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An illustrated guide to post-Orwellian censorship (2021)

thereader.mitpress.mit.edu

21–30 of 66 posts

Re: An illustrated guide to post-Orwellian censorship (2021)

#21
>Horrified by Stalin’s Soviet Union and Hitler’s Germany, Orwell spun a tale that continues to color how we picture state censorship in controlled societies.

...no. It was inspired by his observations during the Spanish Civil War:

“Early in life I have noticed that no event is ever correctly reported in a newspaper, but in Spain, for the first time, I saw newspaper reports which did not bear any relation to the facts, not even the relationship which is implied in an ordinary lie. I saw great battles reported where there had been no fighting, and complete silence where hundreds of men had been killed. I saw troops who had fought bravely denounced as cowards and traitors, and others who had never seen a shot fired hailed as heroes of imaginary victories; and I saw newspapers in London retailing these lies and eager intellectuals building emotional superstructures over events that never happened. I saw, in fact, history being written not in terms of what happened but of what ought to have happened according to various “party lines.”

― George Orwell, Homage to Catalonia, 1938

A year before World War II even started.

Re: An illustrated guide to post-Orwellian censorship (2021)

#23

This article is a bit narrow in scope, e.g. > "Horrified by Stalin’s Soviet Union and Hitler’s Germany, Orwell spun a tale that continues to color how we picture state censorship in controlled societies." Orwell was equally 'horrified' by the British Empire's imperialist practices, which he documented in then-Burma. See "Shooting an Elephant" for example: George Orwell: "I had already made up my mind that imperialism…

I don’t get it. I see Palestinian advocacy all over the place.

they are after the filter. you were even not able to tag gaza in instagram.

Re: An illustrated guide to post-Orwellian censorship (2021)

#24

This article is a bit narrow in scope, e.g. > "Horrified by Stalin’s Soviet Union and Hitler’s Germany, Orwell spun a tale that continues to color how we picture state censorship in controlled societies." Orwell was equally 'horrified' by the British Empire's imperialist practices, which he documented in then-Burma. See "Shooting an Elephant" for example: George Orwell: "I had already made up my mind that imperialism…

That's a very irresponsible and dangerous comparison to make.

Re: An illustrated guide to post-Orwellian censorship (2021)

#25

Meanwhile, this censored post: How strange they focus on Russia or China, rather than the censorship and propaganda being done by the US, given they are a US university. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39121693 HN is ridiculous sometimes.

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Re: An illustrated guide to post-Orwellian censorship (2021)

#27

With regards to the section on Flooding: > We characterize the contemporary Russian model for propaganda as “the firehose of falsehood” because of two of its distinctive features: high numbers of channels and messages and a shameless willingness to disseminate partial truths or outright fictions. In the words of one observer, “[N]ew Russian propaganda entertains, confuses and overwhelms the audience.”[2] > Contempora…

> a shameless willingness to disseminate partial truths or outright fictions

I remember an informative presentation about Russian history and culture which seems to go along with this, in particular the bit about "two words for the truth and three for the lie".

https://youtu.be/kF9KretXqJw?t=2257 (time-stamped at the relevant portion but the whole talk is good)

Re: An illustrated guide to post-Orwellian censorship (2021)

#28
post #25

Meanwhile, this censored post: How strange they focus on Russia or China, rather than the censorship and propaganda being done by the US, given they are a US university. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39121693 HN is ridiculous sometimes.

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Re: An illustrated guide to post-Orwellian censorship (2021)

#29

With regards to the section on Flooding: > We characterize the contemporary Russian model for propaganda as “the firehose of falsehood” because of two of its distinctive features: high numbers of channels and messages and a shameless willingness to disseminate partial truths or outright fictions. In the words of one observer, “[N]ew Russian propaganda entertains, confuses and overwhelms the audience.”[2] > Contempora…

> a shameless willingness to disseminate partial truths or outright fictions I remember an informative presentation about Russian history and culture which seems to go along with this, in particular the bit about "two words for the truth and three for the lie". https://youtu.be/kF9KretXqJw?t=2257 (time-stamped at the relevant portion but the whole talk is good)

Well I don't know about Finns but in Western Europe Russians are often considered to be a bit too direct or even blunt. Kinda contradicts the "lying culture" hypothesis.

EDIT. I watched the video a bit more and I could not take it seriously after seeing the part about "technological backwardness" that apparently always was there. That's just charged propaganda and there is nothing to discuss.

Re: An illustrated guide to post-Orwellian censorship (2021)

#30
I did not read the article. I skimmed over the Chinese section. I am not Chinese nor do I ever intend to live in China. I skimmed over the Russian and Turkish sections for similiar reasons. I was expecting there to be a section about censorship in western countries: US, UK, Germany ...etc. Disappointing.
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