Jean Abercrombie
St. Joseph
The Trump administration and some of the news media are trying to change history. For example, they are claiming the war in Ukraine was started by Ukraine.
Let’s look at “1984,” a prophetic dystopian novel by George Orwell.
Winston, its lead character, has a government job to report daily to “The Ministry of Truth,” where his duties are dictated. He peruses books, magazines and newspapers to change factual information. He “erases” the past from all documents, changing any factual events to whatever the Dear Leader (“Big Brother”) dictates.
One day, my “Minnesota Nice” neighbor brought my mail to me from the cluster of mailboxes down the street. Along with him came another neighbor, a second-grader who had just jumped off the school bus. He looked up at me and said, “That’s not true!”
“What’s not true?”
His answer: “2 + 2 does NOT equal 5!”
It was only then I realized my T-shirt stated “2+2=5.” The shirt was a gift from one of my high-school students back in Texas after we read Orwell’s novel.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes!” he replied adamantly. “3+2=5 or 1+4=5, but 2=2 does NOT=5!”
I looked at that boy and said, “Gosh, you are right! I believe you should be qualified to vote, young man!”
Let me end with another T-shirt, one that I saw in the Twin Cities: “1984 WAS NOT MEANT TO BE AN INSTRUCTION MANUAL.” Ukraine did not start the war with Russia. Russia started the war with Ukraine.
Wake up, fellow Americans. We need to be informed, critical consumers of all news media.