Over the Top?

Old Gadfly:  IM, some of my colleagues told me they thought the Animal Farm graphic, President Obama, and logo collage seemed “over the top.”  I asked, “In what sense?”  The typical response was that it offended them by being insensitive.

IM (an American citizen with an inquiring mind):  Insensitive toward whom or what?

Old Gadfly:  Isn’t it obvious that the collage is insensitive toward President Obama?

IM:  Well, let’s think about this.  Being “insensitive” is about a lack of feeling about something.  So, if my graphic implies a lack of feeling for someone in particular, then I would say that the message intended by the graphic has absolutely nothing to do with feelings.  Thus, anyone choosing to be offended by the graphic is reacting to their own set of feelings toward or attachment to President Obama.

AM (an American combat aviator with an inquiring mind):  Is this where the concept of “false consciousness” applies, as in our last discussion about Margaret Sanger’s propaganda about women and motherhood?

Old Gadfly:  Excellent connection, AM. 

IM:  When Orwell completed the manuscript for Animal Farm in 1944, he could not find a publisher because of perceived “insensitivities.”[1]  Orwell’s experiences in the Spanish Civil war shaped his very serious concerns about propaganda.  In a 1947 preface to the Ukrainian edition of the book, Orwell described, “how easily totalitarian propaganda can control the opinion of enlightened people in democratic countries.”[2]

Old Gadfly:  Orwell had a special “indentured class” status for sheep.  The bleating sheep remind me of the mainstream media.  How about the dogs in the graphic, IM?

IM:  Good question.  Here’s a passage from Animal Farm:

Until now the animals had been equally divided in their sympathies, but in a moment Snowball’s (Napoleon’s ideological opponent) eloquence had carried them away. . . By the time he had finished speaking, there was no doubt as to which way the vote would go.  But just at this moment Napoleon stood up and, casting a peculiar sidelong look at Snowball, uttered a high-pitched whimper of a kind no one had ever heard him utter before.

            At this there was a terrible baying sound outside, and nine enormous dogs wearing brass-studded collars came bounding into the barn.  They dashed straight for Snowball, who only sprang from his place just in time to escape their snapping jaws.  In a moment he was out of the door and they were after him. . . . Then he put on an extra spurt and, with a few inches to spare, slipped through a hole in the hedge and was seen no more.[3]

Old Gadfly:  Eerie.  Makes you think about Eric Holder and Lois Lerner, among others.  What is the significance of the logo behind President Obama?

IM:  We discussed the logo almost a year ago.  Here is what I said: 

Obama’s logo signifies a rising sun within a circle that represents “O” in Obama.  The sun represents hope over the “changed” landscape of America as symbolized in the complete restructuring of the elements of the American flag.  The change is the fundamental change Obama keeps promising and pushing in violation of the “self-governing” ideal “gifted” to us by our founders.

AM:  The logo reminds me that a couple days ago I read an interesting analysis about terrorist groups such as al Qaeda and ISIS.  The article was written by a former member of such a group.  Essentially, these groups represent an ideological movement characterized by five key elements:  Islamism (the ideology), narratives, cult of personality, iconographic prowess, and an end goal.  Sound familiar?  Here in America we are confronted with our own movement:  progressivism, narratives advanced by a complicit media, Obama the Messiah, the Organizing for America logo (discussed above and pictured with the cult personality superimposed) for iconographic prowess, and a “fundamentally transformed America” as the end goal.

Old Gadfly:  But al Qaeda and ISIS are brutal in their methods.

AM:  One movement strives for a Caliphate as the governing power; the other strives for a deified progressive state as the governing power.  While not as physical, America is accumulating its own casualties in terms of a major loss of international credibility and in our national decay. 

Old Gadfly:  The decay will generate a void.  Evil will fill the void.  As we know, history has recorded how evil triumphed when good people chose to do nothing about it.  Is it over the top to warn against such possibilities?  I think not.  It would be insensitive to those who gave their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor to give us the American ideal. 

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[1] As cited in “Animal Farm,” Wikipedia, retrieved on September 1, 2014 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_Farm#cite_note-26

[2] Ibid.

[3] George Orwell, Animal Farm, (New York, NY:  Signet Classics, 1996 [1945]), pp. 52-53.  Ironically, given the tremendous reluctance of any publisher to publish the manuscript, today’s publishers have no reservation in financially benefitting from the fruit of Orwell’s labor.