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

    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