so, i was perusing the Oregonian yesterday during lunch and saw an interesting article. no, i’m serious. stop laughing. it was an interesting article – at least for awhile. it was talking about how all the things in george orwell’s, “1984″ have all come into reality and exist in 2007. it started off to be a very informative and fascinating piece until the end when it suddenly turned into propaganda. here are quotes:

“9-11 was real, as the recent videos by Osama bin Laden confirm now more than six years after he attacked us. However, that fact does not allow playing on our fears and increasing our paranoia about our personal safety. Sen. Joseph McCarthy tried that with Communism in the 1950s. The administration has tried to condition the American people, just as Pavlov did with his dogs.”

and

“Al-Qaida hates Americans of all creeds and races and will do whatever it can to destroy us and our way of life. James Madison warned, “If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.” With the mightiest military and strongest technology on Earth, democracy can stand up to terrorism without becoming the mirror of our enemies.”

wow! so, according to the author, not only was 9/11 absolutely real (cause the tv said so. by the way, answers to unasked questions are FABULOUS), but “al qaida” hates americans and wants to destroy our way of life! who would ever want to destroy our life of SUVs, cheeseburgers and reality television?! blasphemy! oh yes, and one other thing, we have the mightiest military and strongest technology on earth. except for china. but we won’t talk about that. and hey, let our democracy stand up to terrorism so we don’t become “the mirror” of all those useless arabs!

i sat there and sadly laughed to myself. i wonder which governmental agency this guy secretly works for. FBI? CIA? ATF? Al Qaida? who knows. but i figure it’s only a matter of time before they start talking about “eco-terrorism” in the oregonian. but i promise, i’ll never read it again.

- lantz.