Official Truths Are Often Powerful

If I Were A Teacher, I Would Recommend That All My Students Very Hurriedly Read Most Of Orwell's Books, Especially 1984 And Animal Farm, Because Then They'd Begin To Understand The World We Live In.

Orwell Is Almost Our Litmus Test. Some Of His Satirical Writing Looks Like Reality These Days. When You Have Someone Like Cheney Who Talks About "endless War" Or War That Might Last Fifty Years, He Could Be Big Brother. You Have Bush Incessantly Going On About The Evil Ones.

I Grew Up In Sydney In A Very Political Household, Where We Were All For The Underdog.

Many Journalists Now Are No More Than Channelers And Echoers Of What Orwell Called The Official Truth. They Simply Cipher And Transmit Lies. It Really Grieves Me That So Many Of My Fellow Journalists Can Be So Manipulated That They Become Really What The French Describe As Functionaires, Functionaries, Not Journalists.

It Is Not Enough For Journalists To See Themselves As Mere Messengers Without Understanding The Hidden Agendas Of The Message And The Myths That Surround It.