Here’s a book you may have overlooked. What Orwell Didn’t Know: Propaganda and the New Face of American Politics, edited by András Szántó. It’s an essay anthology from people who believe the “state of public discourse in our country, especially the language used by politicians and journalists, [is] ‘divorcing itself from reality at an alarming rate.’ [They] ‘were especially concerned about the waning power — or inclination — of the press to bring political rhetoric in line with fact,’ believing that the line between debate and propaganda had become dangerously obscured.” The fact that George Soros funded the book may mean it’s a waste of paper, that is, a collection of thoughts from those who would take the speck out of our eyes will nurturing the log in their own. But on the surface, I agree with their premise. Political discourse and those “debates” they keep pushing at us appear to be pretty lightweight.
I think it’s Orwellian to call it “propaganda” when all sides finally get a chance to speak, after a period when only one side had a voice, and called itself “objective journalism.”
But even more, I agree with those who say that Huxley, not Orwell, saw the future plain. We’re not victimized by a thought-controlling government authority. We’re entertained to death by a culture that offers a myriad mind-numbing pleasures to dull our minds.
Yes, I’m with you there. I believe I’ve heard the same argument from those angered that we don’t accept global warming as they tell us to.