Posted by
Bob Siegel on Friday, September 04, 2009 7:06:35 PM
This blog is the fourth in a series. You may want to first read the previous installments:
A Czar By Any Other Name Might as Well Be Boris or Natasha: Part One
A Czar By Any Other Name Might as Well Be Boris or Natasha: Part Two
A Czar By Any Other Name Might as Well Be Boris or Natasha: Part Three
Had enough? I sure have, but I'll mention one more.
6) Cyberspace Czar: Position not yet filled. Mellisa Hathaway held the job but resigned in August. However, Democratic Senator Jay Rockefeller is introducing a bill that would give President Obama complete control over the internet in case of an emergency. So watch for a new czar or Obama himself as the Grand Czar of them all. For more detail on this frightening development, see my recent blog:
A Dictator's Short Cut
CONCLUSION: The word "czar" originally referred to emperors in Europe. Most of us have come to associate the term with Russian royalty. How ironic: The Communist Revolution overthrew the tyranny of of Russian czars only to replace it with a a dictatorship that was as bad if not worse. This dictatorship denied its true Fascism, claiming to be about the rights of the people, but I urge you to talk with anyone who once lived in the Soviet Union and who now lives in America. They might have something to say about the appointment of Czars who either brag about being Communist (the word that supposedly is in antithesis to czar), or articulate indistinguishable policies even if they don't use the word. You see, the very fact that opposite terms can mask the same skunk underneath only goes to show that we should be paying less attention to titles and more attention to what these people are actually saying. They have not exactly been shy about their positions. We should not be shy about protecting an old fashioned ideology of our own, a real endangered species: Democracy.
Also by Bob Siegel:
Words and Phrases That Should Be Permanently Retired
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