-Caveat Lector-
From
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Learning to love Big Brother
George W. Bush channels George Orwell
Daniel Kurtzman
Sunday, July 28, 2002
©2002 San Francisco Chronicle.
URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/07/28/IN244190.DTL
Here's a question for constitutional scholars: Can a sitting president be charged with
plagiarism?
As President Bush wages his war against terrorism and moves to create a huge homeland
security apparatus, he appears to be borrowing heavily, if not ripping off ideas
outright,
from George Orwell. The work in question is "1984, " the prophetic novel about a
government that controls the masses by spreading propaganda, cracking down on
subversive thought and altering history to suit its needs. It was intended to be read
as a
warning about the evils of totalitarianism -- not a how-to manual.
Granted, we're a long way from resembling the kind of authoritarian state Orwell
depicted,
but some of the similarities are starting to get a bit eerie.
PERMANENT WAR
In "1984," the state remained perpetually at war against a vague and ever- changing
enemy. The war took place largely in the abstract, but it served as a convenient
vehicle to
fuel hatred, nurture fear and justify the regime's autocratic practices.
Bush's war against terrorism has become almost as amorphous. Although we are told the
president's resolve is steady and the mission clear, we seem to know less and less
about
the enemy we are fighting. What began as a war against Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda
quickly morphed into a war against Afghanistan, followed by dire warnings about an
"Axis
of Evil," the targeting of terrorists in some 50 to 60 countries, and now the
beginnings of a
major campaign against Iraq. Exactly what will constitute success in this war remains
unclear, but the one thing the Bush administration has made certain is that the war
will
continue "indefinitely."
MINISTRY OF TRUTH
Serving as the propaganda arm of the ruling party in "1984," the Ministry of Truth not
only
spread lies to suit its strategic goals, but constantly rewrote and falsified history.
It is a
practice that has become increasingly commonplace in the Bush White House, where
presidential transcripts are routinely sanitized to remove the president's gaffes,
accounts of
intelligence warnings prior to Sept. 11 get spottier with each retelling, and the facts
surrounding Bush's past financial dealings are subject to continual revision.
The Bush administration has been surprisingly up front about its intentions of
propagating
falsehoods. In February, for example, the Pentagon announced a plan to create an
Office of
Strategic Influence to provide false news and information abroad to help manipulate
public
opinion and further its military objectives. Following a public outcry, the Pentagon
said it
would close the office -- news that would have sounded more convincing had it not come
from a place that just announced it was planning to spread misinformation.
INFALLIBLE LEADER
An omnipresent and all-powerful leader, Big Brother commanded the total, unquestioning
support of the people. He was both adored and feared, and no one dared speak out
against
him, lest they be met by the wrath of the state.
President Bush may not be as menacing a figure, but he has hardly concealed his desire
for
greater powers. Never mind that he has mentioned -- on no fewer than three occasions --
how much easier things would be if he were dictator. By abandoning many of the checks
and balances established in the Constitution to keep any one branch of government from
becoming too powerful, Bush has already achieved the greatest expansion of executive
powers since Nixon. His approval ratings remain remarkably high, and his minions have
worked hard to cultivate an image of infallibility. Nowhere was that more apparent than
during a recent commencement address Bush gave at Ohio State, where students were
threatened with arrest and expulsion if they protested the speech. They were ordered to
give him a "thunderous ovation," and they did.
BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING
The ever-watchful eye of Big Brother kept constant tabs on the citizens of Orwell's
totalitarian state, using two-way telescreens to monitor people's every move while
simultaneously broadcasting party propaganda.
While that technology may not have arrived yet, public video surveillance has become
all
the rage in law enforcement, with cameras being deployed everywhere from sporting
events to public beaches. The Bush administration has also announced plans to recruit
millions of Americans to form a corps of citizen spies who will serve as "extra eyes
and
ears for law enforcement," reporting any suspicious activity as part of a program
dubbed
Operation TIPS --
Terrorism Information and Prevention System.
And thanks to the hastily passed USA Patriot Act, the Justice Department has sweeping
new
powers to monitor phone conversations, Internet usage, business transactions and
library
reading records. Best of all, law enforcement need not be burdened any longer with such
inconveniences as probable cause.
THOUGHT POLICE
Charged with eradicating dissent and ferreting out resistance, the ever- present
Thought
Police described in "1984" carefully monitored all unorthodox or potentially subversive
thoughts. The Bush administration is not prosecuting thought crime yet, but members
have
been quick to question the patriotism of anyone who dares criticize their handling of
the
war on terrorism or homeland defense. Take, for example, the way Attorney General John
Ashcroft answered critics of his anti- terrorism measures, saying that opponents of the
administration "only aid terrorists" and "give ammunition to America's enemies. "
Even more ominous was the stern warning White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer sent
to Americans after Bill Maher, host of the now defunct "Politically Incorrect," called
past
U.S. military actions "cowardly." Said Fleischer, "There are reminders to all
Americans that
they need to watch what they say, watch what they do, and this is not a time for
remarks
like that; there never is."
What would it take to turn America into the kind of society that Orwell warned about, a
society that envisions war as peace, freedom as slavery and ignorance as strength?
Would
it happen overnight, or would it involve a gradual erosion of freedoms with the
people's
consent?
Because we are a nation at war -- as we are constantly reminded -- most Americans say
they are willing to sacrifice many of our freedoms in return for the promise of greater
security. We have been asked to put our blind faith in government and most of us have
done so with patriotic fervor. But when the government abuses that trust and begins to
stamp out the freedom of dissent that is the hallmark of a democratic society, can
there be
any turning back?
So powerful was the state's control over people's minds in "1984" that, eventually,
everyone came to love Big Brother. Perhaps in time we all will, too.
Daniel Kurtzman is a San Francisco writer and former Washington political
correspondent.
©2002 San Francisco Chronicle. Page D - 1
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