Did George Orwell Hit the Nail on the Head?

 

    If you are anything like me, you're sick to death of hearing all about the politics in this country. I turn on the news hoping to hear about something else going on in the world, but the vast majority of what is covered is political. There doesn't appear to be any real news anymore, it's all political opinion. Depending on which side of the isle you're on, you're either ecstatic and dancing in the streets or you're outraged and ready to throw the bums out. I've never lived through a time of such unrest in this country. I lived through the Cuban missile crisis, the  hippie movement, the Vietnam War, the gas rationing of the seventies, multiple presidential elections, the Ebola virus, the N1 whatever it was virus, Y2K and in the past year, the Corona virus and a toilet paper shortage. There have been many disasters to endure, but by far the one that scares me the most is what is happening in this country now, where the people are so divided that we can't even be civil in our disagreements. What troubles me more is that so many people use social media to either get news or get their ideas across to the masses. Now the big technology companies are deciding for us what is acceptable to view. If I disagree with their point of view I can be labeled dangerous and removed from their sites, just like they did to the conservative social media site Parler. I've never visited Parler, and I don't do Facebook, but I would at least like to have a choice in what I view. This is, after all, the United States of America. To the best of my knowledge we still have the first amendment, although I'm starting to wonder. When one party can sensor the other for any reason, aren't we doing what so many Communist countries do? Is there free speech in North Korea or China or Russia?  In George Orwell's novel, 1984 the ruling party controlled everything. There was no freedom whatsoever. They even had "thought police" so they could tell what you were thinking and control even your thoughts. When children are indoctrinated to think a particular way in school, when the news media brings only political opinion that is biased towards one party and it is echoed in the entertainment industry and enforced by giant corporations who want to punish those who think differently, aren't we moving dangerously close to the same situation that Orwell wrote about? He also wrote a book that I was required to read in junior high school titled Animal Farm. In that book the animals rebelled and took over the farm and all of them were supposed to have equal rights, and for awhile they did. Then gradually the pigs started making rules for all the other animals but didn't adhere to them themselves. At the end of the book, the pigs were meeting with humans  and there was no distinction between the two species. Doesn't that sound a little like the politicians who want us to do as they say and not as they do? They can go on vacations and spend time with their families or visit hair salons, but you better not do it or you don't care about the masses getting the virus. The hypocrisy is stifling, and yet they seem to get away with it. Do you think that if the politicians were unable to get paid until there was a stimulus package for the rest of Americans  that they wouldn't get busy and pass legislation to help? They get paid one way or another, not that they need it. Dear Nancy Pelosi has an estimated worth of $120,000,000.00. God knows what Mitch Mc Connell has in the bank or Chuck Schumer or Lindsey Graham or any of the others who have used their time in politics to enlarge their own bank accounts. We've given the key to the hen house to the fox. They spend our tax money like drunken sailors and won't even take up a vote on term limits, although I suspect the vast majority of the public is in favor of them. I don't know what it's going to take to change the direction that we're going in this country, but if the ruling party silences opposing voices, and takes away the normal checks and balances that keep the government in check, we're in deep trouble indeed. I take some comfort in believing that God is still in control and that there is most assuredly a law of sewing and reaping. It would behoove all of us to remember that. I promise you that if you plant a watermelon seed, you will grow watermelons, not bananas. In the same way if you plant discord and deceit, you'll reap hatred and rebellion. The seeds we plant on this earth and at this time will have repercussions long after we've breathed our last, both in this life and the life hereafter.