“Hyperbole Crisis at Newstand!”
English newspapers run out of exaggeration! Shock! Horror!
Walking past the Evening Standard booth by the tube there was a sign that said “Heathrow Lost Luggage Crisis!” Sorry, but that isn’t a crisis, it is an inconvenience. Darfur is a crisis.
I’m almost halfway through “1984” one thing has struck me, in the chapter about Goldstein’s manifesto, there is one bit that seems especially prophetic given today’s global ‘War on Terror’ ™ . It talks about how in order to keep classes separate you cannot have a surplus of goods or excess leisure, or else the lower class, “proles” in the book, will realize they are getting a raw deal. Therefore, start a war, and make sure it is un-winnable and with a confusing enemy. This way you get to destroy excess goods, keep the labor going and tap into rabid nationalism. Keep the people busy and distracted. Hmm. Sounds oddly familiar. “1984” was written in 1948.