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

    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.

    • The_word_of_dog [he/him]
      ·
      4 years ago

      I'd have to reread it to see if that nuance exists in it, so I'll take your word for it lol

      • Liberalism [he/him,they/them]
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        edit-2
        4 years ago

        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.