Whiskers on Kittens ... Bah, Humbug

Hello, everyone, I'm still here -- I think. Let me check -- yes, I'm still here. I haven't been blogging lately, because my boring little blog has bored even me. I have always told my friend Russell that I don't ever want to start blogging about "whiskers on kittens and snowflakes on mittens". All of that cute stuff it not me. I am opinionated, and unfortunately when I have an opinion, people know it. I grew up in a family where discussions and debates about politics, religion, philosophy and current events was encouraged. The louder the discussion, the better. My parents were both extremely well-read and intellectual, and they taught all of us to think for ourselves. It's not easy sometimes. I am probably one of the least politically correct people I know. Just ask anyone who knows me. And I detest the politically correctness that has evolved here in the beginning of the 21st Century. Just look up "newspeak" from George Orwell's 1984. The book was published in 1949, and now some of a lot of it is coming true.

The Oceanian province of Airstrip One is a world of perpetual war, omnipresent government surveillance, and public mind control, dictated by a political system euphemistically named English Socialism (Ingsoc) under the control of a privileged Inner Party elite that persecutes all individualism and independent thinking as thoughtcrimes. Their tyranny is headed by Big Brother, the quasi-divine Party leader who enjoys an intense cult of personality, but who may not even exist. Big Brother and the Party justify their rule in the name of a supposed greater good. The protagonist of the novel, Winston Smith, is a member of the Outer Party who works for the Ministry of Truth (Minitrue), which is responsible for propaganda and historical revisionism. His job is to re-write past newspaper articles so that the historical record always supports the current party line. Smith is a diligent and skilful worker, but he secretly hates the Party and dreams of rebellion against Big Brother. The slogan of Ingsoc was "War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is truth". 

Does that sound at all familiar?

There have been some very interesting things going on in the world lately, as I'm sure many of you have noticed, and the responses to them have been neutral and wishy-washy at best, and politically correct at worst. And I'm chomping at the bit to do some blog posts about them. Whether folks agree with my viewpoints or not, I have some very strong opinions and ideas.

Watch this space. No more whiskers on kittens.