Thread: CALIFORNIA SCREAMIN' Orwellian 'progress'

CALIFORNIA SCREAMIN'
Orwellian 'progress'
Exclusive: Michael Ackley explores familiar themes of '1984' in today's big government
--WND

Orwellian 'progress'

Posted: August 17, 2009
1:00 am Eastern
© 2009

Editor's note: Michael Ackley's columns may include satire and parody based on current events, and thus mix fact with fiction. He assumes informed readers will be able to tell which is which.

An Internet search produced at least a half dozen articles referencing "'1984' – 25 years later." We read none of them, preferring to state our views, uninfluenced by other writers, of "progress" toward George Orwell's dismal, anti-utopian vision. Let us examine some major themes of the book, in no particular order.

Constant surveillance: There was the FBI's "Carnivore" computer surveillance system, and the global "Echelon" network of the NSA. Add to those the wire and e-mail-tapping programs of the George W. Bush administration. Note: The Obama administration has maintained all of the Bush spy initiatives. There is a bill in Congress that would require installation of GPS units to track automobile movements, and there have been moves to monitor home air conditioning.
Constant warfare: While we haven't reached the Orwellian warfare of super states, we do have a "war" that promises indefinite extension, thanks to the zealous Islamists who pledge continual jihad against the West.
Diminution of language: Orwell wrote of the "Newspeak" language, "We're destroying words. … We're cutting the language down to the bone." Is there not a parallel in the condensed language of the text message and "Twitter"? Further, is there not a parallel in our post-literate society in general? Having read our share of college papers, we can attest to the linguistic poverty of our young people, most of whom were "educated" in public schools.
Assault on religion: Ignorant twits in public education, police departments, in the federal bureaucracy and on city councils and the judicial bench are waging unremitting – and unconstitutional – warfare against religious expression. A few examples: Religious clubs have to fight for official status at public universities, elementary and secondary students are ordered not to pray openly, library meeting rooms are closed to religious groups and individuals are told not to wear religious symbols at work.

Pornography: In "1984," porn is used to distract the mass of proletarians. Today, the "art form" that used to be sold under the table is available via the Internet, and a desensitizing process continues right into prime-time television, with actors and actresses disrobing preparatory to casual coition.
Rewriting history and literature: Orwell, writing in 1949, made the rewriting of history a laborious process because he did not foresee the digital revolution. Firms involved in electronic publication can use technology to correct errors, but they also could use it to alter a text. There is nothing to stop a future purveyor of digital books from eliminating "offensive" phrases. For example, benighted segments of the black community long have protested Mark Twain's references to "****** Jim" in "Huckleberry Finn." In a few key strokes the appellation could become "Afro-American Jim" in every digital copy. As hard-copy publishing declines, the temptation to censor may become irresistible.
Our own past: Orwell wrote, "Who controls the past controls the future" and foresaw a "process of continuous alteration … applied not only to newspapers, but to books, periodicals, pamphlets, posters, leaflets, films, sound tracks, cartoons, photographs – to every kind of literature or documentation which might conceivably hold and political or ideological significance." In the novel, this eliminated the possibility of learning from past mistakes.
English socialism is one such mistake. This became "Ingsoc" in "1984." Now, Britain plans a data base of all citizens' medical records, extending the concept of constant surveillance along with its failing system of medical care. (Could this be topical now in the United States?)
Thought crime: You can be hauled before quasi-judicial bodies in Britain, Canada and Australia for expressing "hateful" opinions, and the thought councils are empowered to decide just what is hateful. "Hate crime" legislation is pending before our Congress, backed by Sen. Ted Kennedy. It's ironic that a bill to punish thought is being advance by a man who escaped accountability for an act that led to a young woman's death.
"Hate song:" Orwell writes of this as having "a savage, barking rhythm which could not exactly be called music, but resembled the beating of a drum." Turn on any popular "music" station and listen to the joyless chants that constitute "rap."
Power for its own sake: Many of our politicians seem to subscribe to the Orwellian party dictum, "Power is not a means; it is an end." This applies to the push to "reform" our system of medical care, halt "climate change," fight obesity, control your home thermostat, "advise" you on child rearing, personal finance, and other areas that should be free of government interference.
Many of our Orwellian trends stem from industry and society in general rather than from government per se, but government – allied with the self-appointed "elites" of business, education, arts and letters – is only too happy to involve itself. The impulse to direct the lives of others into conformist patterns is too strong to resist. Those who see altruism in this are deluding themselves.

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We must require a reading of all bills before Congress votes on a bill. Why are they paid 177K again?

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