1982 Morphs into 1984

It was 1982. The Cold War was hot. Princess Grace had passed. The economy was heating. I was regularly attending Stillwater Concerts in Cochran, Ga. I had a keen interest in national politics, all while having a bit too much fun in college. Don Henley, America poet Lauriat of Cynicism, had recently penned, recorded and released his song, “Dirty Laundry.” It marked my introduction to sensationalism and yellow journalism. It opened my eyes to a topic that I really didn’t grasp well until then. It hastened my understanding why my father had commonly referred to the CBS news and their media empire as the Communist Broadcast Network.

I make my living off the evening news

Just give me something, something I can use

People love it when you lose, they love dirty laundry

It was cynicism squared. I was thinking… well, I know the evening news is bad, but is it that bad? Well, I had just completed an elective Philosophy 101 class. I recall that the topics of the day in this class often drifted to Orwell’s’ “1984” … as we were only two years away from the setting of his famous work. If you haven’t read this novel, it’s probably one of the most prophetic books ever written (save the Bible).

Big Brother is the leader who controls everything. Winston Smith lives in Oceania and is a low-ranking member in the Party. He also works for the Ministry of Truth, The Party forces everyone to speak the invented language, Newspeak. Winston hates the Party and is troubled by their control, especially their control of history. Eventually, the Party traps Winston. He resists, but they torture and brainwash him until he snaps. He accepts the Party and learns to love Big Brother.

The parallels with the current Chinese Communist Party are uncanny. The President of China, Xi Jinping, is Big Brother. The Uyghur Muslims in China are currently being sent to re-education camps where it is rumored that they are beaten, tortured and forced to work long hours in slave labor conditions. Without a doubt, some of the items the Uyghurs help manufacture under these brutal conditions are sold in American retail outlets. According to industry researcher HIS Markit, there will be over one billion surveillance cameras in China by the end of 2021.

Where are we headed with this in the United States? The world is getting smaller, and it seems the surveillance state and the Uniparty continue to converge into lockstep. Eisenhower warned us about the military industrial complex in his farewell speech in 1961. We now call it the Deep State, and the Deep State’s reach is ubiquitous. Hmmm, let’s see, when the next pandemic arrives, we’ll shutter and close the small businesses. We’ll just have everyone buy their goods from the large retailers—the same ones who do business in China.

Time to circle back to Newspeak, uh, I mean the mainstream media. You know—the ones Don Henley wrote the song about. They are the biggest players in all of this. They are simply poisoning us with hate. This goes for our social media as well. How else would they keep us so involved with their products?

Meanwhile, the background vocals in “Dirty Laundry” continue:

Kick ’em when they’re up, kick ’em when they’re down

Kick ’em when they’re stiff, kick ’em all around…

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