Rewriting History: 2021

I don’t know how many of you have heard of Hillsdale College.  It is a small liberal arts college in Hillsdale , MI.  The enrollment averages between 1700 and 2000 students.  They take no Federal funding nor do any of the students receive Federal money of any type.  This school is privately endowed and the only monies received are from donors, of which we are one.  They have many free online classes which promote American history and its values. 

Thus said, they are under no obligation to abide by any Federal mandates for their curriculum content or their hiring practices.  Now, with the new administration in place, we are going to witness some new mandates on what is being taught and who must be hired on the faculty.  Since most private and Christian schools depend on some sort of Federal aid, we can expect changes will be forced upon these schools…….from elementary through the university level. 

I just received a recent newsletter from Hillsdale taken from a speech that was delivered by their President at a reception in Rogers, Arkansas, on November 17^th 2020.  I was given permission to quote from this letter as long as I mention that is from the Imprimis Newsletter, a publication of Hillsdale College. 

The title of the Newsletter was “Orwell’s 1984 and Today”. Having read the novel “1984” years ago, I was curious to know what Dr Arnn was going to discuss.  I was anxious to read the paper although I had an idea of the content since I vividly remember the book. I do remember thinking at the time I read it, that it would never be possible for this to happen today.  How wrong I was.

This book centers on destroying history itself.  The protagonist of “1984” is a man named Winston Smith.  He works for the state and his job is to rewrite history.  He sits a table with a telescreen that watches everything he does. ( China also has cameras everywhere watching people).  To one side is something called a memory hole……when Winston puts writings in this hole, they are burned and lost forever.  All references to previous wars lost as well as individuals who have maligned the state….. people who have fallen out of favor…. will all be expunged from history, both written and oral.  Winston’s job is to fix every book, periodical, newspaper, etc that reveals or refers to what used to be the truth, in order that it conforms to the new truth. There’s a film based on “1984” starring John Hurt as Winston Smith.

 One man, of course, cannot undo history alone.  There are millions of workers involved in constantly rewriting the past.  One of the chief questions raised by the book is….. what makes this worth the effort?  Why does the regime do it?

 Winston comes to see that he knows nothing of the past, of real history: “Every record has been destroyed or falsified, he says, “every book has been rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street and building has been renamed…….Nothing exists except in the endless present in which the Party is always right.”  Does any of this sound familiar?

Winston commits two unlawful acts.  He starts writing a diary, and then secretly meets a woman outside the sanction of the state.  He and his lover are caught and captured by the Thought Police.  They will now be tortured and their brains reprogrammed…they call it re-education! I do believe that I saw one of our own Congress “Persons” discussing that perhaps those foolish Conservatives will need “reprogramming, or re-educating. “

 In the first essential step, Winston will learn doublethink.  A way of thinking that defies the law of contradiction.  The world is based on contradictions.  What holds true for one doesn’t hold true for another.  However, doublethink destroys all contractions.  There is only one right way. 

The law of contradiction also means that we can’t change the past.  The past is what it is or was. The present is fleeting and confusing and tomorrow has yet to come.  Although the past is written by man, we must learn from the past….. both our mistakes and our victories.  The only real truth comes from God who is never changing and is now and ever will be.

Richard Burton plays the part of Chief of the Thought Police.  He tells Winston, “Why do you think you are being tortured?  The Party is not trying to improve you….the Party cares nothing about you.”  He tells Winston that he is simply a subject of the state’s power.  “Understanding is meaningless….. the only thing that has meaning is power!!” He tells Winston…….”All competing pleasures will be destroyed…….always there will be the intoxication of power.” 

President Arnn writes.”Totalitarianism will never win in the end….but it can win long enough to destroy a civilization.  That is what is at stake in the fight, we are in.  We can see today the totalitarian impulse among powerful forces in our politics and culture.  We can see it on the rise and imposition of doublethink, and we can see it in the increasing attempt to rewrite our history. Therefore, let us not forget the past….I’m warning of an eradication of the American memory that could result, ultimately, in an erosion of the American spirit.  “

                             Can I hear an Amen??