A time of opposites

We live in an “interesting” time. I call it the time of opposites. It’s not new though. The DC comics already identified this with the creation of Bizarro World.

“Since his hilarious debut in the 1950s, Bizarro has been a character of equal parts humor and confusion. The imperfect duplicate of Superman, the chalk faced hero lives on the cube-shaped world of Bizarro where everything is the opposite of life on Earth. Beauty is hated, ugliness is revered, and it is a crime to make anything perfect.” ( Source)

There’s a Superman Wiki which offers a great fuller explanation of this planet and how it operates. In essence, everything is the opposite of what happens on Earth. Even the official name of the planet is Htrae — the reverse of Earth. Fixing things is considered wrong. A compliment sounds like a degrading statement. Etc.

I’m reminded of Bizarro world because it seems to be the best way to make sense of so much of our world these days. There are politicians who make statements on any number of topics and use the same words that are commonly used, but have a completely opposite meaning.

Accusations about an assortment of things seem to actually be a projection of what the person is doing. What we witness and watch is dismissed and we are told that the opposite is true. Claims about beliefs are made, yet the policies that are supported are in opposition to these beliefs.

George Orwell understood this and used it for his novel “1984.” He called it Newspeak. Newspeak is defined…