George Orwell, although mostly known for his fiction, was one of the most prolific of English-speaking reporters of and commentator on history in the making. And he did live in "interesting times." So many of his personal observations and personal experiences of his times have been so well documented, voluminously, that he cannot be ignored in any discussion of history and who controls history. He was not a prophet, but he was incredibly aware of where the present was leading that it is almost mystic…but it is not. It is the product of pure cognitive prediction based on awareness of his present world…and, I'm sure, his own knowledge of history, a quality sorely lacking nowadays.
Every once in a while you hear someone say, "Well, 1984 is long past, and it didn't happen. Don't worry about it." That is usually in response to an Orwell quotation (or just the term "Big Brother"), and is offered as a rather mindless attempt at saying, "You're talking about a prediction that didn't come to pass…kind of like some present-day prophet, with a cult following, who predicts the end of the world on such and such a date that didn't happen." First of all (other than a literal-minded person dealing with a complex dramatization), the speaker implies that the person quoting Orwell is some sort of "cultist," one of those many words with a vague, if not totally undefined meaning, and used in the most derogatory manner in what has become the blossom of what he saw as a budding corruption of language, written in 1946, today referred to as "post Modern" speech. (Although he'd probably call it "Postmodernspeak.") Anyone making such an assertion has no understanding of what Orwell was warning us about. It was, first of all, a fictional story of a negative Utopia, a world under control, but under control by all the wrong devices for all the wrong reasons. Nineteen Eighty-four was, more than any prediction, a warning about the importance and indispensable need for true and accurate history. Its main focus was not prediction; it was history.
One line from the novel sums it all up best: "Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past." In Orwell's novel 1984 that particular control was the purview of the Ministry of Truth. Today it is more like Fox News, CNN or the President's Press Secretary.
Not that long ago, back during the Bush administration, Ari Fleischer told the entire Washington Press Corp, in reference to comments by comedian and satirical commentator Bill Maher, "There are reminders to all Americans that they need to watch what they say, watch what they do, and this is not a time for remarks like that; there never is." It met with so much public outrage with all its free-speech implications, that the statement itself has been removed from the official record? Although it can still be found online (which may be our salvation as long as we protect it from censorship), that means, officially, he never said it. That is how history went down right in front of our eyes; we saw history purged by the powers-that-be.
That’s just an example. The real object of this article is the much-overlooked significance behind "Executive Order 13233." It really is not a big item with the general public, and I'm sure the government, with its increased tendency toward secrecy, hopes it stays that way. But I'm going to point it out anyway, because it is exactly what Orwell meant when he said, "Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past."
To quote Wikipedia, “The Presidential Records Act (PRA) of 1978 . . . changed the legal ownership of the official records of the President from private to public, and established a new statutory structure under which Presidents must manage their records.” What was its purpose? To keep the American public informed of its own history. It was a reasonable law, giving full protection to national security, but was essentially nothing more than legislation to safeguard our right and the right of future generations to know our own history.
The follow is from the American Library Association web site, in association with the The Freedom to Read Foundation:
"Ongoing List of Historical Works That Would Have Been Affected by Executive Order 13233
"A new executive order issued by President George W. Bush restricts access to the records of former presidents. The Office for Intellectual Freedom of the American Library Association (ALA) and The Freedom to Read Foundation (FTRF) urge librarians to alert their patrons and the public about this effort to close the public record.
"Librarians should do this by creating an exhibit of significant historical works that would not have been published or written had the order been in effect, and by providing their patrons with a list of these works."
The list of works is a link to about fifty books, some best sellers, on the lives and times of American Presidents. It is an impressive list of valuable information, no threat to national security, but would not be allowed under George W. Bush's Executive Order Number 13233, which, in itself, is an assault on and overriding of a law passed by Congress.
Simply put…he should have had no right. It is a violation of the balance of powers. If the Executive Branch can ignore the Legislative Branch or Judicial Branch, we will have a dictatorship. Simply put, he had slammed the lid of secrecy shut on the American's public's right to know its own history.
On January 21, 2009 Barack Obama revoked President Bush’s executive Order 13233. That is temporary reassurance, but is no guarantee it will last through future presidencies. We know these executive orders can be both created and revoked by presidents, which is putting too much power and trust in a single branch of the government—in my opinion.
It is also interesting to note this quote from Wikipedia: “Since its passage, presidents have used various methods to avoid complying with the Act [The Presidential Records Act], including holding meetings away from the White House and ’using non-government email accounts with lobbyists.’"[
Why?
"Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past." From George Orwell's novel 1984, written in 1948.
Significant links:
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