Posted on 08/11/2018 5:35:15 AM PDT by Chickensoup
Just finished The Road to Wigan Pier a book Orwell wrote about leftism and fascism during the 30's in Great Britan.
Chilton Williamson from CHRONICLES had recommended it in the magazine's What the Editor's are Reading section.
Good selection. This is a discussion of class, industrialization, and Orwell's perspective of what happens when humans are treated as disposable. Interestingly, during the industrialization of Great Britain, there were many thrown out of work and lots of talk, as there is today about the dole (today read guaranteed income) being the way to allow people to be "free."
Many other parallels with today and a scathing indictment of socialism.
If you are a politics and culture kind of person, don't miss it.
I so do wish there was a reading club that focused on political cultural books in my area.
True enough, but what his machine chapter really reminded me of was Metropolis. He was actually criticizing socialists of his time for painting that sort of picture of the future and alienating people with it. By the time he wrote 1984 he'd come to suspect that it wasn't all that inaccurate after all. Exactly as you say, an author on a journey.
But man, could he ever lay it to his fellow socialists:
The ordinary man may not flinch from a dictatorship of the proletariat, if you offer it tactfully; offer him a dictatorship of the prigs and he gets ready to fight.
A thing that today's campus socialists should keep in mind...
Here is a related thread started today.
I wish there were a way to alert everyone on the thread about posts to the thread.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3678463/posts
George Orwell on Intellectuals
“Agree that Orwell is indeed a prescient genius. Recently reread “1984”. During the chapter where Winston Smith is brain-washed by the State to believe that 2+2=5, I had an epiphany. This part of the book illustrates the power of the State to make the individual believe the unbelievable.”
We’ve “progressed” so far past 1984 in 2018 that people now believe that men with penises are women, women with vaginas are men women can be husbands, men can be wives, you can be black if you’re white, math, logic and science are social constructs, and reality is whatever you’re delusional mind desires it to be.
Yup. Personally, I blame the Internet.
Sorry, that one was just too tempting...no harm, no fowl, Chickensoup!
Two flavors of Totalitarianism.
No, it sounds interesting. Do you subscribe? Is there a dead tree version?
“Personally, I blame the Internet.”
The internet???
That’s like blaming guns for murders!
Not quite. The Internet lets people say what they want with anonymity and (often) without consequences. It lets freaks find other freaks more easily and band together. It helps freaks convince otherwise level-headed people that being a freak is normal. It enables people to be shamed for exercising common sense.
Back before the Internet, we formed social networks based on proximity. You tended to believe what those around you believed. That may have been stodgy, but it was a stabilizing influence. The Internet shattered all that.
Just my 2 cents.
Thanks.
“Not quite. The Internet lets people say what they want with anonymity and (often) without consequences... Just my 2 cents.”
You are right about the worth of your theory - 2 cents. :)
So you believe that same sex marriage and all the transgender and bathroom crap is the result of anonymous trolls in the internet and not the result of very public, well known powerful politicians, judges and activists?
And by the way you and I and all the other freepers are also “anonymous trolls”.
The anonymity of the internet allows one to be totally honest about their opinions without fear of reprisal. It also allows people who object to those opinions to do the same. It’s the only place where you can truly have an honest un-censored conversation.
I subscribed to the printed version for a dozen years and was very satisfied. I am so far behind in my reading I didn’t renew.
Some of the articles were too lofty for my taste initially but I like to be challenged.
It was a journal founded by Russell Kirk so that is like Moses for me — he led me to the promised land.
Yes, it works for us, but also against us. Unfortunately, so far, its mostly worked more in the Left’s favor. Especially considering that they own most of the Internet companies.
We’re all entitled to our opinion, but I still think I’m correct.
“Especially considering that they own most of the Internet companies.”
And why is that? How come right wingers seem incapable of building successful platforms and search engines? (though they’re quite good with talk radio).
“We’re all entitled to our opinion, but I still think I’m correct.”
See, we exchanged opinions anonymously with the internet and maybe we both learned something. I think that’s good, even if you’re too stubborn to see that I’m right. :)
Yet although the personnel of the ruling elite changed, their pretensions did not, based I suspect heavily on the expectations of someone risen to power in the old system. That certainly was the case in the Soviet Union, where the party assumed the position of the old aristocracy and many of its abuses as well. In fact, it appears to be a signal characteristic of socialist societies in general. The Party bosses had their limos and their dachas, and Orwell's pigs began walking on two legs. Hugo Chavez's daughter is now worth 4 billion dollars. It is as good to be Party as it was to be King. And the equality, liberty, and freedom that Orwell hopefully declared would result from socialism never did and likely never will.
Thanks for this great post. I now plan to read this. I have learned so much from everyone on this thread too. Really good discussion folks, thanks.
The anonymity of the internet allows one to be totally honest about their opinions without fear of reprisal. It also allows people who object to those opinions to do the same. It’s the only place where you can truly have an honest un-censored conversation.
_____________
so true. without the anonymous pamphlet-ing by our founding fathers, there would be no United States.
Sounds interesting.
I am the kind of bore who reads First Things and Chronicles every month from cover to cover.
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