Being fired for your opinions is "Orwellian" in the sense that it has been the status quo for the working class under capitalism for hundreds of years, and Orwell did not in fact like capitalism
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Replying to @arthur_affect @trans_victory and
(This is what I mean about one of the critical flaws in 1984 - it's set up so the dead past, the world we live in now in real life, is totally inaccessible to Smith, he knows almost nothing about it He imagines it as some kind of paradise and the narrative just lets him do so)
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Replying to @arthur_affect @trans_victory and
It's part of this sort of arch joke that the Party uses "capitalists" as a strawman to beat up on, saying that their defeat of capitalism justifies everything they do, but no one even remembers what a capitalist is - they just have this image of a rich guy wearing a top hat
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Replying to @arthur_affect @trans_victory and
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
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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!
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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
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That's what I mean by trying to remember but he can't, he remembers bad things that happened to him and his family personally but was too young to know anything about what was going on in the world
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Replying to @arthur_affect @alongdongsilver and
I mean, you are, in fact, wrong His mother and sister *disappear* but there is no indication they "got disappeared" (that they were arrested by the Party) It just says he ran away and came back and they were gone It's this hazy, dreamlike thing, we're never told why
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