Politics and the English Language

[Sam Lowry]

Hey Gang:

If you guys haven't read this, you should. Even though it was written in 1946, it has some good insights into what we are witnessing today and will witness forever as long as boneheads run the show.

God bless George Orwell.

http://www.resort.com/~prime8/Orwell/patee.html

[solinvictus]

1. "boneheads run the show."

Unless there are some fundamental changes in basic human nature, we'll always have boneheads running the show. A combination of a degraded public education system, media conditioning, and a general atmosphere of instant gratification has produced a mass electorate with the attention span and attitude of a petulant child. Media conglomorates have been instrumental in this as they continually offer distractions from any core issues integral to the lives of average Americans. Rather than offer coverage of, for instance, El Presidente's pre-war lies, they instead avoid the issue by focusing on Bennifer or Scott Peterson or any other catchy story framed in pop culture. The media, often labeled as "liberal", is actually very conservative as it serves the corporate plutocrats in maintaining the status quo. Remember, a decade ago all tangible debate concerning NAFTA was intentionally obscured by such tabloid non-issues as Tonya Harding, Lorena Bobbitt, and the first Michael Jackson pedophilia allegations. As long as the American masses pay more attention to pop culture, ESPN, and the newest GM gas guzzler, there will be no tangible changes in policy or leadership. The current media appointed Democratic front runner proves this point. If Kerry is nominated to "oppose" Bush, that gives the American voter a choice between two well-heeled insiders, which is ultimately, a choice between Tweedledee and Tweedledum. Of course, this is what the current plutocracy wants to maintain its political and economic power.

[Iverson]

2. always timely. thanks for the reminder!

"The fascist octopus has sung its swan song."