BB, W, et al.

Alluding to Big Brother and the “memory hole” in previous posts triggered a lot of associations. Nineteen Eighty-Four was required high-school reading for many of us, but I don’t think enough people appreciate all of the resonations it has for today’s events.

• There’s the whole surveillance culture and Big-Brother-Is-Watching-You mentality, honed to perfection by W’s NSA directives. And don’t forget the capacity of average citizens today to spy on fellow citizens using the cameras in their cell phones. Parsons’ kids – the ones in the book who turned in their doting dad – would’ve loved that little gizmo.
• The memory hole into which Winston sent old facts that were to be replaced by new ones speaks to the whole revision of history – and it’s not just Republicans conveniently forgetting W’s blunders; it’s the record of their determination to dictate history on their terms, from the certainty of Saddam’s wmd’s to the declaration “Mission Accomplished” to today’s knee-jerk castigations of Obama. Now in the wake of the underwear bomber they’re crowing that W kept us safe from attacks as if 9/11 never happened.
• As with the world of 1984, we seem to be in a constant state of war, necessary to maintain public vigilance and promote patriotism. Winston had this suspicion confirmed in Goldstein’s book: “The war is waged by each ruling group against its own subjects, and the object of the war is not to make or prevent conquests of territory, but to keep the structure of society intact.” Just like the war on terror that the wingnuts – and even Obama – love to hold over our heads.
• Doublethink – “The power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them” – has become the norm. Maybe it all started in Vietnam, when we “destroyed a village in order to save it.” Now giving up our rights in the name of freedom, especially as legislated through the Patriot Act, is doublethink in action. (Remember: “Freedom is Slavery.”)
• Torture today seems to be as cold-blooded and matter-of-fact as it was at the Ministry of Love. You’ve seen the pictures from Abu Ghraib, so don’t even ask what’s behind the door to Room 101.
• The Junior Anti-Sex League, of which Julia is nominally a member, sounds a lot like the abstinence programs championed by W.
• Thoughtcrime has its modern counterpart in “hate crime,” where the criminal act isn’t sufficient: the motivation is equally punishable. (I realize this is a rap on liberals and a departure from the prevalent theme, but it’s no less true.)
• Finally, my favorite: Just as citizens of Oceania gathered for a “two-minute hate” in which they focused on the villain Emmanuel Goldstein, today we focus on the villain Osama bin Laden, a turncoat to his highly placed Saudi family like Goldstein was to the Inner Party. Despite our inability to catch the sonofabitch, it almost seems more useful to the government to have him out there – like Goldstein – as the focus of our wrath.
  

Nineteen Eighty-Four has a lot to say to us today; it’s also a heartbreaking love story. I only wish that Oprah had made it one of her picks so that more people would read it.