The Case for a New Exceptionalism

Many years ago, as a Gen X twenty-something and Rage Against the Machine fan, I would sing along to “Testify,” a song I recognized as referencing George Orwell’s “1984”. Rage’s catchy lyrics reflected Orwell’s idea that whoever controls the present, i.e., through the dominant narrative of government sponsored media, would also control the past and its meaning. The corollary was that whoever controls the retelling of history would also control the future.