Here's a guy being held at Guantanamo who finally gets his hearing before some kind of a military tribunal, as ordered by the U.S. Supreme Court.
He's being held as an enemy terrorist who associates with Al Qaeda members. He denies it. Tell me who I'm supposed to be associating with, he tells the tribunal officer, whom I'll laughingly call "the judge."
The judge says he can't tell the prisoner the name of the person he's supposed to be conspiring with. For security reasons. Plus, says the judge, "I'm the one asking the questions here."
The prisoner says tell me the name and I'll tell you whether I did something wrong. Then you can punish me. Nope, says the judge, we can't tell you who you conspired with, so we're holding you.
Orwellian, says this columnist, Andrew Cohen of CBS News.
George Orwell wrote Animal Farm and 1984.
Animal Farm is a barnyard allegory mocking the Soviet Communist system, where everybody is created equal, except that some are more equal than others. At least I think it mocks just the Soviet Communist system. I could be a little wrong there.
1984 is his book that satirizes government when it becomes too powerful, the walls have ears, and eyes, double-speak is the order of the day in which black means white, and everyone is brainwashed into thought-conformance, otherwise they're in big trouble. Again, I think it was supposed to satirize the Soviets, but then again, I wouldn't want to take any large bets on the proposition.
If you haven't read them, you might give them a look.
Speaking of books that satirize huge institutions such as governments and the army, the first time I read Joseph Heller's Catch-22, in law school, on the subway to South Ferry, I couldn't stop laughing.
People look at you funny when they catch you laughing out loud on the subway, is all I can say.
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