Reality Revised - How to Change the Past

"Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past. - George Orwell

Ministry of Truth employee Winston Smith, in Orwells prophetic 1984, spends his time altering reality. His job is to change or eliminate all documented evidence about certain people and events - to the extent that all memory about them is completely erased. The truth, for all practical purposes, never existed. The past is thereby controlled, as is the future.

Orwell created an imaginary, nightmare world of fascinating fiction. Couldnt happen here, of course. Or could it? Newsflash: It could indeed!

Our so-called Free press, the current Ministry of Truth, does an exceptional job of manipulating reality. Real news is hidden, manipulated or ignored completely. Scant coverage is given to anything resembling actual truth, and your attention is directed elsewhere.

Twenty million illegal aliens? No problem. Fifty million Americans without health insurance? Who cares? Another hundred killed or maimed today in our proxy war in the Mideast? Look, over here! Weve got a missing cheerleader! And how about the latest loser on American Idol? You say you just lost your job and your house and your kid cant read his high school diploma? Bummer. As they say in New York, Fuhgeddaboudit! The Ministry of Truth will decide whats important and whats not.

And mentioning American Idol., I realize I am in the minority but, for some unknown reason, Ive never enjoyed the spectacle of watching unqualified (to be generous) people who consider making fools of themselves on TV to be the highlight of their lives. Idol, of course, is broadcast on the Fox Network. Fox News is known out here in sheepleland as the Satire Channel, or the War Channel. To any perceptive viewer, it is obviously the 100% Government Controlled Channel.

Getting back to the subject of Reality Control (which we never left), consider the case of Randall Tobias, former Deputy Secretary of State and Administrator for the US Agency for International Development, the Bush global AID program. Tobias suddenly resigned on April 27 after being exposed as a client of DC madam Deborah Jean Palfrey. Deputy Tobias claimed, of course, that he only availed himself, on occasion, of the good madams innocent massage services. Suuure.

So far, nothing unusual. Politicians have been screwing their constituencies forever. When they pay for the indulgence, they sometimes get caught. In this case, the enterprising Ms. Palfrey goes on to lucrative TV and book deals, and Mr. Tobias finds himself consigned to oblivion.

But something about this little incident is quite remarkable and not generally known. Washington Post columnist Al Kamen reports receiving an incredible email from senior AID official Steve Tupper. The email advises State Department and AID employees of the necessity of erasing all documented evidence of Randall Tobias - such evidence to include all pictures and statements contained in any and all printed publications, websites, reception room walls, newsletters, brochures, etc., etc., etc. All ongoing projects to be stopped, reviewed and resubmitted for publication approval after all mention of the offending Mr. Tobias has been dutifully erased.

Shades of 1984! There it is. Documented evidence that people are being erased from memory. I wonder how thorough theyll be. Will they try to white-out all school records? Threaten or bribe all family members and casual acquaintances? Convince his mother she had one less son? Remove all evidence of former Boy Scout merit badges?

I wonder how many other hapless victims have been erased. Maybe theyre all in the Witness Protection Program. Maybe theyre working alongside you right this moment, pretending to be someone else. Ever irritate the government? You could be on a list. Scheduled to disappear. All memories of you wiped out forever. Nice knowing you...whoever you were.

The Ministry of...I mean the Media, has an easier method of controlling reality, by simply not reporting something at all, or just changing the facts to suit their own nefarious purposes. Consider the recent so-called debate held on the Fox so-called News channel between Republican presidential candidates on May 15.

At one point, candidate Ron Paul, arguably the only honest candidate actually representing the interests of the American people, said that our Middle East problems were the result of blowback, or unintended consequences, stemming from our own hegemonic actions.

Needless to say, no other candidate agreed. Rudy Giuliani demanded a retraction. Mitt Romney advocated doubling the size of our Guantanamo concentration camp. They both advocated torture, calling it enhanced interrogation which elicited a comment from Ron Paul about the term sounding very much like Newspeak, George Orwells definition of misleading doubletalk. He was, of course, right on the mark.

Candidate Duncan Hunter agreed with the necessity of torture, as did Tom Tancredo, who expressed a desire for 24 torture expert Jack Bauer to handle the gory details. The crowd greeted each advocacy for torture with cheers, laughter and thunderous applause. John McCain, who might be presumed to know a little about the practice, protested against it. Which met with absolute silence. Bloodthirsty crowd, these Republicans. Which might explain more than a little about our newfound standing in the world.

