Free Republic

This essay is the fourth in a series designed to dissect the totalitarian mentality portrayed in George Orwell's 1984 and to draw parallels to trends in modern academia and the socipolitical arena of today. The following is an index of previous portions of this commentary: 1. Collectivism: http://www.geocities.com/rationalargumentator/Collectivism.html 2. Antiprogressivism: http://www.geocities.com/rationalargumentator/Orwells_Warning.html 3. Relativism: http://www.geocities.com/rationalargumentator/Relativism.html 4. Doublethink - You are here. Read on to continue your analysis of this topic. It is apparent at present that the fallacy of relativism is littered with assertions of infantile naïveté and a complete disregard for man's welfare. Relativism, evaluated from the perspective of logic,...

We have all heard anti-war protestors and Hollywood celebrities complain that their right of free speech is being trampled, especially when evil right-wing conspirators (that's us, folks) say mean things about them. As Jeanine Garofalo (certainly a noted legal scholar) recently declared, "All of your criticism of the peace activists is suppressing free speech!" One might wonder where they get this vision of their rights. As a public service, I have researched this subject, and have discovered the text of an otherwise unknown Constitutional Amendment that seems to be common knowledge among lefties. I wanted to call it Amendment "X"...

The Initiative for Software Choice, which counts Microsoft, Cisco Systems and Intel among its backers, said in comments filed Tuesday that the department should "avoid crafting needless and potentially detrimental IT policy to promote the use" of open-source software. "Open source" means every software developer can view the source code for software, modify it, and use it for free. The initiative, which launched in May and is chaired by a group called CompTIA, an organization that has close ties to Microsoft, is worried about a recent report that concluded the Defense Department relies on open-source software and recommended its further...