https://www.knoxnews.com/story/opinion/columnists/2018/04/06/opinion-1984-year-p...

Dr. Phil Kronk, Guest column Published 12:00 p.m. ET April 6, 2018

The novel, 1984, was first published in 1949, the year I was born.

However, I am just beginning to wonder if I am now living the pages and plot of that novel about a dystopian society, where communication and news are false.

The government’s slogans in George Orwell’s novels are well known: “War is Peace,” “Freedom is Slavery” and “Ignorance is Strength.”

Do we hear similar slogans in the background noise of our republic today?

Orwell felt that the misuse of language could corrupt thought. Can we tell “fake news” from “real news,” especially if real news is called fake news? In what alternate universe do “alternative facts” exist?

When does war become peace, and no one notices? Perhaps, when a war lasts over 16 years, and it little affects your daily life?

Orwell wrote of “double think,” which was holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously and accepting them both.

The image that comes to mind is of a highly conventional religious group, with high moral percepts, being able to tolerate, on a daily basis, an adulterous, greedy, vindictive leader, who makes fun of disabled citizens, brags about the genitals of the opposite sex, yet still manages to embrace foreign leaders who kill their opponents.

The constant daily acceptance of such behaviors has the unfortunate result of “normalizing the unthinkable.”

This normalization is seen in many areas of the culture today. In the past, we have seen proud grandparents bringing their grandchildren home from school in the family van. Now we see pictures of grandparents, passed out from opioid overdoses, in their van, while the children sit quietly in the back, no doubt horrified.

The gifted Israeli journalist and movie director, Ada Ushpiz, once wrote that. “There is no evil that does not occur in the name of some necessity.”

Today, our society finds it necessary to hate, to stigmatize others, to reject and to deny basic rights. And why? To build a wall? To protect our monuments? For more money?

Fear is the weapon the government uses to distort facts.

We are warned about a “caravan” of evil people marching towards our borders. These 1,100 men, women and children, however, are on an annual event (“People without Borders”) that protests violence and unrest in their own countries. Only about 100 or so individuals were expected to seek refugee status at our border, because the group has dispersed, as it always does each year. The image of hordes descending on the border is made to elicit fear.

In order to ‘protect’ us from similar fears, we are sending troops to guard our Southern borders. Yet the number of individuals apprehended at our Southern border in the year 2000 was 1.6 million, and last year was 310,000, the lowest amount since 1971.

We have stopped talking to each other, stopped listening to one another, stopped seeing the other in the human form of our Christ, our Buddha. It has become easier to act than to think or listen.

Many have stopped seeing so much: the mentally ill, the homeless, those still discriminated against, those who financially struggle from paycheck to paycheck.

In Orwell’s novel, “Big Brother” was always watching everything a citizen did. Today, so much of our personal life is vulnerable to hackers. The right to have a secret is essential in a democracy.

Orwell told us that, “If you want to keep a secret, you must also hide it from yourself.” How many secrets are we keeping today from ourselves?

Have we as a culture today conspired to know nothing …and see less.

Orwell knew that the government could lie to us, but he could not envision Twitter. The government tells us that whole cities are being over-whelmed by crime.

In fact, while certain cities do have high crime rates, throughout the country the crime rate has fallen over time. One recent article noted that 2,000 people per year used to be murdered in New York City, while 324 were killed in 2014. Liberals will not admit that such tough tactics as “broken windows” policing helped, and conservatives do not see a generation of African American men in jail, as a result.
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Orwell’s novel described a society at war with ever-changing enemies. First, “Eurasia,” then “Eastasia.” Do most citizens know who we are fighting in Syria today? Can economic war be fought with tariffs?

Orwell noted that, “Who controls the past controls the future” and, “Who controls the present controls the past.”

Orwell could not see this country’s young generation, who will control the present and the future. Orwell was worried that “Big Brother” was always watching, to the detriment of the society. He could not have foreseen how social media could galvanize a whole generation of youth to advocate for change.

I wish he had. I would have even more hope before the clock strikes thirteen.

Trump Has MELTDOWN With Laura Ingraham

classic fake news ..

Mr Hammer wrote on Jun 8^th, 2019 at 1:18pm:


It's funny you mention that, the question mark in peoples minds.

So many of the posts made by those who support Trump do that, but literally.  They make claims, asking "questions" with the sole purpose of planting the seeds of doubts in people's minds, even if the basis of the question, the supporting blog post, youtube video or even tweet debunks the claim entirely.

There is one who posts here who is the biggest culprit of this, but because he's pro-Trump those like you Hammer don't seem to care.

It's that classic tactic of "So when did you stop beating your wife?".

SadKangaroo wrote on Jun 8^th, 2019 at 2:32pm:

The only reason I back Trump is because you lefties went berserk when he got in. You all set the rules. I believe the guy is an idiot but I respect the peoples vote. You lefties can't seem to do that and from day one have tried to destroy the man. Like a pack of screaming fascists.

SadKangaroo wrote on Jun 8^th, 2019 at 2:51pm:

Funny how you all had nothing to say when Obama sent young men and women to Afghanistan and crippled the US economy? At least start to show some consistency and stop pandering to poor leaders because of their race.

Mr Hammer wrote on Jun 8^th, 2019 at 2:54pm:


I wasn't around here when Obama did some of the more terrible aspects of his Presidency, including all the drone strikes.

It's almost more important to be critical of those you support to keep them to their promises and states beliefs as it is those you don't.

greggerypeccary wrote on Jun 8^th, 2019 at 3:40pm:

Maybe if she had a better spread she would have got in. But alas she lost.