"The worst kind dystopia story is one that's easy to believe"
George Orwell’s 1984 is currently the top selling book on Amazon
401–410 of 648 posts
Re: George Orwell’s 1984 is currently the top selling book on Amazon
#402Earlier quoted context omitted.
See I don't even know why people care. Everyone latched on that phrase and keep belaboring it. Wonder how many hours were spent totally talking about how many people at the inauguration. Why not talk about other stuff, cabinet picks, TPP, aid cancellation, Federal hiring freeze except such and such, etc. This is like the media equivalent of bike shedding. Other stuff is complicated so they latched on to that phrase..…
People care because the White House was seen to be lying in one of the first statements made to the press. If, instead, they'd just said n-thousand people attended, and made some comment about bad weather, the attention would have moved on to the next thing a lot sooner.
Well when wasn't the White House lying :-). I guess I've come to expect very little from govt officials. It still seems like bike shedding to me
Re: George Orwell’s 1984 is currently the top selling book on Amazon
#403Earlier quoted context omitted.
> in fact Orwell was probably inspired by the Stasi You know when 1984 was written?
Yes; a couple of years after the Stasi was created, though it was called Kommissariat 5 back then, before the GDR was officially established and could have official agencies.
So, you are claiming that he looked into the future to see what happens with the Stasi?
But even if you want to get technical: He started writing in 1946 and the final manuscript was presented in 1948. The "Volkskommissariat" may have been around, but you really can not compare their activity to the Stasi. If you were talking about them, then your quote makes no sense at all.
Re: George Orwell’s 1984 is currently the top selling book on Amazon
#404I 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…
Now is a good time as any.
If only now you become worried about politicians lying, boy do I have bad news for you.
Re: George Orwell’s 1984 is currently the top selling book on Amazon
#405Earlier quoted context omitted.
Identity politics hides issues like this more than anything. A poor black person in a ghetto and a poor white one in a trailer park should be the same voting block but they've been polarized by both sides trying to lock down their demographics.
Are you saying poor black and white people are too naive to vote for themselves? Should they vote the way we tell them to? Is principled politics a luxury of the privileged? I'm not a fan of this meme.
I'm saying the political system is far to tribalistic. We all fall for tribalism but it seems to have become way to set in lately.
Re: George Orwell’s 1984 is currently the top selling book on Amazon
#406Earlier quoted context omitted.
"and better access to technology for even the poorest folk" I hear this one a lot, I don't think it matters or is relevant. I've spent time in third world countries I met people sleeping, working and eating in rubish dumps, and they're not even considered the poorest! I didn't see them running around with technology, nor do I see how that would change there situation much.
> I hear this one a lot, do you have a source to prove this? What kinds of source would be most convincing for such a broad question such as this? How about the fact that as many people have escaped extreme poverty since 1990 as there are human beings alive in Europe [1]? Average global purchasing power more than doubling [2]? Or maybe global agricultural output growing more than twice as fast as the world population…
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Re: George Orwell’s 1984 is currently the top selling book on Amazon
#407I think 1984 painted a scary, but important fictional picture of what life behind the iron curtain was like, several similar books attempted to deal with the issues of 20th century life in similar fashion, but I think it should be recognized that much of this is no longer as applicable to the discussion we should be having -- the post modern situation has become way more subtle in its presence, despite the loud and brash way it's presented.
An interesting book I read recently about a relatable topic is home the book Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible by Peter Pomerantsev, about early 2000s Russia and the oil boom years, the role of the media, young money, memetic content created by the media and the way all of that affects population, it's scary and some of it kind of can be seen reflecting back on today's western society as well.
I just wish (and was secretly hoping for) that media and oppositional politics recognized the role they played in this fiasco and tried to change their behaviour up to try and change it. I seem to be wrong, sadly.
We're jumping from one nice sounding headline to the next one (like this one!) and we're ignoring much of the actual discussion we should be having, because this is more convenient. It kind of hurts to a large majority being aware of the issues and then just pressing on, choosing to ignore it, because it's more convenient to share a dumb meme about numbers, complain about alternative facts or to watch SNL.
I wouldn't say that this is the end of the leading role of western civilisation in the world (I am not smart enough to make such statements), but it really seems to me that we are opening up our weaknesses to foreign powers that will try hard to exploit them and it's a pretty damaging process.
/rant
Re: George Orwell’s 1984 is currently the top selling book on Amazon
#408Earlier quoted context omitted.
A few good governments too. Wilson, usually rated in the top 10 presidents, ran with "America First" and "He Kept Us Out" for his re-election. We joined the war only a month after his re-inauguration. In hindsight, that was likely for the best but it seems a misrepresentation.
> In hindsight, that was likely for the best but it seems a misrepresentation. Was it? American involvement created a decisive winner in what would have been a stalemate. Imagine if Versailles hadn't been so one sided?
WW1 was a stalemate, it was only really ended by strike action and mutiny within Germany. Hence dolchstosslegende.
Re: George Orwell’s 1984 is currently the top selling book on Amazon
#409Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 i…
The cynical among us have been saying that nothing presented by the White house (and any other government institutions) can be trusted at face value for years. I guess now is the time where everyone becomes a cynic. But is that such a bad thing? They say access journalism is dead, but access journalism is just repeating stuff said by people with power. Making them accountable is a good thing. Trump may have unintenti…
> But is that such a bad thing?
Re: George Orwell’s 1984 is currently the top selling book on Amazon
#410Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are you saying poor black and white people are too naive to vote for themselves? Should they vote the way we tell them to? Is principled politics a luxury of the privileged? I'm not a fan of this meme.
I'm saying the political system is far to tribalistic. We all fall for tribalism but it seems to have become way to set in lately.
I'll agree with that. We discuss membership in groups, not ideas. It's signalling and dog whistles all the way down.