Whispers of Orwell everywhere

Sunni is selling Valentine's truffles now, and don't forget - as I am likely to - that the deadline for orders is this Wednesday, Jan. 17. Information on how to buy these delectable treats is right here.

But I confess my main reason for bringing it up is the notice Sunni posted on top of the order form: "Doubleplus important item." Not that the truffles aren't of doubleplus importance, but the use of the adjective "doubleplus" is an homage to the novel that scared the bejeebers out of me as a teenager and continues to toss a tingle of fear through me to this day: Eric "George Orwell" Blair's Nineteen Eighty-Four.

My God, what a great book that is. And it is such a frightening depiction of the runaway rogue state that he has been honored with an adjective of his own: We live in an Orwellian world. Every so often you'll see a word from 1984 turn up in the mainstream: Someone will point out that calling it a "troop surge" rather than an "escalation of the war" is newspeak, for example.

Twenty-three years after the year came and went, it's still doubleplus important that Orwell's work not be forgotten or ignored, because the warnings he gave are still valid. As are his insights.

If there is hope [wrote Winston] It lies with the proles ... Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious.

It's Monday ... and the clocks will be striking 13 soon.

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Technorati tag: Big Brother