Prophet or Pessimist?

Of all the expressions of art, I believe that which looks into the future holds the most curiosity. After all, as a rule, art imitates life. A sensible state of affairs when considering that most artists draw their inspiration from people and things in the real world. But that which draws on assumptions of a future day has nothing but guesswork to guide it. Music has “In the Year 2525” and paintings have often dealt with unheard of vistas. Television has “Star Trek”, film has “Star Wars”, and both have much company in their respective fields. Literature has two well known contributions: Huxley’s “Brave New World” and Orwell’s “1984”. Each example portrays a future world and imagines what the respective societies would look like. It recently struck me how eerily prescient Orwell’s vision has turned out to be.

The three tenets of Oceania’s IngSoc were 1) War is Peace, 2) Freedom is Slavery, and 3) Ignorance is Power. I’ll leave it to you should a review of 1984 be in order. In the meantime, allow me to press on with application of this triad in today’s “real world”.

War is Peace

Our current war(s) in Iraq and/or Afghanistan have set a record for duration. Our enemy seems to be a border-less, non-national enemy known as terrorism. As such, this war can continue ad infinitum in any country. “We’re fighting them there so we don’t have to fight them here.” Sound familiar? The next thing you know, our domestic “peace” is surrounded by perpetual “war” against the terrorists.

Freedom is Slavery

The Patriot Act became law shortly after 9-11 and, with it, many of our civil liberties disappeared. Do you think the name of this legislation was accidental? I don’t. We should not be surprised that patriotism surged after the WTC attack. What better way to get everybody on board? “You’re either with us or against us” is yet another quote with a familiar ring. To relinquish personal freedoms in the name of security is nothing more than re-defining freedom. And, once again, the next thing you know, we are slaves to others who limit the unfettered living of our lives.

Ignorance is Power

The incessant bickering, gridlock, and partisanship recently seen in Washington have given rise to the Tea Party movement. This group eschews the conventional wisdom that maintains government is best left to those knowledgeable in politics. In last fall’s election we saw many races with candidates possessing nary a whit of experience in any hall of power. And some of them won. While their motives might well be as pure as the proverbial driven snow, I fear that their ignorance of how politics (and government) really works will result in further frustration among the electorate. Regardless, we have rewarded seemingly ignorant candidates with the power their particular office possesses.

Kinda scary isn’t it? Are we headed for a “rats in the mask” world? I sure hope not, but can’t help but think that it may have been considered nothing more than a “harsh interrogation technique” in the not-too-distant past. Maybe it’s time for yet another read of Mr. Orwell’s picture of the future. Was he correct in his prophecies, albeit twenty six years late? Or was his view simply a pessimistic treatise where hope exists only in dreams? When you get right down to it, the reality of our future depends upon you, me, and the rest of society to dictate which direction our leaders take us.