Gonna Party Like It's 1984....

The sky is falling! The sky is falling! Oh wait, my bad...that's just the Dow Jones. Same difference.

During my brief hiatus from LuvBomb, I had the awesome opportunity to witness a number of my friends wiggin' out about the continuing and recent failings of America - from why we're still in Iraq, why folks are losing houses like socks in the laundry, and why Dubbya is hardcore earning the title of Bailout Bush before his reign of incompetence comes to an end. Even more entertaining has been judging the reactions - from anger to absolute bewilderment - of my friends with every new breaking development of the Republican campshame; why McPain is "suspending" his, and why news reporters are no longer allowed to expose America's Favorite Incompetent Hockey Mom for the waste of stem cells she is.

The swirls manufactured truths, the stench of deceit, the corruption overload, is smeared across the face of this country kinda like....lipstick on a pig (imagine that!). Or more like Oceania in George Orwell's 1984. A closer look into this "far-fetched" novel some cat wrote in the 1920's as his conception of how things would look in the year 1984 raises some interesting points:
1.) The Party / Big Brother: Signs everywhere. BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU. He sees you, he is listening, and even what you're thinking. Spies and informants are everywhere - controlling you, your every word, your every action, your every thought, and ultimately your life. What'd you say about the Patriot Act?
2.)The Ministry of Truth: Today, the newspapers say "we are at war with country A ,for reasons x, y, and z." Tomorrow, "as we said before, we are fighting x, y, and z, through war with country B." Suddenly, everyone forgets what the truth and the root of the issues were, because the government ultimately controls and manipulates the media to communicate whatever messages it chooses. Afghaniraq, anyone? Or for that matter, [insert skewed media coverage incident here]. Don't worry, I'll wait.
3.) Newspeak: Inherently contradictory jargon, aimed at distorting the truth, while creating the dichotomy of good and bad. Popular examples from the book include "WAR IS PEACE", "FREEDOM IS SLAVERY" and "IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH". Imagine that....kinda like saying "I'm going to suspend my campaign to focus on the economic crisis." Nice try, McSenile, but those of us with at least two active brain cells have figured out that your suspension is a campaign in and of itself.

At the end of the day, Orwell was before his time, in terms of exposing the notion of government deception and control of people through psychological manipulation. Although he pegged it at '84, we now see that the shelf-life of the Matrix is much longer....

Indulge me on my soap box for a little while longer.... But I can't seriously be the only one that saw the hard financial fall coming. Maybe it's cause and effect, maybe it's karma. It might even be an act of god. But one thing is for sure - the economic downfall of America has been brewing for quite some time. Budget deficits, misappropriations of funds, increasing national debt, yadda yadda yadda. We all knew what was up, but nobody really cared a few years, or even shit, a few months ago for that matter. Maaaaybe just maaaaybe we are all a little more ideologically American than we are comfortable believing or admitting. We turned a cold shoulder to the skyrocketing unemployment rates across the nation until we all graduated from college and couldn't find jobs. We could've cared less about the number of homeless persons rising, until the news told us these homeless people were working class people out on a loan turned bad, and that we could be next. That's the true American spirit of selfishness shining through - I don't care what happens, until it affects me personally.

So now we frantically and emphatically target Bush and his cronies (believe me, I am in NO way defending them) for basically bailing out companies their retirement pensions and stocks are invested in. But they're just protecting their interests, looking out for numero uno, right? Whether it's a $700,000 home, or a $700 billion dollar bailout, it's still self preservation - as American as apple pie.

And face it - you are too.

-- Crown Royal On Ice --