What did George Orwell mean in this quote?

Question

“Actions are held to be good or bad, not on their own merits but according to who does them, and there is almost no kind of outrage — torture, the use of hostages, forced labour, mass deportations, imprisonment without trial, forgery, assassination, the bombing of civilians — which does not change its moral colour when it is committed by ‘our’ side. … The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them.”

Answer 1

That people will be extremely loyal to whatever side they are on... whether it's a group, country, etc.

They will justify anything, and often times ignore very bad things, because they do not want to believe that they could be part of something that is wrong.

Answer 2

It means george bush is a war criminal.

Answer 3

Orwell was prophesying.  He was fortelling an Obama presidency with a Pelosi controlled House of Representatives.  1984 will come true if we continue to vote for liberals.

Answer 4

In a nutshell --  If we do it, it's OK. If they do it, it's an atrocity.

Answer 5

Basically he's talking about the biases of being on one side. It blinds one to the crimes and immoral actions their side commits. To them, it would be for the better good. On the other hand, if the other side did basically the same thing or something similar, it would be looked at with scorn. An example is when one country (country a) attacks another (country b) and kills innocent people. In retaliation, country b would kill some of country a's innocents in order to "protect" themselves. It's the same thing, but considered to be either moral or immoral based on which side you're on.

Answer 6

The alternative is appeasement, or capitulation.

Appeasement leads to more violence.

Captiulation leads to all the things mentioned in your post.

Ask George Orwell which alternative he would choose.

There has always been someone who commits the worst possible atrocities, which are intended to diminish the taste of war of their enemy.

The alternative is appeasement, or capitulation.

As you read this;

Can you not see all those choices being made by one or another in our own country?

I leave you with this quote from WW II.

First they came for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

"Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

"Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

"Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.

"Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up."

Martin Niemoller

A German pastor  WW II

Imprisoned by Hitler 1937-1945