[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Why should anyone read 1984? (Page 1 of 3)
Posted: 9/19/2019 6:37:26 PM EDT
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I have read it. My 14 year old son is reading it.
I told my friend everyone should read it, and he asked why. Obviously, no one would want to live in the world 1984 describes. And, obviously, no one wants to live under a totalitarian regime. I still think everyone should read it, but have difficulty articulating why. |
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Because a lot of it is becoming reality.
Newspeak is real. Illegal alien became undocumented immigrants. Memory holes are real. If Google doesn't want something out there they change the algorithms. Because making people afraid to speak out is real. Those who don't tow the party line are racist, homophobic, etc. Because we are being spied on daily. Not by big screens but by our cell phones and a myriad of cameras. |
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I have read it. My 14 year old son is reading it. I told my friend everyone should read it, and he asked why. Obviously, no one would want to live in the world 1984 describes. And, obviously, no one wants to live under a totalitarian regime. I still think everyone should read it, but have difficulty articulating why. Because people DO want to live under such a regime. They just lie to themselves when they consider if their preferred government system will become one. Note the novel is based in the UK. It was what Orwell feared for his own country. No one there wanted the 1984 regime. Be he saw that their desires could get them there. Orwell was a socialist who had his eyes opened, he saw what happened in Russia, the disconnect between the high ideals and the reality. If you read it and think “who would want to live there”, you’re misunderstanding it. It’s a warning of what might be. With hints of how they got there. It’s meant to warn of societal tendencies that lead to tyranny, not tell you tyranny sucks. |
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Quoted: Because people DO want to live under such a regime. They just lie to themselves when they consider if their preferred government system will become one. Note the novel is based in the UK. It was what Orwell feared for his own country. No one there wanted the 1984 regime. Be he saw that their desires could get them there. Orwell was a socialist who had his eyes opened, he saw what happened in Russia, the disconnect between the high ideals and the reality. If you read it and think “who would want to live there”, you’re misunderstanding it. It’s a warning of what might be. With hints of how they got there. It’s meant to warn of societal tendencies that lead to tyranny, not tell you tyranny sucks. You said it better than I. |
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Quoted: I don't think I misunderstood it. I agree. You said it better than I. |
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1984 Brave New World Animal Farm The Camp of the Saints  The East German Surveillance society We're living a mash up of crazy ideas, comments, NewSpeak and GroupThink, "see something, say something", and either begging governments for regulations or asking permission in the absence of regulations and laws. |
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Newspeak
Memory hole 5 minutes hate We've always been at war with Eastasia The chocolate ration was increased I love Big Brother We are experiencing all of this right now. Red Flag laws are essentially the Ministry of Love beating you down for not complying Illegal aliens and the permanent welfare class are the Proles |
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It's an object lesson, and one our elites seem to use as guidebook sometimes. I tend to think Atlas Shrugged is more realistic for the US and a far better read. It's still a bit boring, mostly due to sheer length, but I thought it was a far more enjoyable read than 1984. |
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It's an object lesson, and one our elites seem to use as guidebook sometimes. I tend to think Atlas Shrugged is more realistic for the US and a far better read. It's still a bit boring, mostly due to sheer length, but I thought it was a far more enjoyable read than 1984. |
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Sheer length. One dimensional characters. Wooden plot. Long, long, long speeches. I think Rand got some things right, but she also has obsessions that take over the plot, and makes her heroic characters into unsympathetic demons. And her bizarre obsession with voluntary charity being evil is just weird. But she knew Commies and the New Deal state forwards and backwards. Quoted:
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It's an object lesson, and one our elites seem to use as guidebook sometimes. I tend to think Atlas Shrugged is more realistic for the US and a far better read. It's still a bit boring, mostly due to sheer length, but I thought it was a far more enjoyable read than 1984. It's idealistic, same as 1984 (though a bit more hopeful), but I still enjoyed it. |
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maybe i'm weird then, because I liked most of the speeches. I loved Rearden, liked Dagny a bit less, but thought Galt was pretty boring. The side characters tended to be interesting. The plot was solid and kept me wanting to know where it would go. It's idealistic, same as 1984 (though a bit more hopeful), but I still enjoyed it.  I enjoyed some of it, but...the speeches. And I couldn’t forgive Galt being, effectively, a talking cardboard cutout. But it still sells well for a reason.
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People like what they like. I enjoyed some of it, but...the speeches. And I couldn't forgive Galt being, effectively, a talking cardboard cutout. But it still sells well for a reason.Quoted:
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maybe i'm weird then, because I liked most of the speeches. I loved Rearden, liked Dagny a bit less, but thought Galt was pretty boring. The side characters tended to be interesting. The plot was solid and kept me wanting to know where it would go. It's idealistic, same as 1984 (though a bit more hopeful), but I still enjoyed it. I enjoyed some of it, but...the speeches. And I couldn't forgive Galt being, effectively, a talking cardboard cutout. But it still sells well for a reason.Francisco d'Anconia was way better. His "Money" speech is a personal favorite, and is a piece of wisdom that should be taught in every school. |
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They made a movie. Available for free on Amazon Prime. Quoted:
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I attempted to one summer years ago, but it's just too boring of a read for me. The movie was released in 1984 to commemorate the book. But you really won't get the same experience. The book is much spookier and more depressing. Don't forget V for Vendetta. |
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Because a lot of it is becoming reality. Newspeak is real. Illegal alien became undocumented immigrants. Memory holes are real. If Google doesn't want something out there they change the algorithms. Because making people afraid to speak out is real. Those who don't tow the party line are racist, homophobic, etc. Because we are being spied on daily. Not by big screens but by our cell phones and a myriad of cameras. |
| It’s really secretly a liberal book. If you notice they use a lot of it to describe things when in fact it’s really what they want but use to appease society from a slow, subtle takeover. They make it appear as if conservatives are the enemy. They make it sound like if you’re against an ideal that you are the enemy. They make unpopular ideas seem popular by propaganda by way of mass media and making it seem like everyone agrees with it. |
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I have read it. My 14 year old son is reading it. I told my friend everyone should read it, and he asked why. Obviously, no one would want to live in the world 1984 describes. And, obviously, no one wants to live under a totalitarian regime. I still think everyone should read it, but have difficulty articulating why. |
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Obviously, no one would want to live in the world 1984 describes. 
Have you not been paying attention? England in "1984" is the Left's fucking dream world. Just remember, they never see themselves as the proles, or even Winston Smith. They always imagine that they're going to be O'Brien. |
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It’s really secretly a liberal book. If you notice they use a lot of it to describe things when in fact it’s really what they want but use to appease society from a slow, subtle takeover. They make it appear as if conservatives are the enemy. They make it sound like if you’re against an ideal that you are the enemy. They make unpopular ideas seem popular by propaganda by way of mass media and making it seem like everyone agrees with it. As if it was their playbook. But it is not the book that is liberal |