Orwell in Wonderland

Why does George W. Bush's Attorney General (and Charles Schumer's and Diane Feinstein's Attorney General, of course), Michael B. Mukasey, have a portrait of George Orwell hanging on the wall of his office? This is a question that has been agitating a number of great minds lately (let's include everyone who knows anything at all about Orwell or Mukasey, shall we?), even that of one of our few real heroes, Keith Olbermann, who puzzled distractedly over it on Countdown Friday night.

Mukasey and Orwell.

Imagine the scene: Orwell's intelligent, shy, honest, vulnerable visage--Orwell's eyes--fixed on the little man sitting in his chair, where he reposes, every now and then, under that gaze, to continue mulling over whether waterboarding can possibly be considered torture if George and Dick say it's all right. The very meaning of the word torture morphs in such a context, doesn't it? Doesn't it? (Tip for Mr. Mukasey: have a look at Orwell's essay, "Politics and the English Language." The prose style is very nice and clear, just the way you like it, and the meaning is even better. Or, if you don't have time for the whole essay, just have a look at Alice in Wonderland, at the brief conversation Alice has with Humpty Dumpty. There's "glory" for you! You'll see what that means when you read it. Oh, this will set you straight!)

I think I've figured out why Mukasey decorates with Orwell: Orwell wrote the single sentence that expresses the essence of Mukasey's public service. I'm quoting from memory now, but I think I've got this right. Close enough, anyway:

ALL BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT . . . that's it, go on . . . ALL BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT ARE EQUAL . . . right, right . . . ALL BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT ARE EQUAL, BUT . . . stay with me . . . BUT . . . SOME BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT . . . here we go . . . SOME BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS.

Q.E.D.

Comments

[westwind]

07:47 PM on 01/28/2008

Modern-day Republicans seem to turn everything that has a good purpose into something tainted and shameful. They take the SERE interrogation and torture survival program and turn it into an instruction manual on how to torture, and they take George Orwell's writing not as the warning and admonishment it was meant to be, but as a model of the totalitarian society they aspire to.

These are the self-described Christians, the self-described grown-ups. With the corporate press in its pocket, and the allegedly co-equal Congress cowering in the corner, it's small wonder that Orwell's warnings are being brought to life in broad daylight with barely a complaint from anyone besides Chris Dodd.

[OttoMann]

11:41 PM on 01/27/2008

It's fitting for the Bush Corporation to have a portrait of their patron saint. For normal folks, Orwell's writings were a cautionary tale; for Neocons, Orwell was an instructor who published How-to manuals.
Torture is Peace.
Saddam is Bin Laden.
And we, of course, are all proletariats. (And we're just as good at playing our part as they are in playing Big Brother.)

[TomR]

10:21 AM on 01/27/2008

The "more equal than others" quote fits quite well with the subsidized rightwing pigs gourging themselves on our children's and grandchildren's dollars and the flesh of our soldiers in Iraq. But alas the pigs declare "deficits don't matter," making everything alright inside their feeble deluded brains.

Moreover, Orwell didn't write 1984 to be a training manual for Republicans!

- Tom

[desmirl]

09:55 AM on 01/27/2008

Orwell's dark predictions came true the day George W. Bush took office. After that, it was all Rove and Bush, and a descent into the foulest administration in the history of this Republic. 935 documented lies that led us to the destruction, invasion, and occupation of Iraq, and still Bush smiles at us and snarls, "It's all good." In his final year in office, I'm sure he'll attempt to destroy the Constitution and what's left of America.

[Dap]

07:58 AM on 01/27/2008

Dear Frank,

You Sir, are indeed a treasure, wonderful essay/post. Agape.