“Hillary 1984”: Let ME Start a Conversation

Parkridge47 Phil, the creator of the “Hillary 1984” video came out of the YouTube, confessing he acted alone. Although his employment ties to Blue State Digital have cast some shadows of doubt among the anti-Obama minions, thus prolonging the political campaign season another six months. But despite the conspiracy theories that have abounded in the blogsphere, Phil insists he's the lone videographer:

“I've resigned from my employer Blue State Digital, an internet company that provides technology to several presidential campaigns, including Richardson's, Vilsack's, and -- full disclosure -- Obama's. The company had no idea that I'd created the ad, and neither did any of our clients.”



When I first saw the video clip a few weeks ago, I deduced that it was made by a Democrat who supported Obama and had a political beef with Hillary and her presidential bid. It was fairly clear that the video was meant to be satirical, especially since Phil chose to use an ad that alluded to “1984” -- one of the most profound pieces of satire created in the 20th century. So Phil made a political parody of an Apple ad alluding to “1984.” Oh dear, the “Garden of YouTube” will never be the same again.

Whether or not Phil’s video meets the satiric litmus test is questionable, but passable. Casting Hillary as “Big Brother” is a slight exaggeration, since she’s a woman; but my guess is that the target of the satiric attacks is what Hillary’s campaign embodies, the incarnation of the DLC (Democrat Leadership Corporation, or in the case of Phil’s video, Democrat Latchkey Clones). Phil supports this notion:

“The specific point of the ad was that Obama represents a new kind of politics, and that Senator Clinton's "conversation" is disingenuous. And the underlying point was that the old political machine no longer holds all the power.”

Now had Phil portrayed President Bush as “Big Brother” in the video, this would have been a more accurate allusion to the underlying motifs of “1984.” Without a doubt, the Bush Regime is Big Brother Incarnate, and casting Bush in the video would’ve been a far cry from hyperbole. Just after 9/11, I remember listening to the audio book of “1984” during my commute to work, often times vacillating between the British narrator and NPR news. Sometimes I couldn’t tell the difference between Bush’s words and those of the British narrator. It was and still is pretty eerie how Orwellian Bush sounds. Thank Orwell for “Old Speak” and the Brits pronunciation of “progress,” otherwise I would’ve thought I was Winston Smith, driving to my job at the Ministry of Truth. Nonetheless, Winston and I both shared the fact that we were ensnared in a perpetual war.

Realizing it won’t take much to convince you of George Bush’s Big Brother Incarnation and the dystopia spawned under his reign, here are some comparisons between Winston’s world and our world today:

1984 Ministry of Peace: revolves around the notion of a perpetual war, which feeds on the citizens of Oceania’s fears and the perpetual hate pumped into them by way of the homeland propaganda machine.

Bush’s Ministry of Peace (Homeland Security): revolves around the notion of the perpetual “War on Terror,” which preys upon American’s post 9/11 fears that we could be killed any second by a terrorist hell bent on taking our freedom. Suspension of civil liberties, habeas corpus and any other inconvenience that would impede our peace.

1984 Ministry of Love: enforce loyalty and love of Big Brother through fear, torture, and brainwashing.

Bush’s Ministry of Love: “Love thy Rove” or else…!

1984 Ministry of Truth: the well-oiled propaganda machine that relies on half-truths, doublespeak, and Newspeak to manipulate the public to help suit its ideological agenda.

Bush’s Ministry of Truth: Tony Snow Job's Lip Service, Inc. – pretty much everything that spills out of his mouth.

1984 Doublethink: 2 + 2 = 5 (= repetition of an illogical formula unit it’s believed to be fact, the truth having been sacrificed in the process).

Bush’s Doublethink: Saudi-born and bred terrorists + Iraq = War on Terrorism?
Actually, this cannot be directly attributed to Bush, for doublethink assumes the perpetrator is thinking in the first space, thus relinquishing Bush of any culpability on the matter.

1984 Ministry of Plenty: based on idea that a poor, overworked populace is easier to rule over than a wealthy, powerful populace.

Bush's Ministry of Plenty: Tax cuts for the wealthy, outsourcing jobs, protecting corporations, handing out no-bid contracts, and the list just keeps trickling down and down and down…

1984 Thought Crime/Police: arrest anyone suspected of thinking about the possibility of committing a crime.

Bush’s Thought Crime Brigade: Guantanamo Bay and other yet-to-be named Thought Crime outlet centers.

1984 Two Minutes of Hate/Hate Week: daily period in which Party members of the society must watch a film depicting the Party enemies and express their hatred for them and the principles of democracy. (Note: the “1984 Apple Computer” commercial takes place during this time period.) Hate week is an extension of this idea, only drawn out for an entire week.

Bush's One Minute of Hate/Hate Week: The “Around the World in a Minute” segment of the evening news helps fill this need. Thanks to Newspeak and the shrinking attention spans of Americans, the H.T. (Hate Time) was halved. Hate week is the days leading up to and following the commemoration and collective mourning of 9/11, which serves as a reminder of the Evil we face every day. Once in awhile when the Bush Party feels the hate factor is low (level green), they’ll release a pre-recorded Osama bin-Laden video tape to help lift our hate spirits.

1984 & Bush Party Slogans:

WAR IS PEACE!

FREEDOM IS SLAVERY!

IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH!