Hot take: George Orwell is just Winston Smith IRL. England became a total shithole after the 1940s, Orwell was a propagandist who'd choked on his own anti-Red pills, and he ended up describing the quasi-dictatorial chudified surveillance state that Thatcher's London would eventually become.
Somewhere in the bowels of hell, he is currently having his face eaten by rats over and over again.
It's been so long, and I really don't give a shit about the guy, but iirc he actually identified himself as a "english socialist" to differentiate himself from all the other forms which he considered uncivilized.
So I think ingsoc is basically him getting mad at a made-up situation wherein the Stalinists/Nazis (one in the same in Orwell's completely incoherent mind) come into England and co-opt his weird conservative form of socialism.
Ok Orwell had his share of brain worms but let's not misconstrue him, the point of 1984 wasn't "USSR = Nazis = bad," it was a warning against what he saw as the possibillity of popular energy being chanelled in support of state power, ultimately for the self-interest of a ruling class.
Yeah that's fair. I read it a while back and thought it was a decent book, but it doesn't really say anything particularly profound, I just liked it for being imaginative and presenting an interesting dystopia.
People criticize it for being "hyperbolic" but that's the entire point, he's describing state power taken to its logical extreme, using techniques for coercion that already existed in the world at the time. It's a warning about how any political consciousness among the lower classes could be completely and permanently subdued, and there's something there even if it's not some sort of extremely important political theory like the comment in the screenshot seems to think.
It is divorced but not on purpose, Ingsoc means English Socialism in 1984's simplified speech. It's meant to be socialism, Orwell's whole deal is basically his personal beef with stalin because he's a dumb bougie trotskyist snitch who had a bad experience fighting in spain.
It's not even about nazis or "totalitarianism", it's purely just about stalin with almost no attempt at changing the story to be about something broader or more profound. I recommend aasimov's review of 1984, it's a great funny read.
It's explicitly meant to be socialist in name only, just like how the Nazis appropriated socialist language. The society in 1984 is not socialist and it's not intended to be taken that way.
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hows come pigs? whys come pigs though? explain pigs.
Hot take: George Orwell is just Winston Smith IRL. England became a total shithole after the 1940s, Orwell was a propagandist who'd choked on his own anti-Red pills, and he ended up describing the quasi-dictatorial chudified surveillance state that Thatcher's London would eventually become.
Somewhere in the bowels of hell, he is currently having his face eaten by rats over and over again.
Ingsoc isn't ML though, it's completely divorced from any sort of socialism
I could see something like it developing under capitalism as an attempt to co-opt a leftist movement though
It seems much more related to the Nazis than the USSR, honestly. They called themselves socialists because it was popular not out of anything genuine.
It's been so long, and I really don't give a shit about the guy, but iirc he actually identified himself as a "english socialist" to differentiate himself from all the other forms which he considered uncivilized.
So I think ingsoc is basically him getting mad at a made-up situation wherein the Stalinists/Nazis (one in the same in Orwell's completely incoherent mind) come into England and co-opt his weird conservative form of socialism.
Ok Orwell had his share of brain worms but let's not misconstrue him, the point of 1984 wasn't "USSR = Nazis = bad," it was a warning against what he saw as the possibillity of popular energy being chanelled in support of state power, ultimately for the self-interest of a ruling class.
I'd have to reread it to see if that nuance exists in it, so I'll take your word for it lol
Yeah that's fair. I read it a while back and thought it was a decent book, but it doesn't really say anything particularly profound, I just liked it for being imaginative and presenting an interesting dystopia.
People criticize it for being "hyperbolic" but that's the entire point, he's describing state power taken to its logical extreme, using techniques for coercion that already existed in the world at the time. It's a warning about how any political consciousness among the lower classes could be completely and permanently subdued, and there's something there even if it's not some sort of extremely important political theory like the comment in the screenshot seems to think.
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It is divorced but not on purpose, Ingsoc means English Socialism in 1984's simplified speech. It's meant to be socialism, Orwell's whole deal is basically his personal beef with stalin because he's a dumb bougie trotskyist snitch who had a bad experience fighting in spain. It's not even about nazis or "totalitarianism", it's purely just about stalin with almost no attempt at changing the story to be about something broader or more profound. I recommend aasimov's review of 1984, it's a great funny read.
It's explicitly meant to be socialist in name only, just like how the Nazis appropriated socialist language. The society in 1984 is not socialist and it's not intended to be taken that way.
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