Poll Dancer

I want to avoid the Orwellian undertones of what happened to me this week because it has been my experience that most people invoke Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four without any real conception of book’s subject matter. Every slack jawed, gap toothed, spawn of a union between their father and his cousin can tell you that Big Brother is watching you. But, if you asked the aforementioned yochal to explain the doubleplus significant minitrue job of Winston Smith at “The Times”, a befuddled nod and smile would undoubtedly follow. To benefit those of you who have not read the book, Winston Smith was tasked with changing the past issues of “The Times” such that history reflected the government’s current position. For example, in April of 1984 Big Brother forecast no decrease in the chocolate ration. By November, there was a need to decrease the chocolate ration. Smith, and his ilk, would rewrite the past to indicate that the chocolate ration was in fact lower in April than what people remembered and the current decrease would be seen as an increase. Through proper use of doublethink, holding two opposing ideas to be true at the same time, all party members would be happy for the increase in the chocolate ration. Are you confused? Then you should go read the book because I am not explaining it any greater detail. Although I’m half certain that those of you who are confused will just go wikipedia the book rather than opening your mind up and actually reading something that wasn’t assigned to you by an authority figure. But, I digress. Last Friday as I was calmly reading through the Associated Press news on Yahoo, I found a story that revolved around a rather glib comment made by current US Vice-President Dick Cheney. Therein, he inferred that although the people of America – and I apologize for the paraphrase but the necessity will soon become obvious – want change, as voiced through early polls in the congressional and senate race, it does not matter and the administration is going to stay the course with respect to Iraq. I was floored by such a statement. I knew that I would have to push back my plan for this week’s post to be about environmental sustainability and talk about this flagrant offense against democracy. Temporarily stowing my outrage, I hit the bookmark button resolute that I would alert the internet come Thursday. Two days ago I went to pull up the article such that I could rekindle the Durrant rage and spend a good forty eight hours stewing about Dick Cheney. Much to my horror, the article had changed. Perhaps, just maybe, the mistake was mine. I re-read the entire article from top to bottom and nowhere was there any mention of Cheney positing himself as a modern oligarch. The AP through Yahoo had changed the story and removed what could have been a potentially ugly and embarrassing statement made by the second in command of America’s government. Emphasis on government not on the nation itself because for those of you not familiar with the notion of democracy – the thing that America claims to operate under – the people are in charge and elect representatives to public office. Ranting to anybody that was within earshot regarding what I viewed as the re-writing of history to suit the whims of the Patriot Act, I sought out any other evidence to substantiate what I knew to be true. Had I become like Winston Smith, the minority of one? Was I the only person that remembered things the way they had happened? Did the idea that I held as true get cast down the memory hole for all time? No. I knew what I had seen. There had to be some other media outlet that had the journalistic integrity to stand behind what they published. After an hour of serious introspection and searching, I came across a Financial Times article by James Luce published, ironically enough, on November 5th. Entitled “Cheney says vote will not deflect U.S. in Iraq”, I searched hoping to find the quote that so incensed my convictions. Success was to be my companion on this mission. Quoting from Luce, Mr. Cheney also said that a US withdrawal from Iraq would undermine the “war on terror” by sending the wrong signals to allies such as Hamid Karzai, the president of Afghanistan, and Pervez Musharraf, the president of Pakistan. “You cannot make national security policy on the basis of that [election outcomes],” he said. “These are people who are running for Congress and they are entitled to their own views...It may not be popular with the public. It doesn’t matter, in the sense that we have to continue the mission [in Iraq]...and that is what we are doing.” Afghanistan and Pakistan are allies to America? Really? I had no idea that they had been admitted to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. But it’s good to know that my country’s largest ally and trading partner keeps company with such liberal minded nations such as Afghanistan and Pakistan. How is it that America, a country that has had such a legal schism regarding the legalization of marijuana can keep company the number one producer of opium (107,400 hectares worth in 2005) in the world? Furthermore, how does Cheney sleep at night calling Pakistan, a militarist regime that practices nuclear brinksmanship against its closest neighbor, India, a friend? For more information on Afghanistan and Pakistan you can visit the CIA’s world fact book. The CIA: Cultural Learnings For Make Benefit Glorious Website of Copyright Adam Durrant. https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/af.html - scroll all the way to the bottom to see the opium statistics. https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/pk.html Quoth the Cheney: “It may not be popular with the public. It doesn’t matter, in the sense that we have to continue the mission.” WHAT? What kind of person elected to public office can actually say something so obtuse and take himself seriously? Of course it matters what the public has to say about things, they were the ones that elected you to office you dim witted ill spoken roustabout. I know I’m just a lowly graduate school educated Canadian, so call me naive if you will, but while the Bush administration was off spreading liberty and democracy to the three winds, it seems that Cheney, acting as mouth piece for the executive branch, has lost sight of freedom and democracy on the domestic scope. How, after a statement like that can people still delude themselves into thinking that America is anything other than an oligarchy run by old white men backed by wads of dirty money? It is the exclusive purview of dictators to claim that the desires of the people do not matter. Mr. Cheney you are not a king, nor a nobleman, you are a citizen supposedly elected to represent the people of your nation. So once again, here I am on a Thursday afternoon outraged by something that an elected official has done in the line of duty. Furthermore, I am shocked and disappointed in the Yahoo news for the “wiki” aspect of their journalism. They called it an update when they change a story. I call it an Orwellian approach to journalism where things that go against the established doctrines of the body politic are vanquished under anti-sedition laws. Yes, I know what you are thinking, that I am making an alarmist interpretation of Yahoo changing an article. But, if they change one story, then they could be doing this to other stories. That being the case, you have to question the validity of everything you read of the AP on Yahoo. Consider this one man taking a stand for the permanence of the printed word. Environmental sustainability will be the topic next week. Fear not because won’t be any less disheartening of the society in which we live than this week’s post.