Newspeak II

Sol W. Sanders

George Orwell, the brilliant political writer and philosopher of the 1950s, saw the possibility we might drift into a seductive totalitarian society. Orwell wrote that it would be with the help of a new language; “Newspeak” he called it.. That development, he prophesied, would require a new tongue disguising truth with subtle elisions from word to word, concept to concept, in a simplistic fashion that would be easily propagated. The new language was to become the common speech by 1950 preparing the way for the new homogenized tyranny that would descend by 1984.   Orwell’s timetable, mercifully, has turned out to be very wrong..........

John Comey’s almost five-hour testimony to a Congressional committee on his investigation of Hillary Clinton’s alleged violation of the laws protecting national secrets is a dramatic illustration of the trend........After citing all the reasons why Clinton had violated the restrictions on access to these classified documents - including the possibility that by destroying some of the thousands of e-mails on her non-government servers she had committed an obstruction of justice - Comey made a convoluted argument for why he would not proceed with any action against her. That included the argument that there was no "intent" to violate the law, always an extremely booby-trapped discussion involving what is usually an even more ambiguous question of "motive".

He even more cleverly argued that although the law involved had existed for decades, the number of people successfully prosecuted under it was minimal........This growing elitist language......suggests why the growing separation of a self-appointed elite in Washington, New York and Los Angeles and much of the rest of the population is growing.........Read More

My Take - The article says that Comey has a "highly publicized reputation for probity and integrity" and concludes that reputation "cannot easily be set aside." Well...I think his reputation should not only should be set aside - it should be thrown into the toilet.

Having done something right doesn't give you a pass on the rest of life. He's apparently done his job as a prosecutor "right" for years.  Even Judge Jeanine, who apparently worked as a prosecutor with him years ago,  thought highly of him says he's destroyed the reputation of the FBI.   He's thrown that reputation for “probity and integrity” away.  He will not go down in history as an honorable man.  He will go down in history as just another corrupt political crony.  His reputation and his legacy will be thrown to the  pirahannas....and rightly so.....he sold out.

As this unfolded I thought of the movie - A Man For All Seasons - where Sir Thomas More is tried, found guilty and beheaded.  At the end of the trial he asks Richard Rich - who lied against him - what was his new badge of office.  It turned out to be the position of Attorney General for Wales.  More says to Rich - "Why Richard, it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world... but for Wales? "

What a sad commentary on a man's life - a life once well led!