SCV Talk · Archive
A decade of the Valley’s town square · 2006–2015
SCV Talk
October 10, 2012· scvtalk.com · Blogger (SCVTalk 4.0) · Wayback capture

Ingsoc Coming to the SCV, ctd

By Rider — Jeff Wilson


A few clever comments from readers about 1984 in Strip Mall One:
O'Brien would obviously be Bob Kellar, who "looked" like a rebel in the last election but is now firmly back into the "party" fold with an endorsement of Buck McKeon and membership on the subcommittee that concocted our local version of IngSoc.
I agree, Kellar is a favorite of the local conservative set, but he's not independent and judging by his proposal to change the City's norms & procedures (and his off-handed dismissal of critics), he's a shoe-in for O'Brien's role. It helps that he's friendly and warm too, just the kind of guy the Inner Party would use to keep their grip on power and ensure the future is one in which a giant boot stamps on a human face, like, forever.

Another:
I nominate Don Fleming to play the stern visage of Big Brother on all the posters and TV tubes around Strip Mall One. The man is (or was) already everywhere anyway, and he sports a mustache and what could be a stern, intense face, if the lighting was right and the spectacles removed. 
Valencia Acura DealerFriendship does strike me as Newspeak. Good one!

Another:
To fight a future as Strip Mall One, we need a blog where people can comment freely and immediately, unoppressed by Bossertian screening or Wilsonian curating/identity-erasure.  The LTE Facebook Group has been unable to recreate what once happened at SCVTalk, doubtless because of the lack of a Daily Brief to structure and incite discussions.  Plus it's on Facebook: blech.  Return of SCVTalk Retro Commenting Edition, please.  Kthx. 
Sounds like this reader is nominating me for the role of Emmanuel Goldstein, the fabled resistance organizer. But I'm not Goldstein and this blog isn't titled The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism. We do curate the best comments here and that does mean we limit freedom, but concerned Strip Mall One residents have pure, unadulterated freedom to post whatever the hell they like on the Facebooks.

If there's a role in Strip Mall One for enlightened despot, I'm your man. Until then I'm out of the commenting business; too much freedom makes me dizzy.

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