Winston Smith describes where we are headed. Or are we already there?

[BrklynLiberal]

Oceania was at war with Eurasia now, but just four years ago, these two had formed an alliance against Eastasia. Winston remembered this clearly, but it made no difference what he or any other individual remembered, for the Party said that Eurasia had always been the Enemy and what the Party said was the Truth. This, thought Winston, was the most frightening aspect of the party regime-that it could obliterate memory, turn lies into Truth and alter the Past. The Party slogan was “Who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past.” This was where “doublethink” came into play, minds were trained to hold contradictory positions simultaneously and unquestioningly- for example you had to believe at one and the same time that Democracy was impossible and that the Party was the guardian of democracy. Winston could remember a time when the Party did not rule, when Big Brother had not become all-powerful; but according to the Party they had always existed and this lie was repeated ad infinitum until it “became” the truth. This, Winston thought was a far more terrible weapon in the hands of the Party than torture or execution.

George Orwell "1984"

I truly don't know whether to laugh, cry or look forward to retreating into that dark place in the back of my mind and escape from it all.

[mcscajun]

1. Oh, we're there already. Only difference is we have a LOT of Winstons...

...so far.

[whistle]

2. PNAC and Orwell's "1984" seem to be the two documents which

...the neo-conservatives in American government and America's shadow government are following as their blueprint for America's future.

<link to Shadow Government broadcast 3/05/2002 on Dick Gordon Show>

http://www.theconnection.org/shows/2002/03/20020305_b_main.asp

[peacetalksforall]

3. It's here in the U.S. I'd like to know how they plan to spread it to the

world...but perhaps that's why they've got Rice, Bolton, Wolfkowitz.

There is one difference between 1984 and our version of 1984...if I remember correctly.....the memory and mind controllers or Orwell were super serious people. Ours are big humorists...they laugh at us, they smile when they talk about killing or torture, they deliver very stupid jokes, they dismiss accusations with jokes, they joke with pundits and hosts in TVland, they hire jokesters to work in TVandradioland, they put a joke in the highest office, they assign someone who expressed contempt for the UN as head honcho - bib operational joke. From sound bites to major decisions, they are always deadly in a joking way.

Well world, are you going to join them? Will the planet be doomed?

[Doctor_J]

4. I'm also reading "It Can't Happen Here"

by S. Lewis. It's about how fascists can take over the US. It starts with disavowing Evolution and a "patriotic" media. Sound familiar?

[BrklynLiberal]

5. Horrifingly familiar.

[TrustingDog]

6. the only 2 books Bush every read: Revelations and 1984.

spooky.

[moof]

7. When was a method devised for how to tell when a liar tells the truth ?

By all accounts the waste of life in question is unwilling to read even a few paragraphs about important topics if someone in the room can just tell him the "just" of it in a couple sentences.

[TrustingDog]

8. damn, you're right (erm, 'correct')...

He doesn't read, he just trusts his handlers to tell him what's important for corporate america and how best to strangulate those pesky 'citisens' (I will never use that other word again - you know, that PacMan like word, gobble gobble - we are CITISENS not THAT THING.

[Wilms]

9. .