In George Orwell's fictional totalitarian state of Oceania in his book 1984, Inner Party Member O’Brien is torturing an Outer Party member, Winston Smith, into agreeing to a lie. With Smith strapped to a gurney, O'Brien holds up his left hand, its back towards Smith, with O'Brien's thumb hidden and the four fingers extended.
“How many fingers am I holding up, Winston?’
“Four.”
“And if the Party says that it is not four but five – then how many?”
“Four.”
O'Brien responds by administering another electric shock.
Like the Inner Party in Oceania, the Keller Administration is torturing Justice into saying a park or a plaza or any other facility they so desire is a "school". Why? So the city can misuse a good law meant to keep people from bringing guns to schools from bringing guns anywhere else in the city the Mayor so desires. Thankfully, DA Raul Torrez has decided that two plus two is indeed four and refused to prosecute on the basis of such an outrageous misuse of the law. I suspect the average jury, also not Inner Party members, would know the difference between a park and a school as well.
Oh and to put icing on this rotten cake, the only people cited under this deception were two Black men.
This whole episode reeks of what Orwell called "doublespeak". How many fingers am I holding up, Mayor Keller?