The most interesting aspect about all this is that in every legitimate poll taken after the debate, there was one unqualified winner - though youd never know it if your only source of information was the controlled mainstream media. Ron Paul won the debate hands down. The next candidates werent even close.

The medias assessment? Ron Paul barely registered in the polls! The winners? Your choice of Romney or Giuliani. And if either wins the race for President, I guess we can expect a building boom of more Guantanamos and maybe a new reality TV show based on water-boarding and other forms of enhanced interrogation. At least until the American people lose their indifference and regain their sanity.

Speaking of polls, by the way, be wary of accepting the results of any poll. I would tend to believe the polls mentioned above regarding Ron Paul. They were taken from numerous sources, many not subject to absolute media control, and they all confirmed each others results. The polls taken exclusively by the controlled media can, for the most part, be considered their usual exercises in influencing public opinion in a predetermined direction.

Most of the time, it works, and you cant completely blame those who answer such polls for their answers. Not when their sole sources of information do little but provide manufactured news. Polls become irrelevant when based entirely on tainted information. The media has learned this quite well.

Disinformation has become the medias stock in trade. You may think the medias obligation is to report the truth and keep you informed. Sorry, Charlie. Youve been taken again. The medias primary purpose is to make a profit. Thats right. Advertising profits drive the media. Nothing else. They have no obligation to tell you the truth about anything. Remember Don Imus? His employers were loyal for a good ten seconds. When advertisers pulled their ads, he was gone.

Getting back to the medias news manipulation, consider the Iraq war - the most censored war in history. American TV viewers see pictures of smoke and hear bombs going off in the distance. They see pictures of American soldiers kicking doors in. In fact, they see so many doors being kicked in that prospective recruits are led to believe that their military careers will consist entirely of kicking doors in.

But the Arab world sees a different picture. They see the closeups of what the American bombs have done. The total destruction of their homes and way of life. The horrible effects of our depleted uranium weapons (perhaps the biggest unreported war crime ever) and the innocent men, women and children blown to bits and left to die.

Show a few of those pictures in the American media, and the war might come to a halt. But Americans arent allowed to know such things. Theyre not even allowed to see the remains of their servicemen killed in action. No body bags. No caskets. Might upset someone. Speaking of which, theyre not even allowed to know how many have given their lives!

As of today, the official count of American war dead in Iraq is 3444. According to the controlled media. Do you believe that number? Or do you count yourself among those who believe that our government routinely lies about almost everything?

The 3444 number might be considered correct, as long as you didnt count any number of additional categories. That number does not include an exceptionally high number of deaths by accidents and suicides. It doesnt include the deaths of private contractors, journalists, deaths in foreign hospitals and other non-combat related deaths. I understand that if a wounded serviceman is transported to our base in Germany for treatment, and he happens to die seconds or minutes after the plane leaves the ground, his death is not counted either. You cant imagine the number of deaths that would fall into that category alone.

Many deaths arent reported, and Ive seen a recent report indicating that only about 10% of military deaths are reported at all. Which would mean that our proxy war in Iraq may have cost some 34,000 lives, not the 3400 we are told. Well probably never know the truth, but the larger number seems more credible. Perhaps an investigation could be made - over here, not in Iraq - of County Clerks offices of every county in the country, or where ever such records are kept, of all bodies returned from Iraq. And Afghanistan. And wherever the next war breaks out.

One more example of how the controlled media controls events. You may remember an incident in 2004 where 4 American contractors were killed in Iraq, their bodies mutilated and dragged through the streets. Just as an aside, what do you think of when you hear the word contractor? A roofing contractor? Electrical contractors? We have another fine example of Orwells Newspeak. I remember reading at the time that these 4 contractors - in this case meaning very well paid, heavily armed mercenaries - were sent by American occupation chief Paul Bremer to kill the mayor of Fallujah. Word of the plot got out and the contractors paid the price.

Incidentally, some contractors are security personnel and other actual contractors. Theyre not all mercenaries. Thanks to the Media, its hard to tell anymore who is who. At any rate, the latest government figures show at least 917 contractors killed in Iraq and more than 12,000 wounded in battle. Latest reports indicate 146 contract workers killed in the first 3 months of 2007. Funny, I dont recall reading or hearing about that in our free media.

