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George Orwell’s 1984 is currently the top selling book on Amazon

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Re: George Orwell’s 1984 is currently the top selling book on Amazon

#231

Post by martinpw »

noobermin wrote: post #50

While I love 1984, I think Fahrenheit 451 has become more true than Orwell's novel. People have willingly given into an information bonanza that is the internet, with headphones always in (seashells). We don't need the TV walls, as our cellphone has taken that role, altogether with the hyperactive delivery of such content. A collectivist state has not become the dominating power, but wealthy individuals and corporati…

> When ontop of oscillations, they are never obvious from the vantage point of a single wiggle.

I am reminded of the Martin Luther King quote: "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice."

Re: George Orwell’s 1984 is currently the top selling book on Amazon

#232

Post by Grue3 »

Who gives a shit? Literally anyone can make a #1 Amazon bestselling book.

http://evergreenprofits.com/becoming-an-amazon-1-best-seller...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/8358538/Wh...

http://okdork.com/2014/02/17/hit-1-amazons-bestseller-list/

And so on.

Re: George Orwell’s 1984 is currently the top selling book on Amazon

#233

Post by interfixus »

skylan_q wrote: post #45
juskrey wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

50 years ago: "We, women, are not sexual devices!" 2017: Putting on pink clit caps. I bet 1984 customers is way another set of people.

I don't get why everyone assumes that you can only be a female if you have a vagina

Possibly to do with an appreciation of biology.

Re: George Orwell’s 1984 is currently the top selling book on Amazon

#234

Post by kibwen »

dpweb wrote: post #47

Its right to question which direction the country is headed, but i have to wonder what damage is being done to the nation's psyche with all the apocolyptic imagery. What's it like to feel in constant crisis. It makes people scared all the time and drives divisiveness. Its as dangerous as anything the prez may have planned.

> What's it like to feel in constant crisis.

Look no further than the forty-year period of constant crisis that was the Cold War.

Re: George Orwell’s 1984 is currently the top selling book on Amazon

#236

Post by int_19h »

edblarney wrote: post #202
beloch wrote: post #17

I must admit, I'm really confused by how impeachment works in the U.S.. Clinton was impeached for perjury and abuse of power because he took advantage of his position (and a political intern) and then lied about it. Now we have a president who is not giving up his business interests while in office and who has already told some absolute whoppers, including the release of official press releases that were nothing but…

"This is probably a good time for people to be reading 1984." This is ridiculous. The hate for Trump has caused people to go into utterly misguided tizzies, and it's pathetic. I loathe Trump - but he's not a totalitarian. He has given no indication of encroaching on civil liberties, there's no indication he wants to socialize large parts of the economy, or expand control by government, or even expand surveillance pro…

> He has given no indication of encroaching on civil liberties

You mean, except for that part where he mentioned that he wants to strengthen the [non-existent] libel laws, so that "press can't get away with lies about me"?

Or his early remarks on Muslims? Surveillance etc?

> A 'mild' social conservative totalitarian might roll back laws on gay marriage, abortion etc. - but Trump hasn't mentioned it at all.

Now we're firmly in the "alternative facts" territory. Watch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dngW-FKKuo Or when he said that Japanese interment camps were a tough choice, but "that's how you win wars"?

Re: George Orwell’s 1984 is currently the top selling book on Amazon

#237

Post by Gupie »

rabboRubble wrote: post #173
knz wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We've probably all seen the emoluments clause raised as one way he may be breaking the law. I'm not a legal expert but I would assume, if it's true, that breaking the Constitution would be illegal? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Title_of_Nobility_Clause "The Title of Nobility Clause is a provision in Article I, Section 9, Clause 8 of the United States Constitution, that ... restricts members of the government from r…

I did a spot of research on the emoluments clause and found three instances where specific events were evaluated for breaching this clause: 1 - Theodore Roosevelt. Nobel Peace Prize. He accept both the cash award and the medal. 2 - Barack Obama. Nobel Peace Prize. He accepted only the medal. ... and most interestingly ... 3 - Ronald Reagan. Receipt of pension payments from the state of California as a former Governor…

The Norwegian Nobel Committee is not a "foreign state".

