You are not Winston. You are not in the Party. You are a prole. The party doesn't give a shit about what you think, do or say. The only exception is if you pose a meaningful threat to the Party. In which case, the Republican-Democrat Party, the Capitalist Party of the United States of America will threaten you, disappear you, etc, etc, just like they have done to every threat in American history.

  • CEGBDFA [any]
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    4 years ago

    deleted by creator

    • threshold [he/him]
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      4 years ago

      The criticisms should be exactly the same for private sector but it has the aesthetics of public sector so that's what centrists/conservatives latch onto.

        • crispyhexagon [none/use name]
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          4 years ago

          but then they want to ban anyone that says its cool to kill slave owners. smh what happened to your frozen fruits centrists?

          if the centrists and conservatives really believed those things were "bad apples" and not frothing at the bit to do those things themselves, why do they not believe in taking any measures to curtail those actions?

            • crispyhexagon [none/use name]
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              4 years ago

              poor poor misunderstood "bad" apples. they deserve a spot in the barrel, surely. you cant just go throwing out a whole entire apple just because it has one little blemish... oh sure, the blemish is a fungal growth, but we eat mushrooms all the time! its mostly fine, is all im saying

              :stalin-stressed:

    • AFineWayToDie [he/him]
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      4 years ago

      I can imagine someone equating proper pronoun use to Newspeak. "They're changing language so that it will have NO MEANING!"

    • ComradeRat [he/him, they/them]
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      4 years ago

      I agree with most of your points, but the proles aren't portrayed like you say they are. They are repeatedly emphasises to be the only hope. Their poverty, stupidity, etc, is created by the Party.

    • constantly_dabbing [none/use name]
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      4 years ago

      thinking of themselves as somehow uniquely informed about the dangers of institutions. It’s “baby’s first totalitarianism.”

      Reactionaries: "wow you think I'm a terrible person, real original, you're just a special snowflake"

    • The_word_of_dog [he/him]
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      4 years ago

      I recommend showing this to anyone beginning to question Orwell.

      Asimov rules and the Foundation series is one of the best sci-fi series to introduce non-liberal worldviews to someone with.

        • The_word_of_dog [he/him]
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          4 years ago

          It gives a fairly easy to understand look at different eras of civilization encapsulated by different periods after the death of a rome-esque civilization.

          It's softer than explaining like imperialism and its reverberating effects to someone and is easy to read since it's just good fucking sci-fi.

          I'm not saying it as a replacement to like theory and education, but it's good for weening someone off stuff like Orwell and Rowling.

          Sending a reader down the Asimov path helps open the mind to non-liberal views of society.

  • AtlasFugged [he/him]
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    4 years ago

    I've thought about this recently vis a vis my mother, a fairly high up person in the ultimate PMC institution, the IMF. See, in 1984, there is some time dedicated to the fact that Party members like Winston live intentionally austere and unpleasant lives. They are watched all the time, wear awful party uniforms, go to constant meetings, and work grinding desk jobs. The proles live in poverty, but their lives are less rigidly controlled. I think the American PMC class is really approaching Party levels. When I think of my mother and her regular 15-hour workdays, how the IMF literally has a tracker on their employee's iPhones and sends them warnings based on where they go, how they have this overbearing company culture of always being on your email and ready for another meeting; well, I think of Winston

  • gay [any]
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    4 years ago

    I hate 1984. The only good part is the appendix because Orwell couldn't fit his rapey misogynist tropes there. Not to be a snowflake but high-schoolers shouldn't have to read a character having a r*pe fantasy about a woman he doesn't know.

  • Alaskaball [comrade/them]MA
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    4 years ago

    Better take: Liberals who use 1984 as the basis of their sociopolitical views - Why do you base your perceptions of reality on fiction books?

    Of course we all know they base their perceptions of reality on fiction books anyways a la harry potter, game of thrones, etc.

    • crispyhexagon [none/use name]
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      4 years ago

      because fiction is an easily digestable allegory for reality. fiction is not some antithetical thing to perceiving reality, its a tool for viewing reality in a way you might otherwise have not.

      the same as a biography or history can tell you about what has happened, fiction can postulate about what might happen, what could have happened, what one hopes for or dreams of.

      so no, that is not the "real" question. the question could be why they have stopped reading there, and become entrenched in viewing things through a poor lens.

      tldr; btfo lib, go read another book.

    • ComradeRat [he/him, they/them]
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      4 years ago

      It's actually pretty good. Orwell bad and all that, but you can really easily break libs by pointing out the west is already a 1984esque state under capitalism.

      • NotARobot [she/her]
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        4 years ago

        I also thought it was pretty good when I read it, but for me it was mostly just because I was so used to seeing dystopian societies in fiction that get brought down by teenagers that it was neat seeing one that was actually competent.

      • SteveHasBunker [he/him]
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        4 years ago

        Orwell was a garbage person but he did have talent as a writer. Part of the reason people can get through the ham fisted political messaging in 1984 is that it’s very readable, as is Animal Farm.

        His non-fiction is actually a fun read, and he’s very good at describing misery and melancholy, they guy was also just an angry miserable git who through he was smarter than everyone. Yah know like most writers.

        • CommCat [none/use name]
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          4 years ago

          Orwell was a racist, antisemetic and homophobic, besides ratting out Communist and fellow travellers. Beside each name, he also noted that they were Jews, homosexuals and in the case of Black activists like Paul Robeson, he labelled him "anti-white". You know who uses the term "anti-white" nowadays, the far-right white nationalists/supremacists, and they love Orwell.

        • ComradeRat [he/him, they/them]
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          4 years ago

          setting aside the issue of Stalinism, Orwell sold out a lot of comrades to the government. Orwell bad

            • ComradeRat [he/him, they/them]
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              4 years ago

              Fuck if I know. It's a damn long list, and I don't really care if they supported Stalin. You don't send the police names. Here's the list if you wanna look through it https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orwell%27s_list

              • gammison [none/use name]
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                4 years ago

                He gave those names while in a sanitarium for late stage tuberculosis. Don't forget that either. He was pretty out of it by the time the people looking for the list showed up.

              • notthenameiwant [he/him]
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                4 years ago

                Steinbeck and Chaplin are the only two I recognize. Kind of shitty on his part.