Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Eric Arthur Blair & his "Orwellian stuff"

Orwellian Stuff of 2012
This post celebrates the Orwellian stuff of current Newspeak, (a la Lesley Stahl's interview with Jose Rodriguez).
  • RODRIGUEZ: No. He gets a good night's sleep. He gets his Ensure. By the way, he was very heavy when he came to us and he lost 50 pounds.
  • STAHL: What, his Ensure? You mean like people in the hospital who will drink that stuff?
  • RODRIGUEZ: Yes. Dietary manipulation was part of these dire techniques.
  • STAHL: So sleep deprivation, dietary manipulation, I mean, this is Orwellian stuff. The United States doesn't do that. 
Stahl is not the only person who is using Orwellian stuff to manipulate perceptions of reality. 
It seems like every Tom, Dick, and George are dumping their "Orwellian stuff" in the public square; trying to get noticed.
President Obama launched his "Forward" campaign, which it so happens has been labeled "Orwellian" stuff for socialism, communism, marxism, or nazism. 
Which particular "ism" will manipulate the audience's perception most, is not clear, however, people who oppose another Obama term could not allow the Forward campaign to progress without some Orwellian stuff being dropped in its path. 
Twitter also, is full of large stinking piles of Orwellian stuff. 
If one has a bit of commonplace news that he wants to be seen in the most cliched terms, and to be utterly ignored by the people who generally ignore him anyway , then, he should categorize the news as "Orwellian stuff". 
In this way, no one who hears or reads the characterization need use an iota of critical thought processes to come to an informed opinion. 
To be sure, many people do not "think" in any true sense, so, removing a potential need for sporadic thought, by people who either agree or disagree, is a shrewd move on the part of the Orwellian commentator. 
And mind you, the term "Orwellian" is only one potential trigger, which may shut down all logic of the religiously left, religiously right, or religiously religious. Some other terms, which will suffice to inoculate catatonic partisans against free thought, are terms like Marxist, Stalinist or Reaganomics.
These Orwellian adjectives may effectively paralyze the mental faculties of what could otherwise be wise & reasoning humans, aka. Homo sapiens sapiens.