The master of language distortions, George Orwell, was having coffee with me recently (at least his spirit was) while we read the morning’s The New York Times. Two reports caught both our attention, and we commented about several odd connections.
{mosads}”George,” I said, “look at this article about Bob Jones University officials. They blame sexual assault victims at the school for reporting their assaults to police because — get this — doing so would damage their families, churches and the university.”
“Get out of here!” George replied, as he munched his toast.
“Seriously,” I added. “Girls assaulted, even at tender and innocent ages, 6 to 14, were told to repent for their sins, or they would be loving themselves more than God.” I showed him page A-20 of The New York Times. “If they bore the sin of bitterness, they’d be second-rate Christians,” the article reported.
“That’s the same as what defenders of the CIA’s extreme rendition are saying,” George argued, putting down his coffee cup and sliding his copy of the newspaper in front of me.
He continued: “The defenders of the CIA’s practices are saying the Senate report will cause the U.S. problems abroad, not the atrocities that the report reported. Not only that,” he continued, “the head of the CIA pointed out that the agency is filled with good citizens who did no wrong, as if that had anything to do with the awful things those who did them did. And to underscore the absurdity of the whole episode,” George added, “the only one imprisoned for his role in all this is the CIA officer who blew the whistle on the excessive interrogation program, as the Times editorial pointed out.”
My British guest’s observation embarrassed me. Playing Can-You-Top-This, I called to George’s attention that while American prisoner of war hero, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), deplored the reported torture, Dick Cheney — who didn’t even serve in Vietnam because he said he “had other priorities” at the time — defended it. The former vice president argued that torturing prisoners can’t be compared to what the 9/11 terrorists did, even if what he calls “enhanced interrogation” practices were performed on different people than the ones who committed the atrocities of 9/11.
The whole conversation spoiled our breakfast. I’m going to stop reading the newspapers, and talking to George.
Goldfarb is a Washington attorney and author whose writing appears regularly in The Hill.