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Orwell would be scared today. In our time, the government’s exploitation of public fear has reached Oceanian proportions. Between the hasty inception of the PATRIOT Act and its grave implications on our countries’ civil rights and the unashamed sidestepping of the Constitution by the current administration, America is heading in an Orwellian spiral to its ruin.
Not since the Red Scare in the 1950s and the threat of a vast “communist menace” has the government’s blatant exploitation of the public been so evident. Vague threat warnings are given out during the holiday season to keep everyone alert for the menace that has somehow failed to seriously threaten our nation since the events of September 11. But we all still must stay vigilant, and keep an eye on the Terror Alert Level, a fancy color-coded way for the American public to see that terrorism still lurks in the shadows. Polls are taken on the corporate-owned media that ask questions about terrorism, and the airwaves are full of people bantering about the topic for hours on end. Keep the issue in play, control the public’s knowledge, and ride it out for all it’s politically worth. It sounds a lot like 1954 to me.
Everyone knows the phrase "history repeats itself", it’s become common in our culture, but apparently everyone has disregarded it in their consideration of our current administration. 50 years after McCarthy conducted his witch hunts, the government is at it again. Ambiguous terms like “communist sympathizers” have been replaced by the more modern and dangerous-sounding “domestic terrorist”. But this time it’s serious.
With the saturation of technology into modern society and large corporations owning huge media conglomerates, the government has found all the information control it needs. News like Bush’s current oil deal with the Saudis (now rescinded by all parties as a simple “misunderstanding”) get brushed aside without a thought, and instead the media focuses on more entertaining stories about mass murderers, sports, Janet Jackson’s nipple ring, and of course, the constant threat of terrorism.
Before, McCarthy could shout at “Communist sympathizers” as loud and as much as he wanted, and through the HUAC he ruined hundreds of honest American’s lives. But this time, the McCarthy of our era is in a position to scratch out the Constitution and put laws on the books that will seriously affect the civil rights and freedoms of the American public.
Our administration, since it’s inception in a 2000 election that can only be described as “ambiguous”, has set it’s course directly towards the elimination of the American public’s voice in government. Section 803a of the PATRIOT Act reads as follows:
“The term ‘domestic terrorism’ means activities that appear to be intended to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion...”
Quite ambiguous, but I suppose that’s the point. Make a broad net to allow for the capture of the dangerous terrorists, and slide a bit down that slippery slope towards the complete erosion of the laws this country was founded upon. And if the public is a little disconcerted about this violation, you gently remind them that terrorism still lurks. And a few months later, you push for a little more power to eliminate terrorism once and for all; I mean, so what if the civil rights that the legislation violates have successfully guided this nation since it’s inception, we wouldn’t use these laws against honest Americans, honest. We’re the government. And by then, it’s too late. If we don’t stop it, the Orwellian spiral could start here, and I don’t want to fathom where it could end.
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