Posted on 10/23/2001 7:58:00 PM PDT by NoCurrentFreeperByThatName
Seventeen years later than expected, 1984 has arrived. In his address to Congress Thursday, George Bush effectively declared permanent war -- war without temporal or geographic limits; war without clear goals; war against a vaguely defined and constantly shifting enemy. Today it's Al-Qaida; tomorrow it may be Afghanistan; next year, it could be Iraq or Cuba or Chechnya.
No one who was forced to read 1984 in high school could fail to hear a faint bell tinkling. In George Orwell's dreary classic, the totalitarian state of Oceania is perpetually at war with either Eurasia or Eastasia. Although the enemy changes periodically, the war is permanent; its true purpose is to control dissent and sustain dictatorship by nurturing popular fear and hatred. The permanent war undergirds every aspect of Big Brother's authoritarian program, excusing censorship, propaganda, secret police, and privation. In other words, it's terribly convenient. And conveniently terrible. Bush's alarming speech pointed to a shadowy enemy that lurks in more 60 countries, including the US. He announced a policy of using maximum force against any individuals or nations he designates as our enemies, without color of international law, due process, or democratic debate.
He explicitly warned that much of the war will be conducted in secret. He rejected negotiation as a tool of diplomacy. He announced starkly that any country that doesn't knuckle under to US demands will be regarded as an enemy. He heralded the creation of a powerful new cabinet-level police agency called the "Office of Homeland Security." Orwell couldn't have named it better. By turns folksy ("Ya know what?") and chillingly bellicose ("Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists"), Bush stepped comfortably into the role of Big Brother, who needs to be loved as well as feared.
Meanwhile, his administration acted swiftly to realize the governing principles of Oceania:
WAR IS PEACE
A reckless war that will likely bring about a deadly cycle of retaliation is being sold to us as the means to guarantee our safety. Meanwhile, we've been instructed to accept the permanent war as a fact of daily life. As the inevitable slaughter of innocents unfolds overseas, we are to "live our lives and hug our children."
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
"Freedom itself is under attack," Bush said, and he's right. Americans are about to lose many of their most cherished liberties in a frenzy of paranoid legislation. The government proposes to tap our phones, read our email and seize our credit card records without court order. It seeks authority to detain and deport immigrants without cause or trial.
It proposes to use foreign agents to spy on American citizens. To save freedom, the warmongers intend to destroy it.
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
America's "new war" against terrorism will be fought with unprecedented secrecy, including heavy press restrictions not seen for years, the Pentagon has advised.
Meanwhile, the sorry history of American imperialism -- collaboration with terrorists, bloody proxy wars against civilians, forcible replacement of democratic governments with corrupt dictatorships -- is strictly off-limits to mainstream media. Lest it weaken our resolve, we are not to be allowed to understand the reasons underlying the horrifying crimes of September 11.
The defining speech of Bush's presidency points toward an Orwellian future of endless war, expedient lies, and ubiquitous social control. But unlike 1984's doomed protagonist, we've still got plenty of space to maneuver and plenty of ways to resist. It's time to speak and to act. It falls on us now to take to the streets, bearing a clear message for the warmongers: We don't love Big Brother.
That's sweet.
What state you from?....in Texas, it takes a while to cross any line, so we usually catch them.
I disagree. They use our own industries and resources against us. They've been plotting against us for years and they have come up with "the final solution" to America, the great Satan. We are going to be gremed, nuked, or whatever, as soon as they get a chance. Their people are already here and will use our sense of fairness against us, unfortunately. To them, we are just useful idiots to spread their philosophy by force and fear.
It's no secret that a smallpox epidemic could wipe out 30% of our population in about a month. Imagine what America would be like then.
Can I get an Amen on that?
Don't hold your breath. The Thought Police don't own up to nothing. They hide in dark alleys and behind website titles like "moderator".
I wasn't trying to imply that you personally want a nanny. Sorry if there was any misunderstanding on that.
but one thing the federal government is responsible for under the Constitution is the common defense and welfare of its people. They have very little other place in our lives, but this one they do have.
This is what gives us the right to arm chair quarterback.
What would you have us do? Ignore the attacks? Ignore the anthrax? Ignore the 1500 new orphans in this country?
Noone. We forgave those debts because they were never going to be repaid anyway. Regardless, a "mortgage" so to speak, would have no enforcable effect. Why? Because, regardless of what you and others say, we are not that kind of country. No one should doubt that had our intention has never been to dominate the world because we easily could have many times over, including today. Talk to the contrary is idle pap.
I know. But those in charge are certainly in a position of damned if they do/damned if they don't.
Couldn't have said it better myself. Exactly!
Of course this is going to be a perpetual war. Because America likes it? Not hardly. Because by forcing its people to read the koran 12 hrs a day, and very little else for their first 20 years, they're going to spin off new "terrorists" aka mercenaries, every generation for the rest of time. That's been the track record for the past 1400 years, and I see no reason to think that that is going to change in our lifetimes.
I agree with your disagreement. These people are stupid as stumps. But they do learn.
They bombed the WTC in 1993. When it didn't work as they'd planned, they stepped back and waited, studying, doing their homework until they got it right.
The anthrax delivery mechanism is very crude. By 2005-2010, we can expect to be hit in a much more efficient fashion.
They'll be back. THEY'VE FIGURED OUT HOW TO MAKE KILLING AMERICANS AND AMERICAN BUSINESSES PAY BY SHORTING THE MARKETS! THEY'LL BE BACK OVER AND OVER AND OVER, ad infinitum, ad nauseum.
The destruction of The World Trade Center is a fact. And don't give me any crap that we don't know who did it. As far as shrinking the military, all I can say is, every time we let our guard down in that way we get hit. If you want to shrink the federal government do it on the social side where it has no business in the first place.
This guy has apparently read only one book, 1984, and didn't even understand that one.
Well...
If he has read 1984 he understands it much better than most. I have been thinking the same for some time - especially since mid-September. I suggest you go back and read 1984 and see if it does not give you the chills.
Oceania is perpetually at war with an ambiguous enemy. Congress did not even bother to declare war. The gov't has proposed rolling back most of our civil rights and liberties. Of course this is fine with most, because we are at war. Wait! Congress didn't declare war. Hmmmm....
We think it's just fine for people to be rounded up and held in secret. Torture is OK too. Folks are clamoring for their gov't to order their lives to defeat terrorism. Office of Homeland Security? What is this? What in the f**k has government been doing with all their other departments? What do they spend 1/3 of my income doing? CIA, DOD, NSA, FBI, INS, etc... What were they doing? Why do we need a redundant department to monitor internal citizen activity? Orwell answers that question.
Never mind that if we had just had some standards with regard to allowing people to enter and roam around our country, perhaps we could have prevented some of this ugliness.
Read 1984 and you will see that we are headed to become Oceania.
Flame away! The Constitution comes before El Presidente.
You live in a dream world where nothing is ever absolute. You can have logic stareing you in the face and you react by sticking your head in the sand. Thrill me by telling me who took down The World Trade Center and why they did it.
If your intention is to start a word game, ala Bill Clinton and his leftie enablers, then you will soon be on your own. However, if you are serious, by domination I mean the ability to control all societies and dictate to them the terms of their existence. To answer your question as it was asked, I don't picture world domination.
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