Dear All,

George Orwell was correct when he wrote his dystopian novel, “Nineteen Eighty-Four.”  Whoever controls the language of a culture, controls that culture and its government.  This article on the term “gaslighting” indicates how consequential the meaning of Orwell’s observation is.

Step back from the fray and observe how many terms have arisen in our national discourse that appear out of the blue and gain incredible traction: “systemic racism,” “white privilege,” “microaggressions,” “antifa,” “black lives matter,” “safe spaces,” “woke individuals,” “non-binary,” and so many others.  I believe it would be safe to posit that these terms have gained traction because of the several social media platforms that exist today.  This traction is also amplified by the fact that critical thinking, logic, and common sense have all gone the way of the dodo bird.  For me, that is a sad fact of reality.

From my vantage point, I view all the turmoil and violent protesting as dangerous signs of cultural dissolution.  An acquaintance of mine from my Aramco days opined recently on Facebook that I am an anachronism because of my desire for a triad of New 3Rs for America (retroculture, restoring social and political power to the states, and renaissance, American-style) and a return to sanity in our culture.  With the clarity of reflection, I suspect he was correct.  That being written, I do not want to live in a dystopian society where personal freedom no longer is the highest value.

I urge all recipients of this email and the embedded forwarded-email to think carefully about the future of America.  I will leave you with this idea as well: Truth and wisdom have no fear of time.

Best regards to all,

Andrew