1984

Newspeak

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Newspeak (pronounced like “new speak” and not “news peak”) is a fictional language in George Orwell’s 1949 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four that is designed to limit a person’s ability to think critically.

The term has also come into general use to describe bureaucratic jargon that is confusing or deceptive. It can also refer to a style of writing or speaking that presents one thing as the opposite of something else, often for a political or ideological purpose. 

I’m afraid that 75 years after Orwell’s book was first published, 1984 has arrived in 2024,?forty years later than what Orwell predicted.

The headline in an article I received on my newsfeed this morning read:

Federal employees scramble to insulate themselves from Trump’s purge

The article noted that federal government employees are scrubbing their Facebook, X, and other social media accounts for any negative posts about Trump. Some are weighing putting in retirement papers, while others maneuver to transfer to seemingly “safer” agencies. D.C. recruiting firms are seeing booming business from those looking for private-sector work.

Some government agencies have moved to reclassify jobs with titles that could clash with Trump’s agenda, especially those promoting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), boosting environmental justice, and fighting the effects of climate change.

Changing job titles, government agency names, and mission statement language so as not to incur the wrath of, or at the very least, escape the notice of, Big Brother (aka Donald Trump) is happening now.

Yes, 1984 has arrived. A time where ignorance is, indeed, considered to be strength.

So fellow bloggers, let me give you a word of advice. Purge your blog of any posts that our insecure President-elect might deem to be critical of him in anyway. I have no doubt that if you don’t heed my advice, Trump’s sycophants will be employing super computers and artificial intelligence to find your posts and to weed you out.

Because it is 1984 2024 and Big Brother is watching all of us.

Loose Change

Fandango13 Comments

For yesterday’s Scott’s Daily Prompt, Scott asked us to “Dig through your couch cushions, your purse, or the floor of your car, and look at the year printed on the first coin you find. What were you doing that year?”

Upon seeing Scott’s prompt, I immediately went to a jar on my chest of drawers in my bedroom in which I keep loose change. I opened up the lid of my loose change jar and pulled out one of the coins sitting on top. It was a 1984 quarter.

Before I begin, let me point out that I live a rather unremarkable life, so looking back to a particular year, I’d say there’s not much that is either particularly interesting or exciting. If you choose to read on, be prepared to be bored.

In 1984 I was 37 and living in a northern New Jersey suburb with my wife and two young children. I was working in Midtown Manhattan for a small software development firm where I designed health benefits administration software solutions. I commuted to my job each day by driving to, and parking my car at, a staging area for a commuter bus that took me to New York City’s Port Authority bus terminal. Then I would take the D-train (subway) to the office building at 57th and Broadway. I liked my job, but I hated the commute. And that pretty much sums up what I was doing in 1984.

In early 1985, I was recruited by a Los Angeles-based company that made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. So I didn’t. I moved my family completely across the country, where we bought a house, got the kids enrolled in new schools, and I started my new job. Hence, 1985 was a much more interesting year for all of us than was 1984. But, as they say, you play with the cards you’re dealt. Or in the case, the date on the coin I selected.

2019 is 1984

Fandango24 Comments

3864C99C-26BB-4EC5-A9D0-2EEF7B540A9AThe assemblage of Trump lemmings down in Mar-a-Lago are fist-bumping and high-fiving this weekend. The talking heads at Fox News are delirious in their joy today. That’s because the long-awaited and much-anticipated Mueller Report has been delivered, and even though few people know what’s actually in it, the Trump faithful are pounding their chests and claiming vindication. “No collusion, no obstruction,” they are gleefully yelling.

Donald Trump, Jr., Ivanka Trump, and Jared Kushner have all escaped indictments (so far). As has Donald Trump himself. The Mueller probe is over, and from all outward appearances, it looks like Donald Trump and his kin will get off scot-free.

I don’t know what’s in the Mueller report, but it’s hard for me to imagine, given what we have all seen with our own eyes and heard with our own ears, that there is no hard evidence of collusion and obstruction on the part of Donald Trump. But then again, Trump did tell his supporters, “Just remember, what you are seeing and what you are reading is not what’s happening. Just stick with us, don’t believe the crap you see from these people, the fake news.”

