Opinion: Orwellian ‘oldspeak’ and Donald Trump’s Twitter falsehoods

To the editor: The moment I saw your headline, “Trump’s Twitter falsehoods fire up his base, provoke opponents and distract from larger issues,” (Dec. 15) I immediately thought of “oldspeak.” That was the term the ruling elite in George Orwell’s “1984” used to denounce the very idea that there were such things as “facts,” that reality could be anything other than what the rulers said it was.

It’s clear from Donald Trump’s barrage of tweets both before and after the election that he believes he can make his own reality, and he’s going to govern based on his conception of reality rather than on an idea as old-fashioned as “facts.”

Mark Gabrish Conlan, San Diego

..

To the editor: The coverage of the Russian hacking has missed some important points.

Clinton’s supporters claim the emails that were released may have cost her the election. But I have not read anything suggesting that the content of these emails was changed in any way. So even though their release may have embarrassed the Clinton campaign, the emails themselves are not displaying false information.

Moreover, there is no evidence that people changed their votes because of the leaked emails. So although the claimed Russian hacking is a very serious matter for the country, let’s not use it to explain the Democrats’ loss.

Robert Newman, West Hills

..

To the editor: Although I don’t read Vanity Fair, his tweet alerted me to its negative review of his restaurant inside New York’s Trump Tower. Consequently, I won’t eat there, and I am considering a subscription to Vanity Fair.

Thanks, President-elect Trump. Keep up the good work.

Brian Masson, Habor City

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook