“Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.” - George Orwell, from 1984.
Statues being torn down.
Movies being removed from platforms.
Street names being changed.
People being harassed, threatened, and losing their jobs for not going along with the "party".
Welcome to 1984.
Let me preface this by saying that I am firmly in support of the PEACEFUL protests that have been happening across the United States and Canada after the death of George Floyd. The right to protest is a cornerstone of our democracy and the protestors that are out there campaigning for justice for George Floyd and racial equality deserve to be heard, commended, and beyond that, they deserve to see results.
However, there is a very obvious element that isn't ready to settle for justice and equality. They want to burn the whole thing down. They want to remove every statue, every book, every movie, and more frighteningly, every PERSON that they feel are "problematic". This is where we begin to enter the realm that George Orwell described in his quote above.
This is the first of a series of posts depicting our descent into 1984.
Gone With the Wind Removed From HBO Max
" Gone with the Wind has been taken off HBO Max following calls for it to be removed from the US streaming service.
HBO Max said the 1939 film was "a product of its time" and depicted "ethnic and racial prejudices" that 'were wrong then and are wrong today'." - BBC News
Gone With the Wind is one of the classic films in the history of films. The film is set during the American Civil War and tells the story of Scarlett, O'Hara, the daughter of a Georgia plantation owner, and details her romantic pursuits.
The film is controversial for its depiction of slaves as being almost content with their lot in life and loyal to their owners even after slavery is abolished.
The movie, which is based on a 1936 novel by Margaret Mitchell, was made in 1939. Let's not lose sight of the fact that both the novel and the movie were created when attitudes about race relations were much different than they are now.
Would a movie with such depictions of slavery be made now? Definitely not, but you cannot judge works of the past in the same way that we do currently. Applying today's standards to works from 80 years ago or more is not possible. It was a different time with different mentalities.
What should be done with Gone With the Wind as well as other works from that time is dissect the work and discuss why the depiction of slavery is wrong and educate people on what slaves actually went through, and felt. Getting rid of such works does nothing other than to erase the ability to discuss, dissect, and learn about the past and actively hinders us from changing the present.
This is why the horrors of Nazi Germany and the bloody history of Communism must be taught as well. The fact that so many young people openly support Communism shows that we have not done enough to educate our young people about an ideology that caused the deaths of over 100 million people.
Covering our eyes and pretending that something never existed does not make it so, and only increases the possibility that we will repeat the horrors of the past.
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I appreciate your taking the time to read this and all of your upvotes and follows.