“He who controls the past controls the future. He who controls the present controls the past.” (George Orwell, “1984”)

“He who controls the past controls the future. He who controls the present controls the past.” (George Orwell, “1984”) August 24, 2017

 

Anthony Scaramucci sopf8a9sfoa
At least he was amusing. Sort of.
(Wikimedia Commons photo)

 

The madness spreads.  It’s becoming something of a pandemic:

 

“The Left Opens Fire on Columbus Statues”

 

I’m trying to be proactive, to get ahead of the curve, by thinking about names that might be acceptable to the bien-pensant far left:  How about replacing “Columbus Circle” with “Castro Circle”?  It could honor both Fidel and Raoul.  Or, if preferred, “Hugo Chavez Circle”?  And, for New York City itself, what about “New Guevara” or “New Maduro”?  Or “New Ho Chi Minh City”?

 

I liked this article by the invaluable Victor Davis Hanson:

 

“The Double Standard in the Progressive War against the Dead”

 

And this one, also by Dr. Hanson:

 

“Our War against Memory: The new abolitio memoriae”

 

And, while I’m at it, here are a couple of links about a very curious item in Seattle:

 

“Time to pull down Seattle’s Lenin statue? Silicon Valley venture capitalist takes on relic’s place in wake of Charlottesville tragedy”

 

“Seattle mayor hands Trump supporters big win:  Right wing activists compare Seattle Vladimir Lenin statute to Confederate monuments”

 

To me, of course, there’s simply no comparison between Vladimir Lenin and Jefferson Davis or Robert E. Lee.  As I’ve said before — in the teeth of a fair amount of pushback — evil though slavery was, the Confederacy as a whole simply isn’t plausibly comparable to the totalitarian Bolshevik terror-state established by Lenin and perfected by Stalin.  Not even close.  And the same thing goes for the Third Reich, which was many orders of magnitude worse than the slave-holding South.  Confederate Richmond simply wasn’t Nazi Berlin, by any reasonable stretch of imagination.

 

***

 

In the meantime, we have one of the most . . . umm, interesting presidents in American history:

 

“It’s Only Going to Get Weirder from Here:  With Trump, the Abnormal is the New Normal.” 

 

“Welcome to the Permanent Campaign: Trump’s Campaign-Style Rallies Delight His Base and Antagonize the Opposition — Just as They’re Supposed to Do.”

 

“Trump goes after Flake by name, after pledging not to”

 

“Donald Trump Insults the Media, Jeff Flake, John McCain, and NAFTA at His Phoenix Rally.  Did we mention he’s the president of the United States?”

 

As its subtitle might suggest, there’s some colorful language in this piece.  But it’s a good one:

 

“The ‘Last Straw’?  This is the Moment when Trumpism Hits the Fan.”

 

Here’s an older item:

 

“Romney: Trump needs to apologize and blame racists for Charlottesville violence”

 

And another one:

 

“Trump Doesn’t Have a Base. He Has a Personality Cult.  The response to his Charlottesville response reveals that some supporters will criticize nothing he does.”

 

***

 

Here, though, is a piece about what worries me most, because it seems to refer to something far deeper and more fundamental than mere ephemeral electoral politics:

 

“‘Get Tough or Shut Up’: The Malicious Spirit Loose in the Land”

 

I can’t help but think of 3 Nephi 7 in this context.  A terrible time.  Fortunately, though, it was followed by the coming of the resurrected Christ.  A very good silver lining.  We should be so lucky.

 

Posted from San Diego, California

 

 


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