Because of this, actual capitalists manage to read this book and think of themselves as the good guys Orwell's critique about using capitalism as an excuse for abuse and oppression within left-wing movements turns into an actual defense of capitalism
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Replying to @arthur_affect @trans_victory and
This interpretation of the book is flat out wrong if you actually pay attention when you read the whole thing And yet it's incredibly common The *tone* of the book invites it, this sense that revolution has ruined what was a flourishing happy world
2 replies 4 retweets 48 likes -
Replying to @arthur_affect @trans_victory and
And that sucks, honestly One thing that I've noticed is people who love the word "Orwellian" talk about "creeping Orwellianism", they point to some stupid fake college campus scandal and go "These are the trends Orwell was warning us about"
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Replying to @arthur_affect @trans_victory and
But he wasn't! At least not in 1984! 1984 isn't about "creeping Orwellianism", it doesn't have "trends", it doesn't contain "early warning signs" The whole thing takes place AFTER they've already completely conquered society!
3 replies 4 retweets 52 likes -
Replying to @arthur_affect @trans_victory and
And that's actually one of the great weaknesses of 1984 It DOESN'T depict the transitional period, at all It's actually a major plot point that NO ONE CAN REMEMBER IT (except maybe O'Brien dropping tantalizing hints) Winston keeps trying to remember but he can't
4 replies 6 retweets 61 likes -
Replying to @arthur_affect @trans_victory and
And honestly I think that's because he couldn't show the transition because he wasn't sure what the story would be There's a lot of shit you'd have to figure out for how this exaggerated nightmare scenario might occur
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Replying to @arthur_affect @trans_victory and
It's easier not to explain it, let the Party appear all-powerful and eternal, make the story be about the fact that no one can actually know anything about the reality of the world I get that, but it remains a cop out
4 replies 3 retweets 39 likes -
Replying to @arthur_affect @trans_victory and
It means dickhead conservatives get to fill in their own version of the history, which they have done, to the point where "creeping Orwellianism" fanfiction giving an origin story to the Party is basically better known than the actual plot of the actual book
3 replies 2 retweets 47 likes -
Replying to @arthur_affect @trans_victory and
Right. The obvious thing to me when I read it as a teen was that “this society is incapable of producing more O’Briens. It is clearly fucked long term, but may last a few more decades.”
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Replying to @lawnerdbarak @arthur_affect and
I very much couldn't get my head around how the Inner Party was supposed to plan anything long term without someone, or a group of someones, being consciously "in charge"
1 reply 0 retweets 2 likes
Yeah like in actual reality Big Brother is clearly dead right
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Replying to @LizardOrman @arthur_affect and
Right, yeah - he's a composite figure, I think. It's like if people acted as though Uncle Sam was a real person.
2 replies 0 retweets 2 likes - Show replies
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