Choices

We live in a remarkable time.  We now have access to all the information known to mankind.  We have so much access it is overwhelming for most of us, and we choose to live on the soundbites of information provided by our media.  These tidbits of information are sanitized, formatted, and cherry-picked to present to us the reality those pushing want us to believe in.  Of course, there is always a mirror image of that reality so that we can never be too sure that what we are seeing is really the original, or a reflection of the original changed just enough to present an alternative reality.

In 1984, Apple Inc. had a Super Bowl commercial that played on George Orwell’s novel of the same name.  In that commercial Apple^®, introduced the original Macintosh computer with the promise we would see why “1984 won’t be like 1984.”  Yet here we are almost 30-years later with the images of Orwell’s frightening vision playing out precisely because of the information age unlocked by the personal computer and the domination and control of that information by mega-corporations with global impact who can now reach into our homes and extract whatever data they desire.

We see our society fracturing now, more than our history teaches us we did in the past.  Rather than moving toward a renaissance of new ideas and thoughts, we seem to be moving to an age where the smallest voices in society dominate the conversations through the loudest megaphones.  A time where the age of reason is replaced by the age of outrage. Everywhere we look we see the condemnation of our historical values by groups who have rejected them and now demand their personal values be used as the new civil standard.  As soon as that happens a new group of outraged minorities rise up and demand those standards are obsolete and new ones must be accepted.

Meanwhile, the political and financial elite, speaking from behind their walls spur on the discontent so we won’t notice their acquisition of wealth and the creation of a two-class economy where there are only rich and poor.  The poor, of course, will live off the scraps of the rich, just as they do in other two-class societies.

We’ve seen over these past dozen years the choices made by our increasingly dominant younger generations, and it seems they are willing participants in the evolution of society to that envisioned by George Orwell.  A society where independent thought is vilified and approved behaviors are demanded.  I guess this is what happens when we create an educational industry where conformity is demanded and standards are lowered so no one is left behind.  

Funny Thing About 1984

I just read George Orwell’s book 1984 is making a resurgence on the reading lists.  It is again becoming fashionable for the metropolitan elites to read it as they question the government under Donald Trump and the Republicans.  The funny thing is the conservative movement has been talking about 1984 since 2009 when the Democrat’s swept into power.  Funny how perspectives change as we strive to crush the constitution, limit free speech and expand government surveillance and control.

In 2013, I wrote Ben Franklin Had It Right, talking about how if we are willing to give up our freedoms for the illusion of security we will ultimately lose those freedoms.  For the past 8-years supporters of the President were willing to do precisely that, now supporters of the new President appear willing to allow him to remove even more, and of course the opposition is outraged at the thought.

The unfortunate thing is once you’ve surrendered those protections, you cannot easily get them back just because you don’t like the new administration.  You can bluster, you can protest, you can destroy, and you can argue about “alternative facts” but you’ve allowed the precedent to take place and that is all that really matters unless some fundamental shift in the real-politic occurs.