1984 in 2010

There's a dangerous enemy out there. It's called PR, and it already controls much of what you see and hear. Can you name the most powerful public relations firms?  Clients of the biggest PR firms include state and national governments, terrorist groups, large corporations, and illicit cartels. While there is some legitimate public relations happening, big money PR remains invisible and corrupt, disseminating propaganda disguised as fact in order to promote their clients' agendas. Press releases are presented as news stories by lazy or incompetent journalists, editors, and news directors who, handcuffed by the will of the big-money players, fill air-time or print-space with the daily flow of free releases from PR firms. The strategy of funding biased or phony research to support corporate profitability remains rampant today. The main thrust of the PR business is to get the public to ignore various atrocities and lies(i.e. the tobacco industry half a century ago). There are powerful PR firms working for brutal dictatorships.

We're now almost fully Orwellian, with most alternative voices silenced or shackled by powerful factions with unlimited resources and great expertise at molding public opinion. With fewer and fewer ever more powerful voices dictating to larger and ever more passive audiences, it is only a matter of time before we all meet our "rat" and start turning in our neighbors.

Unlike true beauty, our democracy is only skin deep. Dare to delve down a bit. Perhaps you'll emerge enlightened and outraged. One must recognize oppression before it weighs on one's shoulders. Then one can be a soldier in the fight for true freedom.

Photo is of an oil painting on a wood panel, 1976.