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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

#601

Post by dragonwriter »

delegate wrote: post #450
Mikeb85 wrote: post #281

Kind of ironic given Bush and Obama were the ones to expand the surveillance state, Hillary demonised the shit out of Russia to try create an enemy/scapegoat, and here Trump is, only a few days in power, not having done anything particularly bad. Also, I should add - for Democrats out there who keep trying to compare Trump to Hitler, say he's fascist, etc... That weak rhetoric is what gave you guys your worst electio…

I also find it funny that people compare him to Hitler. As if Hitler was the only and the baddest of them all. There were also: Stalin, Mao Zedong, Mussolini, Pol Pot, Francisco Franco, Pinochet, Ceausescu... Just in the 20th century there were hundreds of what we call 'dictators'. So it's a relatively common phenomenon. Some of the common traits that they shared: they got shit done, they were egomaniacs, extravagant…

> I also find it funny that people compare him to Hitler.

I've seen him compared to Kim Jong-Un, Mussolini, Putin, the Roman Emporer Caligula, King Louis XVI of France, Emporer Maximilian I of Mexico, and to the leadership of the Communist Party of China generally, as well, among others. Your post seems to be premised on the idea that Trump has been compare exclusively to Hitler, and not or other authoritarians, which is not the case.

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

#602

Post by [deleted] »

EleventhSun wrote: post #589
toor2 wrote: post #437

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you please elaborate on this? A major tenant of third wave feminism is intersectionallity, which is pretty much exactly the opposite of what your just said.

Definitely. First off some context for this rant: a lot of people don't realize it but we are a lot closer to a post-scarcity world than the world would have you think. Check out this chart which shows GDP per capita since the 1950's. The productivity gains since the 1950's have been absolutely incredible, and the quality of life back then was pretty good. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/A939RX0Q048SBEA So, have y…

[deleted]

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

#603

Post by RangerScience »

mason240 wrote: post #527
RangerScience wrote: post #361

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm down-voting you, here's why: This is a headline and an article about "alternative facts", relating them to a book about comprehensive "alternative fact" propaganda. Not about any of things that you listed. You didn't add any meaningful information to the discussion, but have added divisive and heavily argued opinions, in a way that only furthers their divisiveness. This is not a comment on your opinions. This is…

I'm down-voting you, here's why: Context is a thing, and you even make use of it in your comment. You have set up a false scenario where (according to you) we are only allowed discuss what is explicit in headline, yet "alternative facts" isn't even in the headline. If you seriously believe that comment sections should not discuss the context around its subject, you are wasting your time here because there is an entir…

I think I see where you're coming from...?

First - I'm straight up not talking about only the headline.

Strawman'ing is a real thing, and Mikeb85's comment is doing it. The article has six sentences, and then a bunch of Orwell links.

Only one of those sentences is about anything other than Orwell, and that sentence is a link to an article about Orwell, and how "alternative facts" sounds a lot like Newspeak.

At no point is either the original article, or its sole political link, making any kind of comment of argument on any of the things in Mikeb85's comment.

Context is great! Establish some, and then present your points, arguments, and comments.

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

#606

Post by sctb »

davexunit wrote: post #533
ElectronCharge wrote: post #481

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is very simply a spelling that reflects my opinion of 0bama. I normally spell it as "0" but I wasn't sure if it would be clear in context. The net effect of his presidency will surely be near zero. While I don't agree with everything on the Trump agenda, much of it is long overdue. Of most relevance to HN, I expect the economy to boom!

You are a fascist.

Please don't post like this, no matter what you're responding to. Flagging (by clicking on the linked timestamp of the comment in question, then clicking the 'flag' link) is the thing to do.

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

#607

Post by eli_gottlieb »

legodt wrote: post #78
mattnewton wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's wrong with a hat you can knit at home? It's an effective symbol.

I and a lot of other progressives take issue with it because it is trans-exclusionary and continues the long tradition of mainstream feminist demonstrations or expressions being explicitly for a white, cisgendered audience. I think OP was being mysoginistic and wasn't thinking this, but there is criticism on the left of the symbol as well. That said, now is not the time to start infighting with people just starting t…

>I and a lot of other progressives take issue with it because it is trans-exclusionary and continues the long tradition of mainstream feminist demonstrations or expressions being explicitly for a white, cisgendered audience.

How is a public gesture, worn in front of everyone, supposed to target... actually, whom? The most intersectional possible audience? In fact, why should we rate the progressiveness of the message on which audience it seems to most precisely target, rather than assuming the audience (as ever, for politics) is everyone?

Instead of complaining that gestures aren't precise enough, we can acknowledge that this one gets its damn point across and talk about the policy question. Rape: for or against? Assault: for or against?

Personally, I'm against on both.

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

#608

Post by RangerScience »

zigzigzag wrote: post #416
RangerScience wrote: post #361

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm down-voting you, here's why: This is a headline and an article about "alternative facts", relating them to a book about comprehensive "alternative fact" propaganda. Not about any of things that you listed. You didn't add any meaningful information to the discussion, but have added divisive and heavily argued opinions, in a way that only furthers their divisiveness. This is not a comment on your opinions. This is…

This is a perfect example of why downvoting shouldn't exist. None of the things you think you saw in the OPs comment are there. He is expressing an opinion that is widely held, here is a good essay on the habit of anti-Trump people of crying wolf: http://slatestarcodex.com/2016/11/16/you-are-still-crying-wolf/ Trump's spat over crowd sizes is stupid, but reflects someone terminally thin-skinned rather than a cunning…

I really like your comments here, but some of them leave me confused / unable to respond.

What do you think I saw in the OP's comment?

> doesn't actually rebut anything about what the OP said

I mean, I wasn't trying to. I said that explicitly.

> but does try to lower the visibility of his views > does attack an entire class of speech on the grounds of "divisiveness" and "destructiveness" (unitary thinking).

I mean, yes? But it sounds like you're confusing divisiveness with disagreement. I wouldn't quite say that Mikeb85's comment is trolling, but it's getting close enough, and yeah, I'll attack that category of speech on those grounds.

Your entire post is an excellent example of disagreement without divisiveness, and is constructive to the HN community.

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

#609

Post by eli_gottlieb »

legodt wrote: post #130
nyolfen wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i'm an outsider to all of this, but i've seen this come up repeatedly on my twitter feed and it seems like a lot of contention for what must be cumulatively (trans, non-binary) less than one percent of women(?)

Their smaller numbers does not render their concerns or oppression invalid

Their smaller number does mean they can expect mass propaganda to target mass audiences, and that they have to speak up for their own interests to be heard. I don't go around complaining that every single non-Jewish progressive or leftist demonstration has somehow failed to include Jews simply because I don't see a Magen David on most signs about racism.

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

#610

Post by eli_gottlieb »

dsfyu404ed wrote: post #157
rconti wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Finally, the march here in Boston seems to have proved Donald Trump correct regarding the incompetence of U.S. local, state, and federal government. Despite soaking up 40-50 percent of GDP, the government couldn’t adapt to the forecast demand for transportation today by, e.g., adding extra trains. Even a stopped clock....

You, I and every other person who's ever lived in MA know that the MA gov't is beyond dysfunctional. Expecting them to lean on the MBTA or any other entity to get shit done when necessary is like asking for a utopia.

>You, I and every other person who's ever lived in MA know that the MA gov't is beyond dysfunctional.

Well, except that the MBTA keeps running, laws are enforced, we have decent public schools, and we don't all have lead poisoning -- a few things we've got over, say, Michigan.

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