After enduring yesterday’s mutterings from Shermp (h/t to TM), who is a lot less fun than you’d expect the love child of Moe Howard and Carol Channing to be, I thought it might not be a good idea to go cold turkey; so I dropped by WorldNetDaily this afternoon for what we might call a nicotine patch of paranoia.
I end my series on the Ten Commandments with the ninth commandment; “Thou shall not lie.”
Unfortunately, when the Ten Commandments were syndicated, they had to trim the last one to make room for more commercials.
George Orwell (1903-1950), that magnificent literary prophet from a bygone era, eloquently warned us that demagogues, dictators and tyrants would arise as wolves in sheep’s clothing.
Actually, I believe you’re thinking of Aesop. But they both wrote allegories using animals, so I can see where you might easily confuse them. Here’s a little trick I learned for telling them apart: Orwell’s the one who did not appear on the Rocky & Bullwinkle Show.
“Big Brother,” the State, if you will, was the invisible, ubiquitous, omnipresent figure that followed you everywhere you went, even into the deep recesses of your mind. It told you what to think, how to think and when to think (which wasn’t very often).
And Woody Allen kidnapped his nose in Sleeper.
Another sinister figure from Orwell’s “1984″ was “Goldstein.” Although not as prolific as Big Brother, nevertheless Goldstein was a salient figure in Orwell’s work and in his futuristic society called “Oceania.” If Big Brother was the equivalent of Die Fuhrer (The Leader) as in Germany’s dictator, Adolf Hitler, then surely Goldstein would be the counterpart to Hitler’s minister of propaganda (Josef Goebbels).
If Goebbels had been a renegade ex-Nazi who formed an underground resistance movement and was constantly vilified by the Third Reich for writing a book which exposed the rotten foundations of fascism, then…sure. Yeah. I can see that.
I cite Hitler’s Third Reich only as a point of reference, for I believe Goldstein to be such an evil, diabolical figure as to be beyond the sphere of mere men, but is in the realm of ideas much like Rousseau (a return to a savage state of nature); Karl Marx (From each according to his ability, to each according to his need), or Nietzsche (God is Dead; Will to Power).
Right. Have you actually read Nineteen Eighty-Four? Because Emmanuel Goldstein, as far as I recall, wasn’t exactly Big Brother’s spin doctor.
All of these infamous men are liars, and their philosophies are lies and damn lies – yet these men and their ideas are lionized even to this day. Why? Exhibit 1: President B. Hussein Obama.
Okay, hang on here, Professor — let me just make sure I’m following you. Rousseau is more evil than Hitler and Goebbels; Nietzsche really thought God was alive, but just had to be a dick about it; and kids today think Karl Marx is cool because Obama has him in his Fave Five. That about right?
No, Obama is not a Hitler, but he is utilizing many of the techniques Hitler outlined in his treatise, “Mein Kampf.”
So then Obama’s worse than Hitler, right? I mean, say what you want about the Fuhrer, at least he didn’t plagiarize his books from Bill Ayers.
For example, once power is secured, move quickly to take more and more of the liberty and natural rights of the people in exchange for an ever-expanding, nationalist, socialist State. This is the Big Lie Orwell wrote about.
Actually, that was Hitler in Mein Kampf. Hey, now you’re doing it!
To demonstrate how vast and acceptable lying has become in public discourse, when was the last time you heard one journalist in the propaganda media refer to a politician, a political appointee, a judge, or a CEO of a corporation as a liar (unless he is a conservative)? Yet Washington, D.C., and the halls of power throughout America are teeming with liars like maggots over a fresh corpse.
That’s how you can tell when meat is really fresh: all the maggots.
Why is there not a single Republican with the courage and the intellect to call a weekly 5 p.m. press conference in the alcove of the U.S. Capitol and, line by line, precept by precept, lie by lie, state what Obama has promised – transparency, bipartisanship, reasonable policies, truth – versus what Obama has delivered in his first 100 days in office –
Because that kind of thing is usually more effective when screamed at commuters by a stinky, ragged, wild-eyed man standing on the edge of the subway platform, urinating on his shoes.
…obstructionism, Saul Alinsky partisanship, Marxist economic policy, genocidal abortion policy and giving away for free our most sensitive interrogation techniques to Osama bin Laden.
