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Monday
It appears that Rupert Murdoch, upset with the way Trump and Trump-endorsed politicians keep losing elections, wants to move on to another candidate, specifically Florida governor and Trump wannabe Ron DeSantis. People like me worry that DeSantis is just as authoritarian as Trump and could do even more damage since, unlike Trump, he appears disciplined. A Florida judge shares my fears of his authoritarian bent, recently equating with DeSantis with George Orwell’s Big Brother.
The ruling came in response to one of DeSantis’s many attempts to bend Florida education to his will. At issue was a bill that, in the words of NPR, wants to prohibit
schools and workplaces from any instruction that suggests that any individual, by virtue of their race, color, sex or national origin, “bear responsibility for and must feel guilt, anguish or other forms of psychological distress” on account of historical acts of racism. The bill also forbids education or training that says individuals are “privileged or oppressed” due to their race or sex.
In response to the bill, a group of eight Florida professors “sued representatives of the state higher education system over the bill, calling the legislation ‘racially motivated censorship’ aimed at stifling ‘widespread demands to discuss, study and address systemic inequalities.’”
It was in agreeing with them that the judge cited 1984. Echoing Orwell’s opening line—“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen”—Tallahassee U.S. District Judge Mark Walker wrote,
“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen,” and the powers in charge of Florida’s public university system have declared the State has unfettered authority to muzzle its professors in the name of “freedom.” This is positively dystopian.
The reference to “freedom” is to the bill’s title. While the bill used to be called the “Stop W.O.K.E. Act” (the acronym stood for “Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees”), it is now known as Individual Freedom Act. The bill became effective in July.
Some freedom! But of course, the word is also perverted by “the Ministry of Truth” in Big Brother’s society. Winston Smith notices the Ministry’s building, which features, “in elegant lettering,” the three slogans of the Party:
WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
Today we would call Big Brother a rightwing troll or gaslighter. Orwell’s great observation—gleaned from having observed Hitler and Stalin—is that authoritarians pervert language as a way to test loyalty. If you don’t agree with their version of freedom, no matter how absurd, then you are with the enemy. In their world, you either accept that clocks strike thirteen or you are a traitor.
In American politics, Trump perfected this but DeSantis appears to be taking lessons. Fortunately, in this case a judge called him out.