Airstrip One -- A Most Relevant Orwellian Term

Like many Americans, I have a deep fascination and fondness for everything British. The various accents of that culture enchant me. Some of my favorite authors are British: Gaiman, Murdoch, Moore, Lewis. In my imagination, the United Kingdom is full of rich history, nobility and a mystique of granduer, refinement and cultural excellence.

So, in that context, one of the many brutal outrages that my mind sustained while reading George Orwell's classic dystopian novel, 1984 was that, in that bleak and hopeless world, Great Britain had been renamed "Airstrip One". It didn't even rate the dignity to be called a proper nation's name. It was just a servile plot of earth upon which a larger government had dehumanized in it's domination of all areas of that hapless society.

I think of that novel a lot these days. The revelations about the U.S. government's surveillance upon it's citizens and the disregard of our leaders to change things is reminiscent of that cautionary story that was once called a "self-defeating prophecy". I guess the power of 1984 to ward off government oppression in the West is wearing off.

The news from 2013 about a journalist's partner being detained for 9 hours in the U.K. as he passed through Heathrow Airport was to me a true "Airstrip One" moment. Great Britain was not being very great. It was like a lap-dog serving the interests of the more powerful government that had a beef with the journalist that helped expose that government's spying on its own citizens. Very sad.

2016 Brexit UPDATE: After hearing and seeing news reports on TODAY'S vote to decide if the UK will leave the European Union, I get the sense that many citizens there feel like Great Britain has become a mere landing strip for a bloated, incompetent, mainland beauracracy (the E.U. -not the U.S.). Immigration over run, negative consequences of the Global Marketplace and phantom nostalgia (for a perceived golden past of more U.K. prominence and independence) are some factors. It's a big step if they #Brexit. The world's financial markets are on "tinter hooks" of suspense they await the election results.