By Brigitte L. Nacos
We have heard it all from the White House before. There are no objective facts, there are alternative facts. Think of Donald Trump’s claim that the crowd size at his inauguration was unprecedented although aerial photos showed clearly far more people at Barack Obama’s first inauguration.
Facts do not matter for Trump and his staffers who deal a lot in alternative facts and post-truth.
What unfolded in the face of Hurricane Dorian deserves mentioning even though nothing coming out of the White House defying fact and reality is terribly surprising.
It began with the President tweeting that Alabama was among the states threatened by Dorian--perhaps an unwitting mistake. After weather experts assured the public that there was no threat whatsoever for Alabama, Trump could have easily acknowledged he made a mistake. Instead, he continued to insist that Alabama could be affected.Yesterday, from the Oval Office, he displayed a map issued by the National Hurricane Center that was obviously falsified to show Alabama could have been affected by Dorian.
Challenged by news reports, the President issued yet another tweet this morning insisting, “What I said was accurate! All Fake News in order to demean!”
This all is so similar to totalitarian alternative reality, fact, and truth as described in George Orwell’s “1984;” it is so strikingly similar to what Big Brother’s voice O’Brien tells Winston who has not yet surrendered to the totalitarian dictate:
“Winston, you believe that reality is something objective, external, existing in its own right...But I tell you, Winston, reality is not external...
Whatever the Party holds to be truth is truth.”
In a moment of dissent Winston wrote in his diary, “Freedom is the freedom to say that two and two make four.”
Big Brother knew.
Following a torturous process overseen by O’Brien, Winston does no longer question Big Brother’s complete control over fact, reality, and truth.
When Big Brother says two plus two equals three—or five—or anything, it is the truth.
As the U.S. President continued to claim that Alabama was threatened by Hurricane Dorian against all facts, his message was clear: Whatever Big Brother Trump holds to be truth is truth.
Thankfully, America’s 2019 is not Orwell’s 1984...
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