Butchblog

Hate to pile on, but here’s my take for today. Jon Stewart said it all much better in his show last night. He’s one brilliant cat.

We’re living in strange times. Some days I can barely believe that this is what our country has become. It’s not unlike what George Orwell predicted in his novel “1984” – a society completely manipulated by a cruel leader and his fawning toadies. “Big Brother is watching you.” They are trying to convince the American public  that their manipulations and half-truths are real. “Ignorance is strength,” Orwell wrote. “War is peace.” Say it often enough and the susceptible segment of the public will believe it, especially if you can trigger their grievances.

Orwell also wrote in his post-apocalyptic novel: “It’s a beautiful thing, the destruction of words.” And so this mean-spirited, demented president and his cowardly accomplices in congress attack everything they label DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion), as if these were horrible words that must be eliminated from our vocabulary. Inclusion? When did the pursuit of a fair chance to succeed for all citizens become something to scorn?

Though Orwell predicted an authoritarian world where dissent was severely punished and eradicated, we still have a chance to stand up against the would-be bullies and kings. This is not “1984” and we still have our voices. Now is the time to be heard, in anyway that you can – even if it’s scribbles in a blog post.