Big Brother is watching. - Oakland Tribune 23 Dec 2005

[Guest guest]

A

Tue, 27 Dec 2005 01:43:59 -0500

Big Brother is watching. Oakland Tribune 23 Dec 2005

 

 

 

 

http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/oped/ci_3337465

 

 

Article Last Updated: 12/23/2005 11:32:30 AM

 

 

 

 

 

Big Brother is watching

 

IT took 21 years longer than expected, but the future has finally arrived.

 

And we don't like it. Not one bit.

 

We are fighting a war with no end to create a peace with no defined

victory.

 

We occupy a foreign land that doesn't want us, while at home our civil

liberties are discounted.

 

We are told that it's better not to know what our government is doing

in our name, for security purposes. Meanwhile, our government is

becoming omnipresent, spying on us whenever it deems it necessary.

 

War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.

 

George Orwell was right after all.

 

In 1949, Orwell penned " 1984, " a dark, futuristic satire in which the

totalitarian government used indoctrination, propaganda and fear to

enforce order and conformity. His " Big Brother " — the face of this

all-knowing regime — was never wrong, and to make sure of it, history

was constantly being rewritten.

 

Orwell wrote his book as a cautionary tale to underscore the insidious

danger of slowly eroded individual liberties. His Thought Police may

not yet be on the march, but it's not hyperbole to point out the eerie

parallels with today's America.

 

In America today, Big Brother is watching.

 

He's watching because President Bush told him to. Shortly after 9/11,

Bush secretly authorized warrantless wiretaps on U.S. citizens making

or receiving international calls and e-mails.

 

When it comes to fighting terror, Bush is totalitarian — remember,

you're either with us or against us. Trust me to get it right, he

says. Debate on the law is not only not needed, it's evil.

 

" An open debate about the law would say to the enemy, 'Here's what

we're going to do.' " Bush said recently. " The fact that we're

discussing this program is helping the enemy. "

 

Then there's the Patriot Act, also created in the days immediately

after Sept. 11, 2001. The Senate and House of Representatives voted

Thursday to extend the law by a month. President Bush and Attorney

General Alberto Gonzales insist it's an indispensable tool in the war

on terror and want it extended permanently.

 

" I'm as concerned about the privacy of American citizens as anyone,

but we cannot allow libraries and use of libraries to become safe

havens for terrorists, " Gonzales said in July, defending one of the

act's most controversial provisions.

 

Remember, too, that we invaded Iraq primarily because we were told

Saddam Hussein was an immediate threat with his weapons of mass

destruction. Now the Bush administration acknowledges that wasn't so,

but insists there were (are?) other reasons to invade. History is

malleable.

 

Orwell wrote of war without end; we're told the war on terror will

last decades at least. Orwell wrote of a dumbed-down " Newspeak, " and

who could argue that our national discourse hasn't slumped? Orwell's

" Ministry of Love " tortured dissidents real or imagined; our

government decries Iraq's secret torture prisons while arguing over

whether to ban torture. Meanwhile, we maintain our own secret CIA prisons.

 

Bush is unapologetic. The president believes he has the legal

authority to spy on American citizens without a warrant, and he plans

to continue to reauthorize the program " for so long as the nation

faces the continuing threat of an enemy that wants to kill American

citizens. " But when the enemy is poorly defined, who determines when

the threat is over? In this case, the same government that secretly

taps our phones.

 

Turns out the truth is no stranger than fiction.

 

We think it's time for Congress to heed the warning of George Orwell.

 

To that end, we're asking for your help: Mail us or drop off your

tattered copies of " 1984. " When we get 537 of them, we'll send them to

every member of the House of Representatives and Senate and to

President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

 

Feel free to inscribe the book with a note, reminding these fine

people that we Americans take the threat to our liberties seriously.

Remind Congress that it makes no sense to fight a war for democracy in

a foreign land while allowing our democratic principles to erode at home.

 

Remind President Bush that ours is a country of checks and balances,

not unbridled power.

 

Perhaps our nation's leaders can find some truth in this fiction and

more carefully ponder the road we're traveling.

 

Bring or mail your books to the Oakland Tribune, 401 13th St., Oakland

CA 94612. Doors are open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

 

 

 

 

 

© 2005 ANG Newspapers

Privacy Policy