To Orwell Today,

I have a keen interest in George Orwell and I like your website, but Sarah Palin? What has she got to do with George Orwell or today's "Orwellianism"?

-Joel Morrow

Greetings Joel,

It's a sad situtation, but true, that in America (and elsewhere in the world for that matter) the proof that a politician is good, honest and has the potential for greatness is that he or she is villified by the right-wing-owned left-wing media, be it TV, newspapers, magazines, books, radio, movies and internet. In "1984" Orwell called the media the Ministry of Truth (Lies) and said it was owned by Big Brother and run by The Brotherhood.

Examples of patriotic Americans (and the list could go on and on) who have been viciously attacked by the media (before and after natural death or assassination) are Abraham Lincoln, Henry Ford, Charles Lindbergh, General Douglas MacArthur, Joseph McCarthy, Joseph Kennedy Sr, President John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Thomas Edison's light bulb and, most recently, Sarah Palin.

The cartoons scanned above are pictures worth a thousand words, the way they so accurately depict the ravaging the media inflicted on Governor, Vice-Presidential Candidate, now ex-Governor Sarah Palin. For people, like myself, who love Sarah Palin and everything she stands for and represents, it's been painful to watch as she's been dragged through the mud and suffered political death by a thousand cuts.

Right from the very beginning - before she'd even publicly accepted the Vice Presidential candidacy - the media were attacking her - gossiping about her baby son, saying he wasn't hers but her daughter's and to counter that she had to tell the whole world that her daughter was actually pregnant and so couldn't possibly be the mother. Then the media ridiculed Sarah for having a teen-age pregnant daughter who, like herself, didn't seek abortion when learning of the "problem" pregnancy, as do millions of others in America every year. For that reason alone - ie carrying their babies to term and giving them life - Sarah Palin and her daughter Bristol deserve accolades, not scorn.

When the wide-world first saw Governor Sarah Palin (a one-time beauty queen contestant) at the televised Republican National Convention on September 3, 2008, she spoke out strongly and not politically-correctly about her beliefs and her plans for America, based on the precedent of her twenty-year political career in Alaska - where she'd taken on the "good-ol' boys" (the Orwellian "Brotherhood") and represented "the people" who'd elected her, first on PTA, then as city councillor, then as mayor, then ultimately as governor of the biggest and richest state in the Union. It was never "politics as usual" with Sarah Palin - the "barracuda" - the "pitbull with lipstick".

Here's what she said (as well as the excerpt at the top of the page) in her VP nomination acceptance speech on September 3, 2008, the first time myself, and most people on the planet, had ever heard her speak:

And all through this tumultuous year - since she was "tapped" as a VP presidential candidate last August 29, 2008, until she was forced to resign (probably under threat of harm or death to self or family) from her elected position as Governor of Alaska a couple weeks ago on July 26, 2009 - Sarah Palin has stood up for herself and her constituents - accomplishing more in her short term as Governor (half-way through her four-year term) than any politician has ever accomplished before her. She put Alaska on the map - the same way she put her little town of Wasilla (once a strip mall on the side of the road that if you blinked you missed) on the map.

In her three major speeches - Acceptance, Resignation and Farewell (not counting all those she did on the stump which were record-breaking-crowd love-fests where people screamed for her like they did for JFK) - Sarah Palin managed to get much truth out for the record. She exposed how the "politics of personal destruction" and the media had forced her to resign ("the political blood sport isn't going to end") and she asked the media - for the sake of America - to respect freedom of speech and stop telling lies - and to leave her successor's kids alone. That's not likely to happen - at least not if he sticks to Sarah's guns, stiffens his spine and resists - as did Sarah - until the pressure came too much to bear and she had to sacrifice herself - unable anymore to implement her mandate for Alaska.

As Ernest Hemingway once said:

I believe Sarah Palin will be "stronger at the broken places" and - not needing a title to effect change - she can and will continue as a force for good for we the people.

I hope that answers your question about what Sarah Palin has to do with today's Orwellianism*.

All the best,
Jackie Jura

PS - Since Sarah's exit from the political scene the media massacre hasn't ended. Last week (providing a classic example of Orwellian prolefeed) the 19-year-old father of her grandson was sexually hit-on by a 50-year-old woman on national television seen world-wide:

Palin's grandson's dad dates older woman (just look at her, shut up, do what I'm told) & Cougar comedian devouring young prey Levi (talking on TV about problems with Palins). DailyNews/PopWatch, Aug 11, 2009

PPS - I'm really looking forward to reading Sarah Palin's upcoming book. Maybe she'll consider writing as a way to reach the people, perhaps creating her own website (not on Facebook or newspeaky Twitter but a REAL website) where she can share her ideas and wisdom with the world. I have the first book written about her and also a comic that came out a few months ago. [I like the cartoon in the Vanity Fair August 2009 although the article was and attack piece].

