Posted on 11/29/2009 11:38:18 AM PST by FromLori
Sixty years following its first publication and twenty-five since the fateful year, George Orwell’s 1984 remains a mystery to the experts. They convene often in exotic places to agree that Orwell wrote a dystopia on the communist take-over of Britain and America. They concur how he reversed the final two digits of the year he wrote the book — 1948 — to arrive at the title 1984. They write that Orwell was not a prophet and few predictions fill his volume. These consensus beliefs on 1984 by the experts still shape the views of tens of millions of citizens who read Orwell’s work in the public schools and colleges.
Experts can often befuddle. They sold the banking world on using derivatives. Experts in real estate failed to warn about the consequences of zero-down mortgages sold to non-qualified home purchasers. Again and again experts lead us to believe they are more competent than they really are. They want us to stand in awe of their pronouncements and never to challenge them. But following steep declines in the domestic economy and the mortgage industry, few people today doubt that the experts can be fallible, and never more than when collectively they agree about the facts pertaining to the Orwellian masterpiece.
What better time than now, twenty-five years since the fateful year 1984, to correct the errors of the consensus experts? Do not the media provide copious coverage of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the terrorist explosion killing 237 marines in Beirut? Then why not celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of Orwell’s fateful date to provide a retrospective, and answer whether or not Orwell wrote about the future conquest of Britain and America by the Soviet Union under Josef Stalin? Or whether Orwell arrived at his title by reversing the final two digits of 1948,
(Excerpt) Read more at thenewamerican.com ...
I just thought this was interesting especially seeing how the socialists have the UK in the state it is in today.
And speaking of the state it is in today related
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8382604.stm
Recession ‘is even worse than feared’: Chancellor predicts steepest slump ever
That's because "experts" couldn't find a tree in a forest.
I remember went the media line in 1984 was, "See, Orwell was wrong. We're safe..."
May be behind schedule but we sure are not safe if you think climate gate and gun control he is trying to push.
http://teapartynewswatch.com/obama-pushes-anti-gun-treaty/
Anyone interested in Orwell ought to check out the movie “Brazil.”
I am not quite “up” on the Fabian Socialists as I wish I were before reading it.
I read 1984 when I was probably about 15 years old. A long time ago. I never thought of it as satire. I just sort of felt that I ought to be careful when Power changes the language as is so common these days.
You have given me a new perspective.
Thanks again.
Well no. In the world of 1984 the successor to the Soviet Union was known as Eurasia - which combined continental Europe with the extent of the USSR. Eastasia (consisting of China and neighboring areas) was the Maoist superpower. Oceania consisted of essentially the Anglosphere and was never specifically labelled as communist. It blended elements of Marxism with Naziism (like the anti-semitic Goldstein hatred), but wasn’t intended to be either. Collectivism comes in many different forms, Orwell’s version being just one possibility.
More interesting information on the Fabian Socialists in this article
http://www.garynorth.com/public/5156.cfm
Wasn't Gary North the site that predicted all of those calamities concerning the Y2K disasters way back when? I feel rather certain about that.
I will read it. Thanks.
I mentioned this in a posting during the summer that I was in a used bookstore when I overheard a customer ask one of the employees if they had 1984. The employee said they were out and that the book was in demand, but he did not know why. Seems obvious to everyone but the Rats.
Bookmarked for later
Some of the elements that have come true:
Big Brother - a charismatic figure for the citizenry to rally behind, whose face is everywhere
Emmanuel Goldstein - a loathsome figure for the citizenry to hate - Bin Laden, Palin, W
Rewriting of history
Rewriting of the language
Surveillance everywhere
Thoughtcrime
The lottery
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.