George Orwell's 1984 cover- Penguin Publishing

Every time I go into the NC Legislature this session I am reminded of George Orwell’s 1984.   If you’re not familiar with this book, it was written in 1948 and described a dystopian future with endless war, mind control and misinformation provided by the state.  The protagonist struggles within that system and he finally begins to question Big Brother.

George Orwell’s novel, 1984, brought into everyday language terms like Orwellian, Newspeak and Big Brother, which are often used as synonyms for privacy lost to the state.    

Last week in committee hearing for HB 854, Representative Ruth Samuelson told us all that she majored in communications.  It seems fitting that a communications major would decide to call a bill that seeks to replace medical informed consent with state-scripted “counseling” and add in 28 hours of mandatory waiting as “A Woman’s Right to Know.”  They must teach courses in Newspeak in that communications department. 

 But it was young Representative Justin Burr who really took the cake by declaring the bill “pro-choice.”  Pro-choice because? 
Oh, because the woman has the choice to hear or not hear state-scripted counseling intended to shame her? NO. she has to do that. 
Oh pro-choice because she can schedule the appointment when she’s ready and it is convenient?  NO, she has to wait 24 hours after the counseling. 
Oh, pro-choice because she can.…  How exactly is this pro-choice?

Representative Bordsen rightly claimed that “from a quick read of this bill, one could draw one of two conclusions, that the bill sponsors believe that women are really stupid, and two, that women lack moral compass.” But be careful not to question it too much or you’ll be declared a “drama major” as Rep. Burr insinuated of Rep. Bordsen. 

All this reminds me of 1984’s Ministry of Love’s reeducation which the protagonist was put through to “cure” him. Thanks to Burr, Samuelson and the new majority in the NC Legislature, 2011 is feeling a lot like George Orwell’s 1984.  Their draconian measures, accompanied by newspeak, like state-scripted counseling and mandatory waiting periods as “A Woman’s Right to Know”, restricting voting rights as a way to fight the [non-existent] voter fraud problem, and major cuts to education which according to Senator Berger will lead us to smaller class sizes, leads one to question – what’s a freedom loving, pro-choice activist to do?

Sign up, Show up, Speak up, and Pay up. 

Links: Sign our petition; Show up in Raleigh; Speak up to your friends, family, neighbors; and Help Fund this fight.

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