I find myself thinking more and more about Fascism and the Spanish Civil War lately. In the 1930s a Spanish military leader named General Francisco Franco sought to overthrow one of the last ruling kings on Europe, King Juan Charles I. The only problem was Franco was basically looking to exchange one totalitarian leader (the king) for another (himself).

What was unique was the use of new communication technologies to control his message and even the very thoughts of his followers. In Germany another leader picked up the thread and used new reels, amplified sound, radio and other modern technologies to secure power.

Two enduring pieces of art that came out of this Spanish political transition was Picasso’s Guernica that showed the horrors of civilian arial bombings, a novelty at the time. Of course the German fellow was not far behind and began arial bombings of London with then-new rocket technology.

The other enduring piece of art is the writings of a George Orwell. He understood the use, or rather misuse, of language was maybe the most powerful weapon of all. He warned us in his novels particularly 1984.

So today when I hear people using grandiose language to describe things that are at best inappropriate at worst complete fabrications, I think of Orwell. I wish us all Freedom on the July 4th. And I mean that.