Editorial – 7 February 2010

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Mainstreaming the new world order

by Collin Mullane (aka PolemiCol)

Only a few short years ago, maybe even less than two, the New World Order was a phrase usually reserved for discussions on Usenet groups, amongst right-wing radicals, and by high profile individuals with a penchant for speaking circuits and radio shows. Whichever the medium, the audience was generally, and unapologetically, considered by the mainstream public as conspiracy crackpots on the fringe of society.

To this fringe element the NWO was a well understood yet mysteriously secretive plan by the global elite to devalue democracy, crush civil liberties and empower a terrible world government reminiscent of the Party in George Orwell’s dystopian novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four, but in stark contrast to H.G. Wells’ utopian The New World Order’ . This inevitable plan for totalitarianism was fondly referred to, by those in the know, as the NWO.

But the times, they are a changin’. Thank you Mr Dylan.

Ever since Gordon Brown hit the international stage with post-GFC rallying cries of “a new world order”, the phrase appears to have been miraculously transformed, hijacked, stretched, watered down and metered out in literary abundance as a metaphor for positive change resulting in relief and security.

In the same way that being “gay” prior to the 50’s meant you were having a happy time until it became a euphemism for homosexuality and now Gen Y use it to discredit something as unworthy or stupid. While we must accept that language evolves, we must also be cautious about the evolution becoming a revolution of propaganda. George Orwell coined ‘newspeak’ and ‘doublespeak’ in his classic novel, Nineteen Eighty Four. That war of words now seems to be upon us.

“New world order” is the catch cry of the new millennia. It has found its way into the media’s vocabularly and is being used to describe anything from advances in television production to a change in leadership on the tennis circuit. Let me offer some recent examples:

China serves notice of new world order
THE world order in tennis was restored yesterday but only after a new contender, China, flexed its muscle on Rod Laver Arena.

Magazine Production’s New World Order
Automation has done away with the traditional print production department.

New World Order
Rutgers win home matches over Virginia, Navy during weekend to extend unbeaten streak to historic 12

Curling’s new world order poses challenge for Martin
Tough international field stands in way of Canadian skip’s elusive Olympic gold

5 Ways ‘Lost’ Changed TV
Put plainly, “Lost” will go down as one of the most important scripted shows to emerge from the millennium’s first decade — and a template for what broadcast networks need to do to survive the new world order of unlimited viewing options and decreased ad revenue

New World Order Monopoloy? New Version Goes Cashless
Monopoly owners Hasbro will be launching a circular version of the board game to celebrate the 75th anniversary of its creation the company has announced at this year’s Toy Fair.

Tennis faces ‘Twenty20′ revolution with new nations tournament
“In the new world order, sports must compete with Hollywood blockbusters, video games, the worldwide web, TV and music for a slice of the global consumers’ attention,” he said.

Is Carlos Tevez the Face of a New World Order in the Premier League?
Quick stat to start the day: In between Manchester City reaching their last major semi-final – in the 1981 FA Cup – and Tuesday’s Carling Cup semi, a total of 54 different League clubs have been to the last four of the two major cup competitions.

What should be strikingly obvious about these examples, which were sourced from Google News and excludes references to the the political/financial NWO, is that they are all within one field – entertainment; particularly sports. You will be hard pressed to find examples in any other field.

Why has this field of endeavour been selected by the media to appropriate a phrase that is echoing around the halls of politics and money alike? Why isn’t the same phrase being used to report about changes in science, for example?

Quite clearly this is about winning the hearts and minds of the people. To inoculate the populace against any perceived negativity of the phrase “new world order” it is necessary for the positive concept of NWO to pervade society. The best way of effecting this change is to enlist the services of the media to use it in a plethora of reporting mechanisms and insert it into popular culture through television series and Hollywood movies. If repeated enough times, the slogan will take on a new meaning in language and will cease to be a mysterious threat.

Sport is a particularly important catalyst for this culture change. People love their sport and governments love it too because it keeps the citizen’s attention away from real issues. Science is not as great a winner within the general public, nor is the classical arts or other intellectual pursuits. Sport engages and affects society in ways that no other activity dares to compete – just take a look at how many citizens are engrossed in watching the Olympics, FIFA World Cup, The Superbowl, The Melbourne Cup or any number of national and local events every week.

If the people can be shown that a new world order is working for their sports, their magazines, their tv programs, then surely they will begin to believe that it MUST also be a good thing for their country. It is nothing less than subtle, psychological subterfuge.

The natural course of this process is to eliminate the perception of any threat that a ‘new world order’ might present. Of course, the threat still remains, however the populace becomes complacent about it and are discouraged from entertaining any further negative thoughts. This process is often used by criminals to gain trust so that they can manipulate the circumstances in order to commit a crime. In this case, the crime is the establishment, by stealth, of a single world government and the erosion of your civil liberties and human rights.

The New World Order is on a public relations campaign to soften their image and ease into your life through the thing you enjoy most, your entertainment. What they are saying to you is “Sit back and relax, folks … everything is under control!”