Terry Lakin: Down the Memory Hole
November 24th, 2010 Diane West, Washington Examiner
Wikipedia, the widely read, online, multiauthored encyclopedia, features an entry on the term “memory hole,” which originated with the prescient if not also clairvoyant George Orwell. The Wikipedia definition begins:
“A memory hole is any mechanism for the alteration or disappearance of inconvenient or embarrassing documents, photographs, transcripts, or other records … particularly as part of an attempt to give the impression that something never happened.”
Wikipedia itself may have just offered a good example of how the mechanism works when unknown, unknowable site authorities “took down” a new entry on Lt. Col. Terrence “Terry” Lakin’s challenge to President Obama’s eligibility to hold office almost as soon it went up.
I read a screen shot of the entry and it is factual and noninflammatory. Did Lakin’s page go down the memory hole?
Wikipedia readers who seek information about Lakin are redirected to a synopsis of his case within a composite entry on the larger Obama citizenship controversy. Not all but much of the same information is available there, only now, instead of appearing under a biographical entry titled “Terrence L. Lakin,” it is included within “Barack Obama Citizenship Conspiracy Theories.”
I linger over this incident not only because Lakin supporters have dubbed this week Terry Lakin Action Week, urging American citizens to take the occasion to call their congressional representatives about the case, or even because Lakin, a decorated, 18-year Army officer and physician, faces an upcoming court-martial at Fort Meade, Md., on Dec. 14 for refusing to follow orders to redeploy to Afghanistan because of his conviction that the president hasn’t proven his eligibility to hold office.
Those are both timely reasons to think about Lakin. But there is a larger question here that his sensational case should point us to consider.
“A memory hole is any mechanism for the alteration or disappearance of inconvenient or embarrassing documents, photographs, transcripts, or other records … particularly as part of an attempt to give the impression that something never happened.”
Wikipedia itself may have just offered a good example of how the mechanism works when unknown, unknowable site authorities “took down” a new entry on Lt. Col. Terrence “Terry” Lakin’s challenge to President Obama’s eligibility to hold office almost as soon it went up.
I read a screen shot of the entry and it is factual and noninflammatory. Did Lakin’s page go down the memory hole?
Wikipedia readers who seek information about Lakin are redirected to a synopsis of his case within a composite entry on the larger Obama citizenship controversy. Not all but much of the same information is available there, only now, instead of appearing under a biographical entry titled “Terrence L. Lakin,” it is included within “Barack Obama Citizenship Conspiracy Theories.”
I linger over this incident not only because Lakin supporters have dubbed this week Terry Lakin Action Week, urging American citizens to take the occasion to call their congressional representatives about the case, or even because Lakin, a decorated, 18-year Army officer and physician, faces an upcoming court-martial at Fort Meade, Md., on Dec. 14 for refusing to follow orders to redeploy to Afghanistan because of his conviction that the president hasn’t proven his eligibility to hold office.
Those are both timely reasons to think about Lakin. But there is a larger question here that his sensational case should point us to consider.
An election for President and Commander in Chief of the Military must strive to be above reproach. Our public institutions must give the public confidence that a presidential candidate has complied with the election process that is prescribed by our Constitution and laws. It is only after a presidential candidate satisfies the rules of such a process that he/she can expect members of the public, regardless of their party affiliations, to give him/her the respect that the Office of President so much deserves.
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