[thechat] 1984 - Interesting article.

dave mclean dave at members.evolt.org
Mon Jul 29 21:48:00 CDT 2002


Found this at SFGate.com (via Daypop Top 40 <nod>rudy</nod>) just as I was
about to sit down and read the book again since High School.  These truly
are strange times.  Enjoy!

-d

<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/07/2
8/IN244190.DTL>

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Sunday, July 28, 2002 (SF Chronicle)
Learning to love Big Brother/George W. Bush channels George Orwell

Daniel Kurtzman

Here's a question for constitutional scholars: Can a sitting president be
charged with plagiarism?

As President Bush wages his war against terrorism and moves to create a huge
homeland security apparatus, he appears to be borrowing heavily, if not
ripping off ideas outright, from George Orwell. The work in question is
"1984, " the prophetic novel about a government that controls the masses by
spreading propaganda, cracking down on subversive thought and altering
history to suit its needs. It was intended to be read as a warning about the
evils of totalitarianism -- not a how-to manual.

Granted, we're a long way from resembling the kind of authoritarian state
Orwell depicted, but some of the similarities are starting to get a bit
eerie.

PERMANENT WAR

In "1984," the state remained perpetually at war against a vague and
ever-changing enemy. The war took place largely in the abstract, but it
served as a convenient vehicle to fuel hatred, nurture fear and justify the
regime's autocratic practices.

Bush's war against terrorism has become almost as amorphous. Although we are
told the president's resolve is steady and the mission clear, we seem to
know less and less about the enemy we are fighting. What began as a war
against Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda quickly morphed into a war against
Afghanistan, followed by dire warnings about an "Axis of Evil," the
targeting of terrorists in some 50 to 60 countries, and now the beginnings
of a major campaign against Iraq. Exactly what will constitute success in
this war remains unclear, but the one thing the Bush administration has made
certain is that the war will continue "indefinitely."

MINISTRY OF TRUTH

Serving as the propaganda arm of the ruling party in "1984," the Ministry of
Truth not only spread lies to suit its strategic goals, but constantly
rewrote and falsified history. It is a practice that has become increasingly
commonplace in the Bush White House, where presidential transcripts are
routinely sanitized to remove the president's gaffes, accounts of
intelligence warnings prior to Sept. 11 get spottier with each retelling,
and the facts surrounding Bush's past financial dealings are subject to
continual revision.

The Bush administration has been surprisingly up front about its intentions
of propagating falsehoods. In February, for example, the Pentagon announced
a plan to create an Office of Strategic Influence to provide false news and
information abroad to help manipulate public opinion and further its
military objectives. Following a public outcry, the Pentagon said it would
close the office -- news that would have sounded more convincing had it not
come from a place that just announced it was planning to spread
misinformation.

INFALLIBLE LEADER

An omnipresent and all-powerful leader, Big Brother commanded the total,
unquestioning support of the people. He was both adored and feared, and no
one dared speak out against him, lest they be met by the wrath of the state.

President Bush may not be as menacing a figure, but he has hardly concealed
his desire for greater powers. Never mind that he has mentioned -- on no
fewer than three occasions -- how much easier things would be if he were
dictator. By abandoning many of the checks and balances established in the
Constitution to keep any one branch of government from becoming too
powerful, Bush has already achieved the greatest expansion of executive
powers since Nixon. His approval ratings remain remarkably high, and his
minions have worked hard to cultivate an image of infallibility. Nowhere was
that more apparent than during a recent commencement address Bush gave at
Ohio State, where students were threatened with arrest and expulsion if they
protested the speech. They were ordered to give him a "thunderous ovation,"
and they did.

BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING

The ever-watchful eye of Big Brother kept constant tabs on the citizens of
Orwell's totalitarian state, using two-way telescreens to monitor people's
every move while simultaneously broadcasting party propaganda. While that
technology may not have arrived yet, public video surveillance has become
all the rage in law enforcement, with cameras being deployed everywhere from
sporting events to public beaches. The Bush administration has also
announced plans to recruit millions of Americans to form a corps of citizen
spies who will serve as "extra eyes and ears for law enforcement," reporting
any suspicious activity as part of a program dubbed Operation TIPS --

Terrorism Information and Prevention System.

And thanks to the hastily passed USA Patriot Act, the Justice Department has
sweeping new powers to monitor phone conversations, Internet usage, business
transactions and library reading records. Best of all, law enforcement need
not be burdened any longer with such inconveniences as probable cause.

THOUGHT POLICE

Charged with eradicating dissent and ferreting out resistance, the ever-
present Thought Police described in "1984" carefully monitored all
unorthodox or potentially subversive thoughts. The Bush administration is
not prosecuting thought crime yet, but members have been quick to question
the patriotism of anyone who dares criticize their handling of the war on
terrorism or homeland defense. Take, for example, the way Attorney General
John Ashcroft answered critics of his anti-terrorism measures, saying that
opponents of the administration "only aid terrorists" and "give ammunition
to America's enemies. "

Even more ominous was the stern warning White House Press Secretary Ari
Fleischer sent to Americans after Bill Maher, host of the now defunct
"Politically Incorrect," called past U.S. military actions "cowardly." Said
Fleischer, "There are reminders to all Americans that they need to watch
what they say, watch what they do, and this is not a time for remarks like
that; there never is."

What would it take to turn America into the kind of society that Orwell
warned about, a society that envisions war as peace, freedom as slavery and
ignorance as strength? Would it happen overnight, or would it involve a
gradual erosion of freedoms with the people's consent?

Because we are a nation at war -- as we are constantly reminded -- most
Americans say they are willing to sacrifice many of our freedoms in return
for the promise of greater security. We have been asked to put our blind
faith in government and most of us have done so with patriotic fervor. But
when the government abuses that trust and begins to stamp out the freedom of
dissent that is the hallmark of a democratic society, can there be any
turning back?

So powerful was the state's control over people's minds in "1984" that,
eventually, everyone came to love Big Brother. Perhaps in time we all will,
too.

Daniel Kurtzman is a San Francisco writer and former Washington political
correspondent.
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Copyright 2002 SF Chronicle






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