism that stretches across the political, social, sexual and artistic arenas. Janet Jackson’s nipple caused a bigger outrage than the Abu Ghraib scandal. Whoopi Goldberg got fired by Slim-Fast for making a sexual pun based on the president’s surname. Retail outlets like Wal-Mart either won’t sell, or require significant modification of, controversial works of art. And the president pushes abstinence-based education that has been proven ineffective and actually leads to abortions that could be prevented by comprehensive sex education and freely available contraception.
In the face of all this, one wants to retreat. To declare “no more,” and live in a cabin in the woods to sleep, eat, read and make love. Narcissism — simple, glorious narcissism — has never sounded so appealing. I feel much as I imagine George Orwell did when he wrote his landmark 1940 essay, “Inside the Whale.” At the time, the world was still recovering from the greatest economic crash in modern history. Fascism controlled much of Europe, and it was obvious to Orwell that a catastrophic war stood before him and that he could do nothing to stop it.
Orwell’s solution to this was to get “inside the whale,” to become a willing Jonah swallowed for his own good. For inside a whale, one cannot feel the waves. One cannot feel the cold. One doesn’t know or care whether the sea is tempestuous or calm. As Orwell wrote, “The whale’s belly is simply a womb big enough for an adult. There you are, in a dark, cushioned space that exactly fits you, with yards of blubber between yourself and reality, able to keep up an attitude of the completest indifference, no matter what happens.” Sounds good to me. At least until the midterm elections in 2006.
This marks the 25th year of the conservative resurgence, which gained national power with Ronald Reagan’s victory in 1980. Thus I don’t understand the middle-aged pundits who declared the 2004 election to be the most important of their lifetimes. Without Reagan, there would be no Bush. Without Reagan’s tax cuts, there would be no Bush tax cuts. Without “Star Wars,” there would be no missile defense system. Without Iran-Contra, there would be no Abu Ghraib. And, of course, without Reagan’s innumerable, ingenious deceptions, we wouldn’t have Bush’s innumerable, ingenious deceptions.
It’s difficult to see the political
pendulum swinging away
from the right anytime soon.
The population is growing older,
and thus more conservative.
The baby boomers will continue to dominate politics for at least the next 20 years, and they’re not interested in the promises of progress; they’re interested in tax cuts. They’re not interested in universal health care; they’re interested in Janet Jackson’s nipple. So I invite you, as Orwell did in 1940, to “get inside the whale — or rather, admit that you are inside the whale (for you are, of course). Give yourself over to the world-process, stop fighting against it or pretending that you control it; simply accept it, endure it, record it.”
Go play basketball with your friends. Drive out to Sweet Life Patisserie and enjoy a slice of cheesecake and a cup of coffee. Pre-funk like a champ and then go wild in the Pit Crew. Whatever you do, don’t think about politics for a while.

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