GEORGE ORWELL 1984

 

 

THE EQUIVALENCE IS STARTLING

George Orwell’s 1984, published in 1949, portrayed a democracy taken over by an oligarchic government headed by a charismatic con man. 

War is Peace

Freedom is Slavery

Ignorance is Strength

 

“The enemy of the moment always represents absolute evil.”

 

If all others accepted the lie which the party imposed – if all records told the same tale – then the lie passed into history and became true.  Who controls the past, ran the party slogan, controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.

 

Statistics were just as much a fantasy in their original version.  A great deal of the time, you were supposed to make them up out of your head.

 

The aim of the high is to remain where they are. The aim of the middle is to change places with the high.

 

It was still true that men were not equal in their native talents and that functions had to be specialized in ways that favored some individuals against others.

 

Imprisonment without trial, the use of war prisoners as slaves, public executions, torture to extract confessions, the use of hostages, and the deportation of whole populations – not only became common again, but were tolerated and even defended by people who considered themselves enlightened and progressive.

 

In the past, no government had the power to keep its citizens under constant surveillance.”

 

Doublethink: (reality control)

Thou shall not kill, but glorification of war heroes.

New Speak: (propaganda)

designed to diminish the range of thought

 

“The essential act of the party is to use conscious deception while retaining the firmness of purpose that goes with complete honesty.  To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any facts that have become inconvenient.

 

We know that no one ever seized power with the intention of relinquishing it.  Power is not a means; it is an end.”

 

Orwell warns that a totalitarian government can successfully manipulate the minds of a large population to the point where a person can think the opposite of what is true.  Trump and his Republican Ing Soc have accomplished this with MAGA.

We are nearly there

2+2 = 5

the Ol'Buzzard

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2024

 

the Ol'Buzzard

DANGER, DANGER, DANGER WILL ROBINSON!

The biggest threat to America is not al-Qaeda or Moslem fundamentalist or home grown terrorist: The biggest threat to American Freedom is the blatantly partisan United States Supreme Court.   The latest ruling of The Court allows police officers to conduct strip searches at their whim.   Along with all the other totalitarian rulings they have confirmed over the last decade that have eroded personal freedom and privacy, this last one moves our country further toward a police state. 

The Republican Party, with their elite 1% base, their lunatic Tea Party fringe and fundamentalist Christian theocrats, have systematically tried to dismantle social programs and limit individual freedom of choice and privacy – while at the same time proposing religious restrictions that move our government toward a theocracy.   While picking and choosing the tenets of the Constitution they agree with they have blatantly ignored major articles and provisions that do not conform to their world view of big business and God centered governance.   They constantly threaten amendments to the Constitution that would drastically change our Republic for now and the future.   

This is fine; the Republican Congressmen and Senators are duly elected by the people, and like the President have a right to their Political beliefs, and as such have a right to legislate their agenda.

However, here is the rub:  The Judicial branch is designed by the Constitution to be an impartial and non partisan watchdog that can bring extreme legislations from either party back to the central meaning and intent of the Constitution.   The Supreme Court should be the neutral body of government that guards the freedom and basic human rights of the individual.  

Terrorist have the ability to only destroy limited targets within our population; but, the United States Supreme court has the ability to destroy a nation of free men and women and move our country toward a version of George Orwell’s 1884 – and this is the future that I fear. 

And if some government agency is reading this, as according to the Supreme Court they have the authority to do:
I'm watching you
Watching me
Watching you
the Ol'Buzzard

THE PERILS OF APATHY

Occupy protest

Politicians live in a parallel universe of 1984 where their priorities are to legislate their own agendas.   Nothing ever gets done for the average man unless the masses rise up in visible protest to a point that the politician fear for their jobs.   

There would have been no move to integration without the protest of the sixties; and the Vietnamese war would not have ended when it did without the anti-war protest.

Not all protest are constructive: the Tea Party protest of the past decade has driven the Republican Party to the extreme right.   This is a perfect example that even small minorities can sway politicians if they are visible and loud enough.   

The Occupy protest is now getting the attention of the politicians.   The government, through the police departments of state and city regimes, is moving forcefully against the Occupy protesters, as was done against early demonstrators.  The difference is that now police have new powers to spy on citizens without oversight. 

If you haven’t read George Orwell’s 1984 – you should; and if you have read it in the past, you should read it again.

Without the story line – the following are excerpts from 1984:

WAR IS PEACE

FREEDOM IS SLAVERY

IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

The enemy of the moment always represents absolute evil.

If all others accepted the lie which the party imposed – if all records told the same tale – then the lie passed into history and became true.   Who controls the past, ran the party slogan, controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.

Statistics were just as much a fantasy in their original version.  A great deal of the time you were suppose to make them up out of your head.  

What was most important was that sexual privation induced hysteria, which was desirable because it could be transformed into war fever and leadership worship.

The aim of the high is to remain where they are.   The aim of the middle is to change places with the high.   The aim of the low, when they have an aim – for it is an abiding characteristic of the low that they are too much crushed by drudgery to be more than intermittently conscious of anything outside their daily lives – is to abolish all distinctions and create a society in which all men shall be equal.

It was still true that men were not equal in their native talents and that functions had to be specialized in ways that favored some individuals against others. 

Imprisonment without trial, the use of war prisoners as slaves, public executions, torture to extract confessions, the use of hostages and the deportation of whole populations – not only became common again, but were tolerated and even defended by people who considered themselves enlightened and progressive. 

In the past no government had the power to keep its citizens under constant surveillance.

DOUBLE THINK: (reality control) Though shall not kill, but glorification of war heroes

NEW SPEAK: Designed to diminish the range of thought.  If it is not in your vocabulary- you can’t express it – if you can’t express it you can’t think it – if you can’t think it you can’t accomplish it.  

MINISTRIES

Ministry of Peace: concerns itself with war.

Ministry of Truth:  concerns itself with lies.

Ministry of Love:  concerns itself with torture.

Ministry of Plenty: concerns itself with starvation.

INGSOC: The Government ( There are striking similarities to the policies of the Republican Party.)  INGSOC, like religion, successfully manipulated the mind to the point that a person believed opposite of what was true.

The essential act of the party is to use conscious deception while retaining firmness of purpose that goes with complete honesty.   To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any facts that has become inconvenient…

The proles ( citizens) are only intermittently conscious of the war.   When it is necessary they can be prodded into frenzies of fear and hatred, but when left to themselves they are capable of forgetting for long periods that the war is happening.  It is in the ranks of The Party and above all of the Inner Party, that the true war enthusiasm is found.

We know that no one ever seized power with the intention of relinquishing it.  Power is not a means; it is an end. 

We are all proles

the Ol'Buzzard