1983

Despite all the warnings
From history, literature, film, and song
We invited them in
With cute names to overcome reservations
For convenience and with the promise of saving a few dollars
Because we were scared and no longer wanted to read
Smug in our self-satisfaction that we were not North Korea, China, or Russia without actually looking in the mirror

The billionaires are listening
Ready for fulfill our need for consumption without our having to move from the couch

The NSA are tracking
mapping movements and behavior ready with facial recognition and social engineering

The police are militarized
An occupying force in all but name
“Protect and Serve” propaganda and upheld as such by the Supreme Court

We spout the phrase Orwellian without recognizing our continuing slide on the slope it describes
Don’t be betrayed by thoughts of Ingsoc and Goldstein
The flag and the Middle East work just as well for the Middle West
This is not a science fiction yarn to put in a basket with Avatar and Star Wars

We turned Big Brother into a fucking game show

The Department of Homeland Security
The war on Terror
Fake News
Alternative facts
The Ministry of Peace
Thought crime
New Speak
How much Doublethink does is take to accept the rebranding of the Mujhadine (our friends) as the Taliban (our enemy)
And the Taliban (our enemy) as the new Taliban (our friend)

We are at war with Drugs, we have always been at war with drugs
We are at war with Eurasia, we have always been at war with Eurasia

Orwell’s thesis was that that control is dependent on complicity and self deception rather than force
That control is a goal itself

How many rights do we have to give up in the name of freedom?
Freedom is slavery

How many wars do we have to fight to defend peace?
War is Peace

The rewriting of the past by forgery at the Ministry of Truth has given way to a lack of care for facts and history
The demonization of libraries
The banning of books
There is nothing to rewrite if we don’t care to look
Even Big Brother recognized the value in forbidden poetry

We do not live in 1984
but we must recognize that it’s 1983.

_{Influenced by George Orwell’s 1984. With apologies to Rush for the use of “the Middle East to the Middle West” from their song “The Way the Wind Blows.”}

_{Image by Pete Linforth}