Orwell Revisited
Orwell Revisited:
I stood watching, dumbfounded by it all. How is it possible to misunderstand what’s happening? That is my question. It’s as if the whole world has suddenly become handicapped, and everybody, no matter who, required their special needs to be met. Some were men, others were women. Others still, were neither male, nor female, but required dozens of new categories to define who and what they were. The word “Human” would no longer do, it seemed.
Meanwhile, the latest theories about human nature were being trumpeted as fact by scientific journals like VOX, Mic, and The Huff Po. Words like “Normal” were redefined, as well. Apparently, because it left out people who were thought of as abnormal.
“What’s language, anyway, but an artificial construct?" They’d ask. “Not unlike math, which is why my twenty dollar bank balance is actually a cool million. And, if the bank refuses to cash my check for a hundred thousand or so, I’ll sue the shit out of them for suffering from some legalistic math-o-phobia. I mean, why should actual millionaires be the only ones who have all the money? Huh?”
In the midst of this insanity, most Americans just shrugged and said “What the hell are these people talking about?”
Still, others, knew this was the good fight. Little joey, who was now Josephine (and had been for at least two weeks) demanded to shower in the girls locker room saying “Just because I’m fifteen and have a penis and all the biological components of a man, doesn’t make me a man. Not according to the latest study. Forget about the past million years or so of cultural norms, this is a brand new day. After all, there’s a frog in Indonesia that can change its sex. Meaning, that this one species in a billion, is the new standard of normal. Remember, math is racist!”
All of these things were supported by people who knew they were right and refused to listen to anything or anybody that said otherwise. If they got confused by an actual reasonable argument, they’d simply wait for an interpretation from some seasoned 20 yr. old at BuzzFeed to set the record straight with their searing logic. This would usually be achieved by setting up a straw man and then knocking it down, plus burning a building or two, while looting a local business. The press would then suggest that right-wingers disguised as college professors were likely the culprits and the story would come full circle.
In this brave new world, violence was peace, higher taxes made you rich, carefully controlled language was the same as free speech, and lies, no matter how ridiculous, were truth. But only if you were an insider, a progressive. If not, you had no rights at all. If not now, it was a work in progress.
Mark Magula
I stood watching, dumbfounded by it all. How is it possible to misunderstand what’s happening? That is my question. It’s as if the whole world has suddenly become handicapped, and everybody, no matter who, required their special needs to be met. Some were men, others were women. Others still, were neither male, nor female, but required dozens of new categories to define who and what they were. The word “Human” would no longer do, it seemed.
Meanwhile, the latest theories about human nature were being trumpeted as fact by scientific journals like VOX, Mic, and The Huff Po. Words like “Normal” were redefined, as well. Apparently, because it left out people who were thought of as abnormal.
“What’s language, anyway, but an artificial construct?" They’d ask. “Not unlike math, which is why my twenty dollar bank balance is actually a cool million. And, if the bank refuses to cash my check for a hundred thousand or so, I’ll sue the shit out of them for suffering from some legalistic math-o-phobia. I mean, why should actual millionaires be the only ones who have all the money? Huh?”
In the midst of this insanity, most Americans just shrugged and said “What the hell are these people talking about?”
Still, others, knew this was the good fight. Little joey, who was now Josephine (and had been for at least two weeks) demanded to shower in the girls locker room saying “Just because I’m fifteen and have a penis and all the biological components of a man, doesn’t make me a man. Not according to the latest study. Forget about the past million years or so of cultural norms, this is a brand new day. After all, there’s a frog in Indonesia that can change its sex. Meaning, that this one species in a billion, is the new standard of normal. Remember, math is racist!”
All of these things were supported by people who knew they were right and refused to listen to anything or anybody that said otherwise. If they got confused by an actual reasonable argument, they’d simply wait for an interpretation from some seasoned 20 yr. old at BuzzFeed to set the record straight with their searing logic. This would usually be achieved by setting up a straw man and then knocking it down, plus burning a building or two, while looting a local business. The press would then suggest that right-wingers disguised as college professors were likely the culprits and the story would come full circle.
In this brave new world, violence was peace, higher taxes made you rich, carefully controlled language was the same as free speech, and lies, no matter how ridiculous, were truth. But only if you were an insider, a progressive. If not, you had no rights at all. If not now, it was a work in progress.
Mark Magula