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George Orwell’s 1940 Review of Mein Kampf

gutenberg.net.au

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Re: George Orwell’s 1940 Review of Mein Kampf

#221

Post by asah »

taf2 wrote: post #213
photochemsyn wrote: post #189

> "Whereas Socialism, and even capitalism in a more grudging way, have said to people ‘I offer you a good time,’ Hitler has said to them ‘I offer you struggle, danger and death,’ and as a result a whole nation flings itself at his feet. Perhaps later on they will get sick of it and change their minds, as at the end of the last war." I think there's been a profound change in popular thinking on this since the end of W…

It’s possible that MAD is wearing off as more conventional war emerges because no one believes the other side will dare use them… so it’s almost as if they are not there or a threat.

Dunno, sure seems like Russia would've been attacked by now if it weren't for MAD...

Re: George Orwell’s 1940 Review of Mein Kampf

#222

Post by everybodyknows »

Barrera wrote: post #63

> But Hitler could not have succeeded against his many rivals if it had not been for the attraction of his own personality, which one can feel even in the clumsy writing of Mein Kampf, and which is no doubt overwhelming when one hears his speeches … The fact is that there is something deeply appealing about him. A commenter here (and one on the original article) has noted that the part being elided appears to be the…

A historical survey of political personality cults, from Martin Luther to Mao, is The True Believer by Eric Hoffer, the "longshoreman philosopher":

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=eric+hoffer+the+true+believer&t=ip...

Re: George Orwell’s 1940 Review of Mein Kampf

#223

Post by etempleton »

sbf501 wrote: post #214
tomkat0789 wrote: post #30

I think he highlights some fundamentally toxic aspects of human nature with this bit: “The Socialist who finds his children playing with soldiers is usually upset, but he is never able to think of a substitute for the tin soldiers; tin pacifists somehow won’t do.” The engineer in me wishes we could substitute the soldiers with construction workers or something, but I can’t deny enjoying war games growing up. These da…

Isn't Orwell kinda trolling here, or is he unaware of his fallacious statement? Not all kids of WW2 generation played with tin soldiers, like 50% of kids, namely: girls. This oversight is a bit of a bias in his false-dichotomy: there are only soldiers or pacificts as toys/role-models.

Play fighting is observable in many adolescent mammals. It is perhaps, in a way, vestigial for humans, but not really because conflicts do still arise often enough.

As you get older you become increasingly aware of the horrors of war and fighting and it losses much of the naive appeal it had when you were young.

Re: George Orwell’s 1940 Review of Mein Kampf

#224

Post by scifibestfi »

rr808 wrote: post #68

Does anyone know why Hitler hated Stalin and communism so much? The article alludes to how Russia was always the main target, and he was friends with industrialists, but I've never seen a good reason why.

Dictators hate other dictators. There can only be 1 winner and Stalin was his main competitor.

Re: George Orwell’s 1940 Review of Mein Kampf

#225

Post by 8jef »

sillysaurusx wrote: post #112
zozbot234 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kids just don't know any better. I would imagine that those who actually spent some of their childhood in a war zone would have a very different perspective. What's toxic is when grownups end up glorifying war or thinking of it as a solution to hard problems.

Eh, war is simply fun. It’s appealing to males in particular, and our testosterone tends to lock in the intoxication. There’s a reason that Battlefield is one of the most successful gaming franchises of all time, and that it’s very hard to find any videogame that doesn’t involve some kind of warfare. (There are dozens of wonderful counter examples: Minecraft, celeste, undertale, sim city, stardew valley. But for ever…

> There are dozens of wonderful counter examples: Minecraft ...

Younger boy of mine spent years fighting and smashing and destroying other avatars /players in Minecraft, not so interested in _building_ anything. One's experience may vary.

Re: George Orwell’s 1940 Review of Mein Kampf

#226

Post by refurb »

kruuuder wrote: post #142
refurb wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretty much this. Humans are not peaceful by nature. And when one group of humans want something another group of humans don’t want them to have, violence is the ultimate option to solving that conflict. Thankfully many countries see the cost of solving conflict through violence and seek to avoid it, but it’s always there.

> Humans are not peaceful by nature I also believed this until recently when I finished reading "Humankind: A Hopeful History" by Rutger Bregman. What an amazing book ... Bregman analyzes why we commonly believe that humans are not peaceful and that this assumption turns into a self-fulfilling prophecy. But there is surprisingly little evidence that being aggressive or violent is in our nature, pretty much the opposi…

I mean peaceful societies only exist because of the threat of violence to anyone who attacks them.

Re: George Orwell’s 1940 Review of Mein Kampf

#229

Post by Fnoord »

notRobot wrote: post #216
rossdavidh wrote: post #186

So, there's a lot to be said about Hitler and fascism and propaganda and all the other fascinating topics Orwell brings up here, but I'd just like to point out how routinely excellent Orwell's analysis is. Of course I mostly see the best bits brought out and dusted off, no doubt he did mediocre stuff as well, but it is worth noticing how often it turns out that Orwell, nearly a century on, still has plenty in his wri…

Any recommendations for other writings and analyses by Orwell?

Other than what? This? 1984 and Animal Farm?

I saw the (?) cartoon Animal Farm on elementary school.

Re: George Orwell’s 1940 Review of Mein Kampf

#230

Post by photochemsyn »

taf2 wrote: post #213
photochemsyn wrote: post #189

> "Whereas Socialism, and even capitalism in a more grudging way, have said to people ‘I offer you a good time,’ Hitler has said to them ‘I offer you struggle, danger and death,’ and as a result a whole nation flings itself at his feet. Perhaps later on they will get sick of it and change their minds, as at the end of the last war." I think there's been a profound change in popular thinking on this since the end of W…

It’s possible that MAD is wearing off as more conventional war emerges because no one believes the other side will dare use them… so it’s almost as if they are not there or a threat.

I suppose that's true, and humans have regrettably short memories it seems. However, Ukraine has 15 nuclear power plants IIRC, and WWII-era 'total war' strategies would have included their immediate destruction to cripple Ukraine's power grid. This was the strategy the USA and allies followed in the Gulf War against non-nuclear Iraq:

> "More than 90 percent of Iraq’s electrical capacity was bombed out of service in the first hours... This comprised the country’s 11 major electrical power stations and 119 substations. Existing generating capacity of 9,000 MW in December 1990 was reduced to only 340 MW by March 1991."

https://aldeilis.net/english/physical-destruction-iraqs-infr...

Bombing functioning nuclear power plants would create a radioactive disaster and Russia wasn't willing to do that. By that metric, MAD is still in effect to some extent. It's also keeping Russia from attacking NATO bases, and NATO from attacking Russian bases, at least for now.

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