I cant attest to the validity of the Bremer/contractor connection, but their deaths resulted in the destruction of Fallujah, home to some 300,000 Iraqis. Three quarters of all buildings were destroyed or heavily damaged by the US assault in November, 2004. Hospitals were targeted first, then mosques, schools, electrical and water treatment facilities. Reports of the US military using chemical and napalm-like weapons were widespread.

Charred and half-eaten corpses littered the streets. At least 6,000 Iraqis were killed. The US military claimed at least 600. (Theres that 10% figure again. Our beloved government, of course, has more than a little experience in manipulating numbers). But 600 or 6,000, the collective punishment inflicted upon Fallujah by the Bush administration was one of the greatest war crimes of all times. It will never be forgotten. Or forgiven. Too bad you didnt hear about it.

As to the media reports of this atrocity, you may have seen some American soldiers kicking down a few doors. Nothing more. Sometime when you have little better to do, check out some of the stories about Fallujah from people who were there. Theyre unbelievable and theyre true. Thanks to our free press, it was something minor that never happened. Ignorance, as they say, is bliss. This time however, it may come with a price.

Our actions in Fallujah led to another incident. You may recall the attempted assassination by our military of Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena in March, 2005. (unfortunate incident or mistaken identity as misinformed by our Free press). Held for a month by Iraqi insurgents, she was being driven to freedom when the attempt occurred, wounding Sgrena and killing Italian Secret Service agent Nicola Calipani, who gave his life trying to protect her. We denied the assassination charge, of course. Dont we always? But the outraged citizens of Italy where agent Calipani was quite popular, had a different opinion.

Giuliana Sgrena was reportedly writing a story about Fallujah - what really happened there. As such, she found herself on the endangered species list of journalists who risk their lives in pursuit of the truth. 92 journalists have been killed in Iraq since March 2003. In 2006, about 11 percent died in combat incidents. Worldwide, the leading cause of journalists deaths was murder.

Thanks to the reality revising functions of our press, most Americans havent a clue as to what really happened in Fallujah. Ive only just barely touched on some of the details above. Perhaps the truth will come out in the forthcoming war crimes trials many are hoping for.

In the meantime - as another little example of media manipulation, consider the periodic Bin Laden videos which magically appear whenever the government needs a compelling diversion. Since Bin Laden apparently died of kidney failure in December 2001, his latest video taped Fatwa can be disregarded. Bad news for John McCain who still plans to chase Bin Laden down, even to the gates of Hell. Sorry, John. Youll have to find another boogeyman.

I keep looking for a little sign saying CIA Productions on those videos. Havent seen it yet. Incidentally, did you know that our government has no documented evidence tying Bin Laden to 9/11? Not a shred. Not a single sheet of paper. What we do know, is that his name was given as the perpetrator, even as the World Trade Center burned. Which means we should double the salary of everybody in the FBI for doing some fantastic instant investigative work. Or that Mr. Bin Laden was selected as the designated villain some time in advance of the actual incident.

But enough about 9/11. Theres a ton of information out there about it. Some of it quite good. At this point, the only thing absolutely certain is that the governments version of events is little more than an exercise in creative fiction. Maybe the truth will come out in the above mentioned war crimes trials.

Examples of Reality Revision abound in every area of everyday life. Forget phony wars on phantom terrorists. There are terrorists of another kind, motivated by greed and power and the desire to manipulate and control every aspect of your lives. Examples are endless, but lets consider just one or two more.

Consider how the media presents questionable evidence as fact. The weekly health scare, for example. Youre constantly bombarded with dire warnings about the deadly dangers of - believe it or not - Vitamins. Do you take vitamin C? Quick, throw it away. Maybe your hair will fall out. Vitamin E? Whats the matter with you? Dont you know that Vitamin E causes high blood pressure? And acne? And ingrown toenails? How about Echinacea? Doesnt work. Throwing your money away. Get rid of it. Now.

Whenever I hear the latest health warning, I wonder which pharmaceutical company sponsored it. What usually happens is that a few weeks later, the warning is downplayed or dismissed - unreported, of course. You never hear about how the test was conducted on only a handful of people - who had tried everything else with no success. People who might be real basket cases, given minute, guaranteed unworkable amounts of something - for the express purpose of proving very questionable results.