…even though bin Laden only signed up for the Basic Membership, and it was clearly stated in the Terms of Service that our most sensitive torture techniques are only available to Premium and Gold Club Members!
Indeed, Obama is a pathological liar.
You’re making that up.
Every speech, every domestic and foreign policy, every executive order, every economic policy, every political appointee and every future Supreme Court nominee … all LIES!
Wait — he’s taken out an advance on future lies? Doesn’t he know what kind of interest those places charge?!
If the Supreme Court ever gets the guts to grant certiorari (allow a full appeal) of one of the dozens of pending cases that have brought a constitutional challenge regarding Obama’s “natural born citizen” status according to Article II, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution…
Hoo boy, here we go…
…then my statement in the previous paragraph will become more than a literary flourish.
So diagnosing the President of the United States as a pathological liar is just a “literary flourish?” You know, that’s the kind of thing that can get a fellow’s poetic license revoked.
In other words, if B. Hussein Obama isn’t a legitimate American citizen according to the Constitution, then every executive order, policy, appointment and treaty will become null and void because Obama has treasonously violated God’s ninth commandment, Thou shall not lie.
“Treasonous?” Are we talking about commandments or amendments here?
Returning to Orwell’s “1984,” which character would Obama be if instead of “1984″ Orwell wrote “2009″? While most would probably answer Big Brother, I would disagree, for Big Brother was the omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent machinery of the State. Obama, the transcendent, messianic, FDResque figure is more akin to Goldstein, the minister of propaganda who with the help of his fascist legions spent day and night following one credo: Your liberty, your money, your property, your soul all belong to the State (federal government).
You realize that Emmanuel Goldstein is not the “minister of propaganda” in the novel, that he’s not analogous to Joseph Goebbels. You know that, right? Goebbels and Hitler were on the same team; Goldstein was the ne plus ultra of treachery, Public Enemy Number One, the focus of the Two Minute Hate. Goldstein was to Big Brother as Al Franken is to Bill O’Reilly.
Now it has, I admit, been many years since I’ve read the book, and I don’t have a copy close at hand, but I really think you could find a better candidate for your weird little analogy. But that’s just me…
This is the Big Lie Orwell so eloquently wrote against in his books, “1984″ and “Animal Farm.” What is different about 2009 versus 1949 when these literary works were conceived? The major difference is that 60 years ago the Stalinist state-run public schools hadn’t taken full control over the education of all citizens. However, in modern times tens of millions of people here in America gleefully accept the propaganda and lies of the State (Big Brother) as delineated by Obama (Goldstein) because, in the words of Orwell, “Always there were fresh dupes waiting to be seduced by him.”
Right…I apologize for harping on this, but if Obama is the Stalinist dictator who’s robbing us of our liberties, shouldn’t he be Big Brother? Goldstein was not a member of the Inner Party; in fact, it’s possible his existence was a government hoax. And anyway, if Orwell based him on anyone, it was most likely Leon Trotsky, so unless Obama went into exile during his recent trip to Mexico City and was killed by a blow to the skull with an ice axe and no one in the media’s thought to mention it until now, I’m thinking your parallel may be a little shaky.
Since the ideal of a universal Veritas (truth) is viewed by many as a relic of a bygone Christian past, it is therefore both irrelevant and inconsequential to societies’ march toward utopia. Obama’s willing accomplices in Congress, the secular academy, the propaganda media, Wall Street, corporations, unions and the anti-Christian courts across America slavishly bow to his will.
You left out International Jewry and the Freemasons.
One of my many intelligent readers
Sorry…just need a second…got something stuck in my throat…
…recently answered this question when he wrote: “Obama is trying to destroy the U.S. ASAP, and when he is done by 2012, there will be no law, no regulation left that will allow a fair opponent to compete against him – and the constituency will be so beholden to big government they wouldn’t dare vote against their jobs.
I’m tempted to say something snarky, but I know better than to get in a debate with somebody that smart.
America, choose Veritas over liberalism, job security, doublespeak, propaganda and treason. Go with God! – Thou shall not lie.
Join Ellis Washington for another edition of Literary Criticism the 10 Commandments Way. Next week: It’s E.B. White’s charming and heartwarming childhood favorite, Charlotte’s Web of Lies and Deceit.