Prostitutes are now called “sex workers”. I remember when that first happened and we all thought it was a joke. Now the news media use the ridiculous term with a straight face. In a similar way, dope dealers are now called “CEOs of dispensaries.” That’s also a joke. Call yourself a CEO and you’re still a dope dealer. Call yourself a sex worker and you’re still a whore.
A San Francisco dope dealer recently landed in hot water when she called the police on a black child selling bottled water without a permit. The media seems not to notice the irony that this woman, who makes a living violating federal law, is calling police on somebody for violating the law. Instead, the main focus is on her “white privilege,” despite there being no real evidence that the woman was motivated by racial bias.
More interesting, however, than alleged racism or dope dealing is the trial by social media which has happened in her case and in many recent cases of boorish behavior. That’s exactly what it was, boorish, rude behavior. There have been boorish, rude people for as long as there have been people, but never before have we had the ability to punish them instantly, humiliate them, and ruin their lives for our own enjoyment. But now, with everyone carrying a cell phone in his pocket, the slightest misstep ends up becoming national news.
“Big Brother”, of course, refers to the omnipresent “tele-screen” in George Orwell’s 1984. The screens were ever-present and always-watching, ready to punish citizens for any crime against the state. And indeed, with our cell phones and drone cameras, we now live in a world far more disturbing than Orwell imagined.
The dope peddler may have been on a public street, but her conflict would once have been a private dispute. Now she is publicly vilified and humiliated for alleged thought crimes. The rest of the socially conscious liberal world sits back and laughs as one of their own, a dope peddler, is taken down by the mob. It’s a lot of fun until it happens to you.
As in 1984, the dope dealer was required to make a public apology, appearing on the Today show and in the Huffington Post, appealing for forgiveness from the very mob that condemned her for racism which she displayed only by being white.
One is tempted to say this is an appropriate award for a woman who makes a living off of the misery of others, selling them dope to anesthetize themselves. Perhaps it is, but of course nobody criticizes her for her real crime. Meanwhile welcome, Permit Patty, to the new age of Big Brother.
Mors Sanctorum 