Orwell's great mistake was a kind of intellectual vanity. He thought that at the heart of totalitarianism, there would always be an O'Brien—a fanatical true believer who can nonetheless explain everything to dissidents. The idea of fools all the way to the top was too frightening
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Also I want to read 1984 as told by Julia: promising Resistance up-and-comer gets derailed by a dead-end relationship with failed journalist whose gloomy self-pity compromises their operational security
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Anyway everyone should read 'We', a 1921 dystopian sci-fi Russian novel that invented this genre (and that Orwell cribbed from). It's an early attack on the kind of techno-utopianism that bedevils us today, and it's quite beautifully written. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ABQ0LJS/ref=dp-kindle-redirect …
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Replying to @Pinboard
If $0.99 is too much, Wikipedia links to the PDF here:https://mises.org/books/we_zamiatin.pdf …
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Replying to @gmeissner @Pinboard
Also: internet archive in a variety of formats https://archive.org/details/Wes-sweggy …
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Replying to @Pinboard @gmeissner
Thanks for the tip! I'm now several chapters in -- Mirra Ginsburg's translation is beautiful and poetic. It is clear.
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Some of that is Zamyatin!
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