From George Orwell's, "1984", first published in 1949…
"The keyword here is blackwhite. Like so many Newspeak words, this word has two mutually contradictory meanings. Applied to an opponent, it means the habit of impudently claiming that black is white, in contradiction of the plain facts. Applied to a Party member, it means a loyal willingness to say that black is white when Party discipline demands this. But it means also the ability to believe that black is white, and more, to know that black is white, and to forget that one has ever believed the contrary. This demands a continuous alteration of the past, made possible by the system of thought which really embraces all the rest, and which is known in Newspeak as doublethink."
On Rush Limbaugh's January 16, 2008 radio show ( 4 days BEFORE Obama was inaugurated), the talkative host responded to comments from "his side",….
“I disagree fervently with the people on our [Republican] side of the aisle who have caved and who say, ‘Well, I hope he succeeds.’”
“Okay, I’ll send you a response, but I don’t need 400 words, I need four: I hope he fails.”
"I would be honored if the Drive-By Media headlined me all day long: “Limbaugh: I Hope Obama Fails.” Somebody’s gotta say it."
On January 26, 2008, President Obama, in his only reference to the radio talker said this…
"You can't just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done,"
Unbelievably, this is what Media Reseach Center President, Brent Bozell wrote on January 26, 2008, about Obama's mention of Limbaugh…
Further, there's something eerie, Big Brother-like in Obama's actions. He will deny it, of course, but this is an attack on Limbaugh's and all conservatives' right to free speech.
Fox News' January 29, 2008, recap of the Limbaugh-initiated campaign….
The conservative talk show host was one of many across the country who took to the airwaves to cajole congressional Republicans to line up against President Obama's $819 billion stimulus package.
The result was unanimity. Though the stimulus bill passed handily Wednesday in the heavily Democratic House, every Republican in the chamber voted against it.
Here is a short 3 minute clip from yesterday's Fox News Sunday. The topic is the alleged Rush Limbaugh "controversy." After listening to what Brit Hume, Mara Liasson, and Bill Kristol say about the topic, pay close attention to what Juan Williams says at 2:39….
Juan Williams, certainly no liberal, stated the observable, knowable fact that Limbaugh, not Obama or Rahm Emmanuel, instigated this "controversy". Williams does so after Party members, Hume, Kristol and Liasson, worker-bees in the GOP Ministry of Truth, insist that just the opposite is true.
"blackwhite"
"Applied to an opponent, it means the habit of impudently claiming that black is white, in contradiction of the plain facts."
The Reverend often refers to America's main media as Knee Padders, crudely suggesting that the majority of corporate sponsored media are simply servicers of the powerful. These servicers often just make stuff up. Spin yarns. This was particularly noticeable over the last eight years. Dual narratives co-existed in media that were virtually always contradictory. Valerie Plame was a covert agent, Valerie Plame wasn't a covert agent. Bush lied about the threat of Iraq, Bush didn't lie about the threat of Iraq…and I could list many more examples.
The Limbaugh "controversy", though insignificant in itself, is a prime example of how Orwell's "blackwhite" Party principle finds expression in 2009 America.
Stating that something is true in the face of completely contradictory facts, is indeed, a bad "habit". In the case of Fox News, as witnessed in the video above, it's a monkey on Knee Padders' backs that can't be shaken. "blackwhite" addiction by corporate media is harming the nation.
It's yet to be seen whether America will emerge clean and sober from many years of "blackwhite" addiction. It's yet to be seen whether Knee Pad "blackwhite" reporters and journalists for the Party, as they have over the last 8 years, will continue to convince Americans under an Obama presidency, that black is white and white is black.
The first step on the road to recovery is admitting that there is a problem.
Pre-emptive Footnote: The Reverend's use of Orwell's "blackwhite" has nothing, whatsoever, to do with the fact that President Obama, or Juan Williams, are black.
