I understand that Animal Farm is a satire of Stalin and the russian revolution, but I don't understand the message that is trying to tell us.

The book is about a group of farm animals that is being oppressed by the farmers, so the animals, commanded by the pigs overthrow the farmers and the animals get in control but in reality is the pigs who end up controlling the farm and they are as bad as the farmer.

So to me the message is simple: "don't revolt, don't try to change the status quo, nothing will change if you try, so don't do it"

  • Neckbeard_Prime [they/them,he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    In other words, you can probably save yourself the read by listening to a shitty 4-minute song by The Who, assuming you can stomach boomer rock put out by a bunch of Bri*ish pedophiles. Then again, if the alternative is reading Orwell, you're already in the ballpark.

      • Neckbeard_Prime [they/them,he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        That song ("Won't Get Fooled Again") certainly is. The message is literally "don't ever fight for what you believe in, because the new order will be exactly like the old one," which is a textbook hardline British anticommunist stance if I've ever heard one. It's extra hilarious, because Pete Townshend was briefly in the CPGB's Young Communist League, and is allegedly a Labour supporter:
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Townshend#Political_views

        (Also notably absent from that NATOpedia page is the incident in which Townshend got busted for downloading images of CSA, and was promptly cleared of any wrongdoing because British courts just do that if you can throw enough money at them.)

        Lyrics; CW: boomer lib shit

        We'll be fighting in the streets
        With our children at our feet
        And the morals that they worship will be gone
        And the men who spurred us on
        Sit in judgement of all wrong
        They decide and the shotgun sings the song

        I'll tip my hat to the new Constitution
        Take a bow for the new revolution
        Smile and grin at the change all around
        Pick up my guitar and play
        Just like yesterday
        Then I'll get on my knees and pray
        We don't get fooled again

        A change, it had to come
        We knew it all along
        We were liberated from the fold, that's all
        And the world looks just the same
        And history ain't changed
        'Cause the banners, they all flown in the last war

        I'll tip my hat to the new Constitution
        Take a bow for the new revolution
        Smile and grin at the change all around
        Pick up my guitar and play
        Just like yesterday
        Then I'll get on my knees and pray
        We don't get fooled again, no, no

        I'll move myself and my family aside
        If we happen to be left half-alive
        I'll get all my papers and smile at the sky
        For I know that the hypnotized never lie

        Do you?
        Yeah

        There's nothing in the street
        Looks any different to me
        And the slogans are effaced, by-the-bye
        And the parting on the left
        Is now parting on the right
        And the beards have all grown longer overnight

        I'll tip my hat to the new Constitution
        Take a bow for the new revolution
        Smile and grin at the change all around
        Pick up my guitar and play
        Just like yesterday
        Then I'll get on my knees and pray
        We don't get fooled again
        Don't get fooled again, no, no

        Yeah
        Meet the new boss
        Same as the old boss