Outliers By George Orwell Paradox Essay

When one hears the word “Paradox”, the first thing that comes to mind are the age-old brain teasers, such as “If Pinocchio said his nose would grow, would it?”. But these are not true paradoxes. The term Paradox stems from the Greek word “paradoxon” which means contrary to expectations, existing belief or perceived opinion. It is a statement that appears to be self-contradictory but may include a latent truth. The truth of Paradox is that it is everywhere; in many of our day to day decisions, our perceptions on politics, even as far as our entire worldview. Paradoxes shape our societies, our achievements, even the smallest of successes. A paradox is an inescapable, underlying aspect of all human achievement and constantly contributes to the success of individuals, as well as society as a whole.

Malcolm Gladwell asserts in his novel, “Outliers”, that human beings are not inherently “Self-made”, but rather, a product of opportunity and socio-economic situations that result in the success and/or failure of a person.

He explains that talent is only a small portion of someone's success, it is how they are raised and what opportunities they are given that define how they fare later on in life. This produces a paradox. One such paradox is Chris Langan, a 64-year-old man living in Princeton, Missouri, who has been described as one of the smartest men to ever live, with an IQ ranging from 190 to 210. Gladwell explains that due to his financial situation and his lack of assertiveness, he never finished college. He never went on to change the world, as one would expect from someone so intelligent. From these situations, a paradox in society is revealed; a brilliant person who could easily have a huge impact on the world ends up doing nothing substantial due to the lack of opportunities and social graces given to him. This paradox can be found everywhere, plenty of men and women whose genius is never harnessed due to lack of

opportunity.

The aforementioned paradox of missed opportunity is not the only paradox found in reality, it is one of many. George Orwell highlights in his novel, 1984, the idea of Doublethink; the ability to have two completely contradictory ideas at one time without any questioning any of it. Oceania’s government, INGSOC, or, “The Party” , manages to force people into believing contradictory ideas such as their slogan, “War is Peace, Freedom is slavery, Ignorance is strength”. Ideas mentioned like “War is Peace” can be found in modern politics. The concept of "war is peace" is used today by the United States and NATO, when they engage in "preemptive wars." The term itself is a paradox because one cannot start a war in order to prevent it. These ideas Orwell brings up are some of the many paradoxes found in reality today.