Re: George Orwell’s 1984 is currently the top selling book on Amazon

#238

Post by toyg »

TheGRS wrote: post #217
pavanred wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really wish people and the media stop over emphasizing about every gaffe and focus on real news stories. For instance, the "alternative facts" comment/incident is being talked about everywhere, from TV news channels to news parody shows to talk shows to social media etc. But, at the same time it seems like there is so much more important news that one would think deserves more attention like the executive orders, w…

This is what people have been noticing during and since the election, you can't pin down Trump on anything because he is a controversy machine. He says something ridiculous and the media gives it attention and even begins to get some momentum on the story, but a week later, sometimes even days later, he does or says something that's even more ridiculous and now most people are concentrating on that new thing. Its har…

Berlusconi used to do the same. They know the media cycle and play it to their advantage. It's a sort of "fire and motion" strategy where you keep enemies talking about the previous position while you're already gaining a new one. Anyone can play it, but your "suppressing fire" must be strong enough to distract effectively; that sort of bombastic bravado doesn't come naturally to "reality-based" personalities on the left who are constantly walking a tight rope between very different positions in their base.

Re: George Orwell’s 1984 is currently the top selling book on Amazon

#239

Post by icebraining »

zamalek wrote: post #184
noobermin wrote: post #50

While I love 1984, I think Fahrenheit 451 has become more true than Orwell's novel. People have willingly given into an information bonanza that is the internet, with headphones always in (seashells). We don't need the TV walls, as our cellphone has taken that role, altogether with the hyperactive delivery of such content. A collectivist state has not become the dominating power, but wealthy individuals and corporati…

Indeed. In addition to your points, Orwell has to do with both an overreaching left (thought crime) and right (surveillance state). The government even associates itself with socialism. That being said, it's not a stretch to imagine that it takes two successive and opposed politicians to set up and orwellian state. Trump would set up the surveillance state (as he threatens to do), and some future authoritative Democr…

Orwell has to do with both an overreaching left (thought crime) and right (surveillance state).

No, the surveillance state is certainly not a right-wing-specific thing, and in fact Orwell was probably inspired by the Stasi and other Soviet secret police agencies. Just to give you an idea:

  By 1995, some 174,000 inoffizielle Mitarbeiter
  (IMs) Stasi informants had been identified,
  almost 2.5% of East Germany's population between
  the ages of 18 and 60. 10,000 IMs were under 18
  years of age.
The last line is significant, since the book talks on children denouncing their own parents, who live afraid of them.

Re: George Orwell’s 1984 is currently the top selling book on Amazon

#240

Post by kbenson »

pavanred wrote: post #200
beloch wrote: post #17

I must admit, I'm really confused by how impeachment works in the U.S.. Clinton was impeached for perjury and abuse of power because he took advantage of his position (and a political intern) and then lied about it. Now we have a president who is not giving up his business interests while in office and who has already told some absolute whoppers, including the release of official press releases that were nothing but…

I really wish people and the media stop over emphasizing about every gaffe and focus on real news stories. For instance, the "alternative facts" comment/incident is being talked about everywhere, from TV news channels to news parody shows to talk shows to social media etc. But, at the same time it seems like there is so much more important news that one would think deserves more attention like the executive orders, w…

In one respect, the gaffe is insignificant to current events. In another, it's vastly more important, because while small it erodes the underpinnings of the system by which we actually disseminate information.

It's like having to choose between being upset about the person that mugged you for $500 on the street, or the bank that surreptitiously added 0.05% APR or the loan you just got for your house. One feels more important in the moment, but the other has much farther reaching implications, not just to your pocketbook, but as to whether you can trust anything about that institution going forward.

If this is the beginning of a new trend for the Whitehouse where nothing presented can be trusted, and it continues through future presidencies, I can definitely tell you which I think will be more important in 20 years.

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