US election: Donald Trump created an Orwellian nightmare however Joe Biden might help America get better – Professor Joe Goldblatt
Democrat Joe Biden turns Donald Trump into an entirely different US President (Images: Angela Weiss and Mandel Ngan / AFP via Getty Images)
He had traveled to Jura for rest and isolation so that he could focus on the concept of Big Brother. He succeeded, and this book revolutionized publishing in 1949 with its history of Eternal War, ubiquitous government surveillance, historical negationism, and propaganda.
Many people may well believe that the 1984 fiction was put into practice during the 2020 US presidential election. And some people, like the Chinese government, were so shocked by Orwell’s story that they banned his books from their social media platforms in 2019.
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Those of a certain age will remember that it wasn’t always that way. In fact, New York State Governor Mario Cuomo delivered a speech at the US Democratic Congress in 1984. Almost 80 million people watched the speech on their televisions and Governor Cuomo was interrupted by applause more than 50 times from the live audience. That was the year President Ronald Regan spoke eloquently about the US being “a shining city on a hill.” Cuomo contrasted this image that “the hard truth is that not everyone shares in the splendor and glory of this city”.
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US election: Americans in Scotland fear the result of the vote
Aside from last-minute problems – like a successful legal challenge by Donald Trump – Joe Biden appears to be the elected President of the United States.
He was carried into the White House by a tsumani of people who understood he was talking about them when he said the Covid pandemic was “not over” and added, “Just ask the people at your dining table will look at an empty chair ”. Reaching for a loved one in their bed at Christmas or out of habit, only to find it is empty too.
A voice of integrity, honor and truth
Trump supporters slap the glass and chant slogans outside a room where postal votes were counted in Detroit, Michigan (Image: Jeff Kowalsky / AFP via Getty Images)
Trump supporters slap the glass and chant slogans outside a room where postal votes were counted in Detroit, Michigan (Image: Jeff Kowalsky / AFP via Getty Images)Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris held up a highly polished mirror to the American people as if to say, “Is that what you really want?”
As the world has become increasingly dystopian since 1984, it strikes me that even today, amid the stormy seas of electronic mass media, a voice of integrity, honor and, yes, truth can rise above the maddened crowd.
Combining the folklore of Ronald Reagan, the sincerity of Jimmy Carter, and even the sincere wrath of the Founding Fathers of the United States, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were able to overcome all odds by finding their common voice and asking a simple question.
They kept asking: “Is this the America we want for ourselves, our children and our grandchildren?”
It is a simple and at the same time profound question. If you interviewed 300 million US citizens and asked them about their dreams for the future, you would find as many splinters as you can see when you cut a huge tree in the forest.
Another morning
These factions have always been part of the American experiment. However, because of recent poor national leadership, this noble experiment has failed because of the seeds of division rather than the formation of courageous coalitions.
Now President Ronald Reagan’s 1984 campaign slogan, “It’s Tomorrow in America” seems to be true again with the advent of new leadership, albeit from an opposing party.
The challenge now for future President Biden and Vice President Harris is that they must first heal the wounds of the recent past. And while these scars will be visible for many years to come, they will always remind us of the American dream stronger and more enduring than any selfish despot, angry white racist group, or a lewd QAnon conspiracy troll.
Further from dystopia
When Governor Cuomo stood at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco and spoke to thousands of delegates, his voice did not thunder, but rather, quietly and firmly, he reminded all Americans that their country was a “story of two cities” rather than a “brilliant” one City on a hill. “
Then he threw a strong spotlight on the dark side of this hill, using statistical evidence to show how unfair America had become. He concluded with these words, which in both 1984 and 2020 will bring a deep sense of treasure and upward development: “To be successful, we need to give up some small bits of our individual interests in order to build a platform that we all do can endure “. on, immediately and comfortably – proudly – sing along. “
I believe the election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris opened a new opportunity to step by step from our dystopian past and present to a new chapter for America and her friends and admirers around the world to stand together and sing again proud that these are our values and that our hopes for the future will be realized with new leadership that values truth, respect, kindness and, yes, love.
Professor Joe Goldblatt is Professor Emeritus of Scheduled Events at Queen Margaret University. He has both Scottish and US citizenship and has been known as an “Honorary Orcadian” because of his many visits. He voted for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. To learn more about Professor Goldblatt’s views, visit www.joegoldblatt.scot
