September 26, 2000
Kamloops Daily News


Whoever controls language controls power.  George Orwell
knew it when he wrote his chilling glimpse into the future,
Nineteen Eighty-four.  In his novel, the propaganda agency
of the ruling class shaped the ideas of the masses by
shaping their language.  Here is an update on Orwell's
"newspeak". The future is here.

Freedom used to mean the unbound liberty to think, to give
the mind wings through a rich diversity of ideas.  Now it
means the ability to buy what you want .  A table of cheap
goods is laid before us as evidence of freedom.  The
consumer is king,  top of the heap.  The fittest has
survived.

The triumph of the Free Western World over the Evil
Communist Empire was not just a triumph of political
ideology, but the triumph of the free market.  The natural
superiority of market-driven economies have vanquished the
inferior communal distribution of goods. What remains is a
peculiar kind of democracy -- one people vote with their
credit cards and cash.  And global commercialism is
receiving more of these kind of votes than governments do in
ballot boxes.

You will like Free trade – its your expression of freedom. 
The gospel of  global free trade is being preached by the
minority ruling class of the New World Order and its
institutions such as the World Trade Organization. 
Developing nations can only join the Free World by purging 
themselves of their communistic ways.  The  all-knowing
World Bank knows best.  All vestiges of socialism -- public
health, education, social assistance -- must be eliminated.

The marketplace is the anvil in which free trade is beat
into a two-edged sword.  It cuts those who do not obey its
natural justice.  Canada was forced by global free trade to
import the gasoline additive MMT, despite it being banned in
its county of origin.  France is being pressured by Canada
to accept Canadian asbestos, despite France's fears that it
is harmful.  Free trade cuts both ways, but such is the
awesome price of freedom -- there will be casualties along
the way.

Special interest groups are the enemies of freedom.  In the
new lexicon, these include  visible minorities, women,
labour, anti-poverty groups, social activists.  What's that
you say? These groups constitute a great majority?  Don't be
troubled by such thoughts.  When feeling troubled, shop and
your vexations will disappear. 

Or sit in front of your TV or computer monitor and let the
rhythmic flicker re-align your neurons to a peaceful state. 
"Where do you want to go today?", asks Microsoft.   You can
escape all those nagging feelings about personal and social
responsibility by looking at the world through rose coloured
Windows.  All infantile wishes will be granted though the
Internet at the  drop of a finger.  You can shop without
leaving home.

Don't believe your dictionary when it defines welfare as
"health and happiness".  Welfare is a socialist crutch. 
Handouts from government subvert the marketplace.  The New
World order has decreed that nothing has value unless it can
be bought, and its corollary -- those who can't buy have no
value .   In newspeak, welfare is a wasteful expenditure of
taxpayers money on worthless people. 

But not even Orwell, when he wrote his novel in 1949,  would
have predicted that it would be Big Business who is watching
you, not Big Brother.  They is record every purchase you
make.  They mount surveillance cameras in public places. 
Big Business defines language, the way you think, and your
acceptance of ideas. Things that were once unacceptable, or
even bizarre, now seem perfectly normal.

The constellation of big business is ascendant  For example,
Microsoft is now the tenth largest "country" in the world in
terms of economic power,  not far behind Canada at sixth. 
In the New World Order, the freedom of Big Business
supercedes that of citizens.  The only true voting citizens of
the New World Order are the minority ruling class. They are
an oligarchy, the real special interest group.

"The oligarchy never wants anyone to know what, or how much, 
ordinary citizens can accomplish if they learn to use the
power of their own laws.  Apathy is good for
business-as-usual; so is cynicism" says American
Presidential hopeful for the Green Party, Ralph Nader.

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