Orwell predicted it all one year before I was born

In 1984, the Party commands citizens to "reject the evidence of your eyes and ears." When the Party askes people to prove their loyalty and belief by accepting that two plus two equals five, that demonstrates its ultimate power.

I first read 1984 many years ago, though I continued to occasionally assign it as summer readings for AP classes for a number of years in my teaching career. 

No matter how many times I read the novel or selections from the book, deep down I never thought the scenarios that Orwell laid out could come true. 

Boy, was I wrong.

Yesterday I watched videos showing a 37-year-old woman brutally shot in the head (thank goodness I could not see the actual wounds) in a normally quiet neighborhood in Minneapolis. I watched masked thugs confront a suburban mother of three, a woman who was a U.S. citizen, and then one of them calmly murdered her. 

In my head I can entertain the thought that most police officers, most people with guns, are not looking to kill innocent people. That they embrace their oaths to protect and serve.  

In my heart, however, I condemn all ICE agents, enmasse. As long as they cover their faces and "throw their weight around," as my mother used to say, they have crossed the line of civilized behavior. 

Of course, Trump and Noem and other Cult members immediately began lying, blatantly and disregarding the clear evidence of our eyes, claiming that this terrified woman had run over an agent... that she was a domestic terrorist. That the shooting was regrettable but couldn't be helped. 

Oh, please.

The terrorists are ICE agents who show up in large numbers, with plenty of weapons, and the authority of the federal government, to aggressively confront anyone who has brown skin, first, but also anyone who is white but does not cower and allow themselves to be manhandled. 

Many Americans are apparently fine with officials randomly killing their fellow citizens. They are mostly Republicans and their pitiful rationalizations are disgusting. 

Of course, Donald Trump is disgusting. So are many doing his bidding in the White House. But it's another level of madness to realize that many of the people living all around us, buying groceries in the King Soopers and attending movies at AMC have no particular problem supporting the disgusting people who have seized power.

I'm not sure I would ever had described myself as a Patriot who blindly loves and supports whatever is done in the United States. After all, I have read books, studied a bit of history. There's nothing particularly special about the U.S., compared to other nations.

Maybe there once was, but look at us now. 

Proud to an American? 

Not right now. 

Ashamed to be an American?

Absolutely.