"Alive and Well in America!!"

My best friend Liu-da' from Ukraine grew up through the rough and tough time of Soviet domination over her land, her school, book store, movie house, radio, tv, and mind; only she did not know about the thought control until a later age. She was told, taught, and tuned into the notion that America was a very bad country; America was just horrible!! Their people were poor, hungry, and not very nice; and she made believe that the parents of the children there in America did not even like their very own children, because they would beat them and starve them; those terrible Americans!  She told me of one popular cartoon that depicted the American businessman as a glutton with a big round body, skinny head, wads of cash coming out of his pockets, and wearing a burgeoning white shirt with black striped pants. Memories from her school days tell of further depictions in films, magazines, and on the projector movies, that showcased the American debt as a stack of dollar bills reaching from the earth all the way up to the moon. NATO was created in 1949, during the presidency of Harry S. Truman, by the United States, Canada, and several Western European nations to provide for their collective security against the Soviet Union. NATO was formed as a deterrent to Soviet expansion in Europe after World War II, and the Soviets immediately saw that as an enemy to their divisive plans- they labeled NATO as "an aggressive tool of American imperialism," whereas, in actuality it was set-up as a peaceful barrier to bad actors' potentially aggressive activities toward freedom loving countries. The power of propaganda is immortalized in the book 1984, written by the English novelist, essayist, journalist, and social critic, Eric Arthur Blair (June 1903 – January 1950), who wrote under the pen name George Orwell. His work was quite timely, prescient, and foretelling as to the heart and mind of mankind. His works are characterized by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalitarianism, and support of democratic socialism. His redeeming books include the allegorical novella Animal Farm (1945) and the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949). Orwell's works remain influential in popular culture and political fanfare, even today, with the adjective "Orwellian," describing totalitarian and authoritarian social practices. Many of his useful and quite telling neologisms have become part of the English language, to include terms such as: "Big Brother, Thought Police, Room 101, Newspeak, Memory hole, Doublethink, and Thoughtcrime."

Liu-da' says that one day her mind was opened up to the truth that was before her, "but still I don't understand?" the power of falsehoods, lies, and dishonesty, that are still alive and well today in this day and age of information, "how can people believe what is so obviously not true; when they have access to the exact truth right before their eyes and at their fingertips? And why could not or would not have someone stood up and told me what was true from an earlier age?" It is called propaganda for a reason; it is information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political point of view or narrative. Some people will go so far as to criticize needlessly, promote false findings, repeat mis- and dis-information, use fake-news, pay off political opponents, conduct midnight raids, and some will even go so far as to indict and try to have their political opponents jailed just in time for an upcoming election. The extent and depravity of the human mind has no equal. The answer is the Truth spoken loud and clear, one to another. We must talk to one another and not be afraid to talk to people of differing personal and political persuasions; maybe we might even learn something and maybe they might even learn something too? Let's go see!! The Truth shall set us all free.