For those of you who have never read George Orwell's novel "1984" (1949): I am so sorry. For everyone else, the title of this column probably rings a faint bell. "1984" is a dystopian novel that would take me multiple columns to really explain/do any semblance of justice to, so today I'm just going to talk about doublethink. Doublethink is the paradox of simultaneously believing two contradictory things, like being able to tell a lie and believe it while still being aware it isn't true. I fully admit it's kind of hard to wrap your mind around, especially on a Monday morning, but I also have a sneaking suspicion that it's one of those things that makes more sense the less sleep you have, so maybe it's perfect timing after all.
Anyway, I've become aware that I'm very proficient in the art of doublethink. I was thinking about the end of the semester, and I realized that I'm both desperately yearning for it and dreading it like crazy. See, summer is fun and all, but when summer comes, that'll mean I'm officially done with my sophomore year and am an upperclassman, which is terrifying beyond belief. Pros and cons to both.
Or take any one of my various addictions: coffee, sleep, overpriced and pretentious bottled water or diet books. Believe me, the list goes on. Obviously, I love these things, because I drink/do/read too much of them. But I also secretly know that caffeine isn't that great for me, or that it's really not justifiable that I spend so much on plain water (although, Smart Water really does taste better). Every time I step up to the register to shell out another $4 for imported water from Fiji, there's a ferocious internal battle raging within me: there's water fountains all over campus! But it tastes so much better!
If you think about it, as college students we're practicing doublethink all the time. Every time you're binge-watching Netflix and telling yourself that you're 100 percent-prepared for your thermodynamics exam, you're doublethinking: you're lying to yourself, but also believing it just a little, because why else would you be two seasons into "House of Cards" (2013-present) halfway through midterm season?
One of the key points in understanding doublethink is that you're not aware that these two things are contradictory. That is, you don't really understand that you're doing it unless someone points it out to you. For example, this Thursday I was working on this column in the campus center and one of my friends stopped by and asked what I was doing. I told them I was writing my column because it was due Sunday morning. They pointed out it was only Thursday (you see, all of my friends know I can be thoroughly relied on to do things a day before they're due at most), and I stopped to consider that. Yes, I did fully know it was Thursday and that I didn't need to write this quite yet, but I also was under the impression that this was a top priority to get done. It was very odd and probably a result of my sleep deprivation rather than government brainwashing, but, hey, you never know. Constant vigilance, right?
If I were a psychology major (I officially declared! Check out the bottom of this column for proof), I'd probably have a lot more to say on this subject, and it would probably be a lot more accurate, but I think it's better this way - you guys get to read my half-asleep random musings rather than a boring, factually correct textbook (as I've always said, accuracy is overrated). Have a good rest of the week, and remember that Big Brother is watching.
Lex Erath is a sophomore majoring in economics. She can be reached at Alexandra.Erath@tufts.edu.
