I was, as my eight loyal readers might expect, nonplussed with the DNT’s editorial calling on Duluthians to participate in the selection of a new Superintendent to stick his/her fingers in the holes of Dr. Dixon’s dike. I took their comment that many people regarded Dixon as being a “fiend” as sarcasm. Its true people regard Dixon as a liar, a cheat, and a smooth talker. Perhaps that’s the only kind of person we could have entrusted our District to to solve long neglected problems. (Now I’m being sarcastic)
Of today’s story about Dixon’s “upbeat” videotaped state of the School District speech I make these observations.
1. Turning a speech into a videotaped product makes it more useful for propaganda.
2. The speech could still have been videotaped during the school board meeting.
3. Taping it in a studio environment denied the school board members of an opportunity to quiz the Superintendent about his glowing remarks.
4. “Big Brother” used to communicate with his people this way.
5. “Big Brother” was a hollow shell too.
It rather reminds of what Emmanual Goldstein, the “enemy of the state” said of Big Brother in Orwell’s 1984:
“We may be reasonably sure that he will never die, and there is already considerable uncertainty as to when he was born.”
