Arthur E. Sowers is a resident of Harbeson.
By now, more people should be aware of Donald Trump’s continual decline in the polls, as well as the increase in the number of “No Kings” protest demonstrations. Much less appreciated is the massively growing number of lawsuits against Trump. Just do an internet search on “How many lawsuits against Trump 2.0?” and read the top links. It is now up to a record 600-700. As it applies to Delaware, I did an internet search on “Effect of Trump 2.0 on the Delaware economy,” and virtually all the results were negative. An article with the title, “Americans Are Leaving the U.S. in Record Numbers. Here’s What’s Driving the Trend,” says that, instead of America becoming “great again,” America is becoming ungreat. Lots of people are waking up. Lots of Americans are leaving the U.S. to escape from Trump. Lots of other people are still asleep (anti-“woke”?).
The best-ever brainwashing story is in George Orwell’s brutal totalitarian dystopian novel, “1984,” which is complete with a god figure, Big Brother (like Donald Trump). Just do an internet search on “Image 1984 Big Brother.” The images show Big Brother with a frown, just like the frown in Donald Trump’s official portrait! Not only that, but in the novel, Big Brother’s image is all over. Likewise, Trump is continually getting his face and name on more of everything, too.
The complete “1984” novel is a free download off the internet, but you can cut to the chase much more quickly by just reading the Wikipedia articles titled: “Nineteen eighty four” and “Ministry of Truth.” The Ministry of Truth is like Trump’s Truth Social. In “1984,” they had a special language, called “newspeak.” It was a special way to mess with your brain. It caused you to get dumbed down, so you couldn’t tell what was going on. It removed words from everyone’s vocabulary, thus damaging or limiting their higher-order thinking processes. The Wikipedia article on “newspeak” is excellent and details it as it relates to the novel “1984.” But, in reality, the Trump administration has already started to inject into our culture something like newspeak, calling it the “banned word list.” But, please, go to this internet article on the National Library of Medicine’s website: “Forbidden words.” The story there is exactly the same as my story here, and it clarifies the fine print, too.
In Trump’s reality bubble, newspeak is made up of his “tweets” that pass over the social networks. That way, they could eventually get you to believe that “2+2=5.” “1984” also aims to establish “doublethink.” There is a Wikipedia article with this title, too. Doublethink made sense out of Big Brother’s three key self-contradictory slogans: “War is peace,” “Freedom is slavery” and “Ignorance is strength.” Doublethink was meant to make you incapable of detecting contradictions like Trump’s “big, beautiful, clean coal.” Really, come on now — coal is neither beautiful nor clean. But notice how nobody says anything! Another problematic “doublethink” is this new idea of “medical freedom.” It sounds like it is based on a quirky line of thinking that makes you want to prove your “freedom” by, for example, refusing mandated vaccination.
Another thing about “1984” is that the country was always at war. Look at Trump’s wishes about Canada, Greenland, Panama and his aggressive military actions in Gaza, Venezuela, Iran, Syria, etc., and it looks just like “1984.”
The Wikipedia article, “Ministries in nineteen eighty-four,” explains the four ministries: Truth, Peace, Love and Plenty. Believe me, the ministries of Peace, Love and Plenty were not about peace, love and plenty. But you might notice that our Department of Defense is now the Department of War, and our Department of Justice has been — well — turned into the “Department of Payback” (if you have been reading the news). U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, of course, is Trump’s gestapo. Due process? Who needs that?
Orwell’s “1984” also had the Thought Police to punish you if your thinking deviated from the party ideology. There is a Wikipedia article on how the “Thought Police” operated. As I was writing this letter, I came across the politico.com article, “She Spoke Out About Gaza. Now She Can’t Use a Credit Card.” The title says it all: The Trump government can and will shut down your access to your resources. But read the article for the details. Then, there is the article titled: “Brendan Carr said the quiet part out loud at CPAC — touting Trump’s Orbanization of America.” So now, the Federal Communications Commission is really like the Thought Police in “1984.” No more freedom of speech unless it flatters Trump. I have found some foreign news websites carrying better news information, in English, about the U.S. because, evidently, the U.S. media are so afraid of Trump and Brendan Carr.
At the same time, read Orwell’s “Animal Farm.” Or better, read the Wikipedia article with that title. You should notice the rule, “All animals are equal,” which, later, gets modified to “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” Another example of doublethink.
Where does Trump get his bad attitudes and bad behaviors from? Well, I did an internet search on this question: “Did Trump’s childhood have elements of juvenile delinquency?” And what did I get? An article with this title: “Who behaves like Trump? Deviants. And delinquents.” Another article had this title: “Why Trump Did It — He’s a juvenile delinquent at heart.” What would Trump say about that? Oh, something like, “I am not a juvenile delinquent; I am really a stable genius.” It’s right out of George Orwell’s “doublethink.”
Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.