Many people hearing about the scare will discard the supplements in question - give up whatever protection they afforded, possibly acquire a resulting illness, visit their accommodating doctor, and start taking a prescription drug. And then another prescription drug, for the side-effects of the first one. And maybe a third drug after that. Maybe forever.

Mission accomplished! A little reality revision, and you have a new, lucrative prospect perfectly programmed to contribute to a drug companys obscene bottom line.

Of course, the FDA will protect you, wont they? The drugs they push have to be beneficial, dont they? Think again. The function of the FDA is to protect the interests of the drug companies, not the misguided consumer. Peer-reviewed published studies reveal that FDA approved prescription drugs kill some 100,000 Americans every year, and injure over 2 million more. Other realistic estimates put the death rate at over 200,000. Every year.

I think Ill take my chances with a few vitamin supplements. You have the freedom - so far - of doing the same. Just ask your doctor for nutrition and supplement recommendations. When he or she stops laughing, youll be advised that vitamins dont work. That all evidence that they do is merely anecdotal. And that, if you know whats good for you, youll take this prescription drug today. In fact, you had better head down to your friendly drug store post haste.

I was once employed as a real estate broker - so long ago, that women had yet to take over the industry. Yes, there really was such a time. I remember how I used to feel just after selling a property, to be advised by my buyer that he just had to have his attorney review the contract before he could sign it.

I would mentally start the search for another buyer, because chances were the attorney would kill the deal. Why? What if you recommended something, and your advice led to problems? What if you bought a house and the roof leaked or the plumbing had to be replaced, or any number of other potential disasters? What if something went wrong? Who would you blame? Your lawyer!

My point: consider the source of any advice you get. Especially any nutritional advice you get or dont get from your doctor, who received a grand total of one hour instruction in the subject in all his years of training. Consider the fact that he actually cant recommend any natural supplements unless he is a naturopathic doctor. What if he recommended a specific vitamin instead of the prescribed drug for your condition? What if your condition worsened? What if you died? Who would your family sue? Your doctor, thats who!

Try to ask advice only from those qualified to give it, and dont take anything at face value.Take every bit of advice, no matter what it is, with a grain of salt. Several grains. In fact, so many grains that it could cause high blood pressure - another myth that I plan to demolish in another article.

One more example of reality manipulation - an extremely important one - and then Ill leave you to pondering what kind of future you can realistically expect. What do you know about the forthcoming North American Union? Probably very little, since it has been all but completely ignored in the mainstream press.

When the North American Union goes into effect you will wake up one day to find that you are no longer an American citizen, because America will have ceased to exist. The plan is to completely eliminate the borders of Canada and Mexico and to surrender individual national sovereignty. The Constitution (whats left of it now) would no longer exist. The Supreme Court would be subservient to a new Court of Justice. The dollar would be worthless, to be replaced by something called the amero.

Sound far fetched? This treasonous travesty has been in the works since March 23, 2005. It is spelled out in the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, and its being created by a governmental regulation process that effectively bypasses Congressional approval or the necessity for any kind of referendum or popular vote.

This is perhaps the greatest betrayal of the American people of all time - and a subject hardly worthy of mention by our obedient controlled press. Thank God for the internet, where you can still find a modicum of truth. Check out stopthenorthamericanunion.com one of the better sites giving quite a bit of good information about the impending disaster. Or just Google North American Union for about 92 million references to this freedom-grabbing monstrosity. Interesting, isnt it? How Google can turn up 92 million references, when your TV talking heads and local newsrags refuse to mention it at all.

Cant see writing a hundred page warning of what to expect, so I wont go into any greater detail here. Im afraid well all find out soon enough, sometime within the next 3 years, when it is due to go completely into effect. Unless, by some miracle, we can find a way to stop it. If you discover a way, let me know. Ill pass it on.

In the meantime, remember what Mark Twain said: If you dont read the newspapers you are uninformed - if you do read the newspapers you are just misinformed. It would appear that most Americans have accepted both conditions. But wait! Theres hope! You can still search out and find the truth, if you want to. It might take a little work, but its out there. Then again, maybe its too late to change anything. Or maybe its not. Who knows? If nothing changes, all I know is...Welcome to 1984.

Otto King is a freelance writer, humorist and philosopher. His website 1984 News offers Real News from alternative and global sources, and chronicles our transformation into the totalitarian world of Orwell's 1984.

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