That's another thing about Orwell. No matter how smart I think I am, how well read I think I am, or how fluent I think I'm getting with the writing I'm doing, I read someone like Orwell, and all I can say is, yup.

I think most people don't have the life experience to comprehend power for power's sake. I grew up in a cult. I got out of it in time to see the rest of the world become one.

Out of the whole Abu Ghraib and the CIA torture revelations, I never once ran across anyone talking about torture for torture's sake. It may have other uses like instilling fear, but the powerful engage in all abuses of power, because they can, not because it works.

One of my first posts was about an aspect of this. Torture and Voting, if you are interested.
https://steemit.com/freedom/@lifeworship/denial-seems-to-be-the-norm
This seems to be thematic in the steemit zeitgeist.
Thank you very much for the thoughts.