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To: Potowmack

Was 1984 a left-wing screed too?

The total-surveillance state that Orwell predicted is coming about only a couple of decades behind schedule in England. Guns and any other means of self-defense is banned, cars are tracked by satellite, and cameras blanket the streets.

George Washington observed that "government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master."

We as patriotic Americans should not be allowed to be stampeded into enslaving ourselves to government for the sake of the illusion of "keeping us safe."


13 posted on 03/08/2006 7:32:13 AM PST by mvpel (Michael Pelletier)
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To: mvpel

Amen, brother.


27 posted on 03/08/2006 7:40:15 AM PST by swain_forkbeard (Rationality may not be sufficient, but it is necessary.)
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To: mvpel
Was 1984 a left-wing screed too?

No, I don't think so. It was anti-totalitarianism.

The total-surveillance state that Orwell predicted is coming about only a couple of decades behind schedule in England. Guns and any other means of self-defense is banned, cars are tracked by satellite, and cameras blanket the streets.

True. The surveillance by the British state was one of the major themes of V for Vendetta. The irony is that the real-world surveillance in England these days has been brought about by a Center-Left parliamentary government, rather than a right-wing dictatorship

30 posted on 03/08/2006 7:43:16 AM PST by Potowmack ("Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government")
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To: mvpel
Was 1984 a left-wing screed too?

1984, like Animal Farm, was a warning. Orwell was a committed Communist, until he realized just what the long term plans were.

With all the new security plans, I fear Orwell was mearly two decades behind.

33 posted on 03/08/2006 7:47:16 AM PST by redgolum ("God is dead" -- Nietzsche. "Nietzsche is dead" -- God.)
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To: mvpel
George Washington observed that "government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master."

FYI that's an unconfirmed quote. It's not been found in any of his writings.

41 posted on 03/08/2006 7:59:14 AM PST by Sir Gawain
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