I wonder if all of America, including Robert Mueller, has been somehow brainwashed to the point of denying what we all know to be true. Donald Trump and his see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil Republican sycophants in Congress have redefined the American identity, and it’s not for the better.

War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength, lies are truth, and 2019 is 1984.

Written for these daily prompts: Your Daily Word Prompt (assemblage), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (delirious), and Word of the Day Challenge (identity).

Welcome to 1984

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896BBA2F-2D65-4186-92DF-DAFC5EA76EA3Fox News host Laura Ingraham is at it again. The last time we heard the twisted “wisdom” of Ms. Ingraham, as I noted here, was a few weeks back when she lamented that, “Massive demographic changes have been foisted upon the American people, and they are changes that none of us ever voted for, and most of us don’t like.”

Well, Ms. Ingraham is back at it again. Only this time, she wants to turn America into China, where the state controls what its citizens can see and read on the internet by strictly controlling social media.

Ingraham suggested on her Friday night Fox News show that the American government should take over private social media networks so that they can be regulated.

“There’s a thought that, given the enormity of these corporations [Facebook and Twitter], and this is a public square today. This is the equivalent of what we used to see in the old town square was people with a bull horn. And so could there be a movement to treat them more like public utilities, so they have some quasi-government oversight of these entities?”

Ingraham claims that the tech industry is controlled by “intolerant” liberals on the West Coast. “The west coast,” she said, “otherwise known as the ‘left coast,’ is overwhelmingly left wing, overwhelmingly probably voted for Hillary. They say, this is just an algorithm.”

So Laura Ingraham wants the government to run Facebook and Twitter so that they won’t be biased against conservatives and Donald Trump.

And this follows the path set by her Dear Leader who, earlier this week, as I pointed out here, railed against how how searches for Donald Trump on Google always show negative news about him. So Trump directed Larry Kudlow, his Director of the National Economic Council and his chief economic adviser, to “take a look” at whether Google and its search engine should be regulated by the government.

So look out, America. Donald Trump and Laura Ingraham want to turn Facebook, Twitter, and Google into Fox News and to turn American media into a propaganda machine like those in China, Russia, North Korea, and other autocracies where the government controls what you see, hear, and read.

Welcome to 1984.

One-Liner Wednesday — Don’t Shoot the Messenger

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“The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those who speak it.”

If you haven’t read George Orwell’s book, 1984, in a long, long time — or if you’ve never read it — now is the time to do so. It’s particularly relevant these days when alternative facts (aka, lies) are being presented as valid options for actual facts (aka, the truth) and when real news is called fake and fake news is called real.

When the message offers you the truth, don’t shoot the messenger.

This post is part of the One-Liner Wedesday prompt from Linda G. Hill.

Alternative Facts

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Environmental Protection Agency head Scott Pruitt is lying to America. On multiple Sunday morning news shows a few weeks ago, the EPA chief was telling anyone who would listen that the coal industry in the US has grown by more than 50,000 jobs during the first quarter of 2017.

Unfortunately, that is total bullshit. The US Mine Health and Safety Administration reported that the average number of coal industry jobs increased by fewer than 600 during the first three months of 2017.

Hmm. More than 50,000 versus fewer than 600. The figures quoted by Pruitt must have come directly from the Trump administration’s Ministry of Truth.

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are currently only 51,000 jobs in the entire coal mining industry. And of those 51,000 jobs, only around 15,000 are actually working in the mines.

Simple Arithmetic

But wait. If there are currently only 51,000 total mine industry workers and, as Pruitt claims, there were more than 50,000 new mine industry jobs in the first quarter of this year alone, that would mean — wait, let me do the math — that would mean there could have been only 1,000 coal mining industry jobs in existence at the end of last year. Simple arithmetic, right?

Meanwhile, slate.com noted that there are 69,000 bowling industry workers in the US. That’s 18,000 more than coal industry workers. There are 20,000 professional dancers in this country, while there are only 15,000 actual coal miners. There are more drywall installers, more event planners, more zoologist, and more skin care specialists than there are miners.

So why is Pruitt lying to the American public? Why is Trump putting so much emphasis on saving a relatively small and dying industry?

The question is who benefits? Follow the money people. Follow the money.