Word: paranoia
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President Reagan likes to use the downing of the Korean jetliner as an example of how Americans and Russians differ. And yet, in our haste and paranoia to restrict information in the name of national security, we sacrifice the enduring values of our society, blurring those distinctions. When the Reagan directive becomes law in April 1984, perhaps we will recognize its inherent danger to personal freedom. If not, George Orwell's haunting vision of the future will come uncomfortably close-to reality...
Even more important than actual historical reproduction is Wajda's ability to capture the feel of the age the grime of street life and bread lines, the sense of urgency haunting politicos on all sides of the spectrum, and the pervasive paranoia of a society in lethal flux. Wajda brings forth all the weapons in this director's arsenal, from a droning soundtrack to claustrophobic camerawork, to brilliant contrast between dark night and the torches of the security police. He succeeds masterfully in conveying the dreadful anxiety of living in a totalitarian regime. For if the government of the Terror...
...South Africa, though, the government's constituency consists in reality of a fraction of the population: South African whites. This constituency has no desire for change; in fact, its fear or reform borders on paranoia. More important still, whites in South Africa perceive the system of separation they have set up to be divinely ordained--the will of God. White South Africans are a deeply religious people: an overwhelming majority attend church regularly. And the notion of the separation of church and state is unknown. Religious--and hence ideological--beliefs are passed down in the schools...
...South African mess does exist. Power sharing with a gradual evolution toward majority rule would allow Blacks to learn the skills necessary to run a country and perhaps build up a modicum of trust between Blacks and whites that would ease the latter's paranoia. Realistically, though, such a change is simply not forthcoming. The situation is already too polarized to allow a meeting of interests on a common ground. And the West is left with the choice between two singularly unattractive policy options...
...system, that some real attempts at liberalization have come. And cutting off economic and military aid to the regime itself would get the message across that we will have nothing to do with a racist state. And yet maintaining non-governmental ties would avoid the outright isolation that breeds paranoia among whites...