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Before he was George Orwell, he was Eric Blair, police officer

nytimes.com

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Re: Before he was George Orwell, he was Eric Blair, police officer

#31

Post by geye1234 »

arminiusreturns wrote: post #29

Some of my favorite quotes of his: “[A] world in which it is wrong to murder an individual civilian and right to drop a thousand tons of high explosive on a residential area does sometimes make me wonder whether this earth of ours is not a loony bin made use of by some other planet.” George Orwell (31 December 1943) “Take away freedom of speech, and the creative faculties dry up.” “Every war when it comes, or before…

"All propaganda is a lie, even when it is telling the truth"

"War against a foreign country only happens when the moneyed classes think they are going to profit from it."

"It is the same in all wars; the soldiers do the fighting, the journalists do the shouting, and no true patriot ever gets near a front-line trench, except on the briefest of propaganda-tours."

"It is sometimes a comfort to me to think that the aeroplane is changing the conditions of warfare. In the next great war, we may see that sight unprecedented in all history, a jingo with a bullet-hole in him."

"Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play. It is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of all rules and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence: in other words it is war minus the shooting."

"To see what is in front of one's nose needs a constant struggle."

I strongly recommend the four-volume Penguin edition of his collected journalism and essays.

Re: Before he was George Orwell, he was Eric Blair, police officer

#32

Post by zer00eyz »

arminiusreturns wrote: post #29

Some of my favorite quotes of his: “[A] world in which it is wrong to murder an individual civilian and right to drop a thousand tons of high explosive on a residential area does sometimes make me wonder whether this earth of ours is not a loony bin made use of by some other planet.” George Orwell (31 December 1943) “Take away freedom of speech, and the creative faculties dry up.” “Every war when it comes, or before…

“[A] world in which it is wrong to murder an individual civilian and right to drop a thousand tons of high explosive on a residential area does sometimes make me wonder whether this earth of ours is not a loony bin made use of by some other planet.” George Orwell (31 December 1943)

This holds NO candle the the candor of Robert McNamara talking about fire bombing Japan in WWII. If you have never seen "fog of war" the documentary interview of him go and see it. The context of "McNamara's Morons" and forest Gump is lost on so many...

Re: Before he was George Orwell, he was Eric Blair, police officer

#33

Post by zogrodea »

Readers who appreciate Orwell's work will also likely appreciate Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler.

The latter's novel inspired Orwell on how to highlight dystopian ideas, and convinced Orwell that fiction is the medium best suited for this. It's a good read (and so is his research-oriented book "The Sleepwalkers" giving a history of physics/cosmology up to modern science - modern in Koestler's time).

Re: Before he was George Orwell, he was Eric Blair, police officer

#35

Post by nonrandomstring »

Just put it out there, If you love Orwell then Christopher Hitchens on Orwell is like the whole pudding, coffee and after-dinner mints. He's my fave Orwell scholar and throws a lot of light on the life, thoughts and implications of the writer.

Re: Before he was George Orwell, he was Eric Blair, police officer

#36

Post by nonrandomstring »

zogrodea wrote: post #33

Readers who appreciate Orwell's work will also likely appreciate Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler. The latter's novel inspired Orwell on how to highlight dystopian ideas, and convinced Orwell that fiction is the medium best suited for this. It's a good read (and so is his research-oriented book "The Sleepwalkers" giving a history of physics/cosmology up to modern science - modern in Koestler's time).

Nice. Will check out Koestler. On this idea that fiction is the most powerful medium for approaching ideas around the authoritarian/dystopian mind-set, I some time ago discovered the corollary that literature like Shelley, Forster, Wells.. is the perfect entry point into cybersecurity for non-technical people. Most of the subtleties of hacks, scams, power grabs, manipulations, come alive through literary idioms.

Re: Before he was George Orwell, he was Eric Blair, police officer

#37

Post by dgfitz »

Etheryte wrote: post #27
pinkmuffinere wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This comment reads like a Mitch Hedberg joke

It used to read like a Mitch Hedberg joke. It still does, but it used to, too.

Joke temporarily still funny, sorry for the convenience.

RIP

Re: Before he was George Orwell, he was Eric Blair, police officer

#38

Post by lcnPylGDnU4H9OF »

mistermann wrote: post #17
xkcd-sucks wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i.e., fascism is a necessary precondition of anti-fascism

It is not necessary for beliefs or stories about it though!

I believe the observation is that a counterculture is preceded by a culture to be countered. OP is drawing observations that this is a counterculture which is rising in popularity. As such, they claim that one or more current prevalent cultures must be those of which Orwell has written in opposition.

At least, that’s my interpretation.

Re: Before he was George Orwell, he was Eric Blair, police officer

#39

Post by jacobolus »

cryptoz wrote: post #18
carlosjobim wrote: post #15

Just finished his "Down and out in Paris and London"[1] about life in extreme poverty as an unemployed man, as a low-wage worker and as a tramp in the 1930s. A good read and a short book. [1] https://annas-archive.org/md5/6486c7cb2f83f4a97cc02728ff77c2... (Public domain)

I've read this 3-4 times and can't state enough that it's my favorite Orwell book (haven't read them all, but you know).

In my opinion it's much better than any of Orwell's fiction.

Re: Before he was George Orwell, he was Eric Blair, police officer

#40

Post by norir »

nonrandomstring wrote: post #35

Just put it out there, If you love Orwell then Christopher Hitchens on Orwell is like the whole pudding, coffee and after-dinner mints. He's my fave Orwell scholar and throws a lot of light on the life, thoughts and implications of the writer.

Hitchens had an arrogant and chauvinistic side that spoils his writing for me.
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