PPPS - Just a few minutes ago - like a gift from God or Orwell - I discovered fantastic You Tube videos about Sarah Palin:

PPPPS - Update October 2010: Good cartoon in Vanity Fair magazine - added to others above (although the article "Sarah Palin: The Sound and the Fury", by Michael Gross was a hit-piece, although revealing for those able to read between the lines)

My all-time favourite is this campaign song to Sarah by Hank Williams, Jr:

watch Black TV host Martin Bashir says someone should sh*t in Sarah Palin’s mouth, Mediaite, Nov 15, 2013
Former Governor Sarah Palin (R-AK) punched her way back into the news this week by invoking slavery in remarks about American public debt, then doubling down on the remarks in an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper. On Friday afternoon's Martin Bashir program on MSNBC, host Martin Bashir delivered a scathing attack on Palin, while attempting to contextualize the horror of slavery for her by detailing some of the cruelty recorded in the diary of Thomas Thistlewood, a British overseer at a Jamaican sugar plantation. Bashir concluded his commentary by suggesting Palin is deserving of the same treatment. In his "Clear the Air" segment, Bashir lit into Palin straight away, referring to her as America's "resident dunce" and characterizing her remarks as "scraping the barrel of her long-deceased mind, and using her all-time favorite analogy in an attempt to sound intelligent about the national debt". He then played a clip of Palin's comments from last weekend, in which she told a crowd at Iowa's Faith and Freedom Coalition event, "Our free stuff today is being paid for by taking money from our children, and borrowing from China. When that note comes due -- and this isn't racist, so try it. Try it anyway. This isn't racist. But it's going to be like slavery when that note is due". "It will be like slavery", Bashir repeated. "Given her well-established reputation as a world class idiot, it's hardly surprising that she should choose to mention slavery in a way that is abominable to anyone who knows anything about its barbaric history". "So here's an example", Bashir continued. "One of the most comprehensive first-person accounts of slavery comes from the personal diary of a man called Thomas Thistlewood, who kept copious notes for 39 years. Thistlewood was the son of a tenant farmer, who arrived on the island of Jamaica in April 1750, and assumed the position of overseer at a major plantation". "What is most shocking about Thistlewood's diary is not simply the fact that he assumes the right to own and possess other human beings, but is the sheer cruelty and brutality of his regime", Bashir added. "In 1756, he records that a slave named Darby 'catched eating kanes had him well flogged and pickled, then made Hector, another slave, s-h-i-t in his mouth'". "This became known as 'Darby's Dose', a punishment invented by Thistlewood that spoke only of inhumanity. And he mentions a similar incident in 1756, his time in relation to a man he refers to as Punch. 'Flogged punch well, and then washed and rubbed salt pickle, lime juice and bird pepper, made Negro Joe piss in his eyes and mouth'", Bashir recited. "I could go on, but you get the point", Bashir said, concluding "When Mrs Palin invokes slavery, she doesn't just prove her rank ignorance. She confirms if anyone truly qualified for a dose of discipline from Thomas Thistlewood, she would be the outstanding candidate".

FLASHBACK: Anger over Halloween display of Palin with noose, Drudge Report, Jan 10, 2011 (linked to CNN article, with graphic, dated Oct 29, 2008)

Why have some hunters declared open season on Sarah?
by Pete Bodo, WallStreetJournal, Dec 11, 2010
(author of "Whitetail Nation: My Season in Pursuit of the Monster Buck")
I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, but the big takeaway from the controversy over the recent caribou hunting episode on "Sarah Palin's Alaska" (the series running on The Learning Channel) is that people are going to react to anything that the former vice-presidential candidate and populist icon does or says based almost solely on how they feel about her going in.... The other and more interesting discovery, at least for me, is how little most people who criticized the episode know about Alaska, guns, wildlife, and hunting. The Hollywood swell Aaron Sorkin started the ball at the Huffington Post by misidentifying Palin's quarry, the caribou, as a moose. I mean, I know Sorkin wrote "The Social Network" (OMG! 2 cool!) and all that, but boy, does he know zilch about animals (including, presumably, the ones that provide his Santa Monica dinners). I suppose he doesn't understand that he's a predator in his own right -- who else would label a woman documenting a hunting trip with her father, Chuck Palin Sr, as a "witless bully?" But never mind that. Friends have told me that even some hunters have criticized the show on various grounds. After watching the episode, I suspect it's simply because those critics are among that distinct minority that hunts but also suffers from Sarah-phobia....

PALIN PROTECTS FROM PREDATORS & ORWELL WAS ARMED

OBAMA = One Big Awful Mistake America

Sarah Palin: The Sound and the Fury, Vanity Fair, October 2010
Even as Sarah Palin's public voice grows louder, she has become increasingly secretive, walling herself off from old friends and associates, and attempting to enforce silence from those around her. Following the former Alaska governor's road show, the author delves into the surreal new world Palin now inhabits -- a place of fear, anger, and illusion, which has swallowed up the engaging, small-town hockey mom and her family -- and the sadness she has left in her wake....

Sarah & Bristol Palin in Taiwanese animation
by Jodi Hill, Examiner, Nov 26, 2010
Sarah Palin and Bristol Palin are the latest celebrity figures to be part of the Taiwanese animation craze. The new segment includes scenes of Sarah beating a clubbing fish with blood splattering everywhere, Bristol being put in her place on "Dancing with the Stars" and ends with the "Washington Hillbillies" pulling up to the White House. Usually the animation clips from this venue are rather subtle as they have been with past celebrity controversies, however this one is very much the opposite and has the former Governor of Alaska carrying a gun and shooting at people. Whether this is done to show distaste or a cultural representation, it is unknown, but there are plenty of moments to be shocked. Here are a few: Clubbing the fish. After being drenched in blood she tries handing the bat to the other character, which presumably is her daughter to do the same. The Levi Johnston takes has the man on all fours and eating from the palm of someone's hand with a dog collar and leash on. The Gun chasing scenes with the character being chased by the Sarah Palin look alike. The gun to the television set after the DWTS results. When you take a minute to watch the video clip, it will be pretty obvious just how far these folks went to make sure the Palin's are painted in a light which is extraordinarily sided. In that painting Dancing with the Stars and the TLC show is drug along with it.