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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

#491

Post by empath75 »

beloch wrote: post #17

I 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…

I think we're past impeachment, and need to get people on the streets. The women's march was a good start, but it needs to be followed up every weekend.

What we really need is a general strike. We have to shut down the economy to force him out.

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

#492

Post by empath75 »

dllthomas wrote: post #24
beloch wrote: post #17

I 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…

> I'm really confused by how impeachment works in the U.S. Impeachment requires a crime. Lying isn't usually a crime, and as best I can tell hasn't been one any of the times Trump has done it (.. yet?). It also hasn't been a crime any of the times Obama has done it. Failure to give up business interests is breaking precedent and confounding ethicists, but also doesn't seem to be illegal. When we come up with somethin…

It doesn't, in any practical sense. It requires an extremely unpopular president, and a congress who dislikes him enough to vote him out.

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

#493

Post by rokosbasilisk »

mrbrowning wrote: post #195
flukus wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not a totally different thing, it's the same thing with male genitalia instead of female. We don't know if the context would be totally different or not.

It's not a totally different thing, it's the same thing with me driving on the left side of the road instead of the right. We don't know if this would cause horrific, fiery tangles of flesh and steel or not.

This is reasoning is a great example why democrats have lost the working class.

We all know if men marched with dicks on ther heads in washington they would be laughed and imo rightfully so.

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

#494

Post by tim333 »

ElectronCharge wrote: post #295

The most amazing thing to me is that the 0bama administration was very good at Orwellian manipulation, yet it was rarely remarked upon. I mean, the guy got a Nobel Peace Prize, then proceeded with eight years of undeclared war on many different countries. "Droning" became a verb...

I don't think you can call getting the Nobel manipulation by the Obama administration. They didn't arrange that I believe.

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

#495

Post by 081231931 »

akiselev wrote: post #183
knieveltech wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel that if you honestly believe the world is unambiguously better now than it was 20-30 years ago this reflects either your youth or privilege more so than any objective truth. I'll just leave this here: http://thebulletin.org/timeline

If you honestly don't believe the world is unambiguously better now than it was 20-30 years ago, you've been living under a continental plate the entire time. The world has gotten better in almost every way including the rapid fall in poverty rates, more reliable sources of food and medicine, and better access to technology for even the poorest folk. All the problems that seem so overwhelming now like the threat of n…

Sorry this is blatant nonsense. Anything but stupid "smart" phones existed 20 years ago.

The important things (housing, health care, ...) have gotten more expensive.

Pensions are increasingly insecure.

Surveillance is at a far higher level than 20 years ago.

The ultra-right might get close to 40% in some European countries.

Western Europe was definitely a nicer place to live around 2000 than it is now.

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

#496

Post by toyg »

joeguilmette wrote: post #356
toyg wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Berlusconi used to do the same. They know the media cycle and play it to their advantage. It's a sort of "fire and motion" strategy where you keep enemies talking about the previous position while you're already gaining a new one. Anyone can play it, but your "suppressing fire" must be strong enough to distract effectively; that sort of bombastic bravado doesn't come naturally to "reality-based" personalities on the…

The similarities between Trump and Berlusconi are terrifying - and Berlusconi was in power for what, 10 years? Trump has tapped in to something and I fear it's going to work quite well.

More like 20 years, but Italy does not have the hard culture of "8 years and GTFO" that is so ingrained in the US. There are no term limits for Prime Ministers, election losers are not required to step down from party-leadership roles, and even the unofficial limits for President (which is mostly a ceremonial role) reelections, have recently been broken.

It is one of the great achievements of US democracy, although one has to question how much meaningful change can realistically be achieved in a massive country with little more than 7 years available (because re-election campaigns and lame-duck status in practice will consume a full year). For all the drama that they generate and the feeling of electoral power, strict term limits are a very conservative measure. On the other hand, you're guaranteed Trump will be gone by January 2025 at worst.

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

#497

Post by hyperdunc »

toor2 wrote: post #437
EleventhSun wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Third wave feminism has absolutely nothing do to with equality, it's all about getting people to attack the people to the side rather than look above.

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.

Intersectionality is intellectually lazy and divisive. It separates people into broad groups and then makes assumptions about the identities of people purported to be in those groups, rather than treating people as individuals.

Third wave feminists are also being divisive when they label and villify those who challenge their dogma.

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

#498

Post by hyperdunc »

banku_brougham wrote: post #4

This is amazing. The womens marches over the weekend and these seem to be an indicator of a very sudden awakening.

Did you not hear the hyperbole coming from the celebrity cheerleaders at those marches? Ashley Judd sounded like a loon, going on about Hitler and ECT.

Not to mention the whole idea of the march is based on identity politics.

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

#499

Post by hyperdunc »

faceyspacey wrote: post #370

I can't help but perceive this as being a result of people thinking Trump is somehow kickstarting our Orwellian future/present, when he's probably the highest profile person to point out how government before him has been working on this plan of ultimate control for a very long time. The biggest examples being: 1) that he pointed out there were no weapons of mass destruction and--false flag or not--our government use…

The irony is that spending all that money on education, infrastructure, science and technology would have been a much better way to project strength by setting an example to follow.

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

#500

Post by wtf_is_up »

TheSpiceIsLife wrote: post #313
zamalek wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed. In addition to your points, Orwell has to do with both an overreaching left (thought crime) and right (surveillance state). The government even associates itself with socialism. That being said, it's not a stretch to imagine that it takes two successive and opposed politicians to set up and orwellian state. Trump would set up the surveillance state (as he threatens to do), and some future authoritative Democr…

> Trump would set up the surveillance state I'm puzzled by this comment. The US surveillance state was set up prior to Trump. Is anyone still doubting the complete slurping of everything the TLAs (Three Letter Agencies) can get? It wouldn't matter who the President was right now, this thing will march on. Maybe it's convenient we get to lay some of the blame on DJ Trump. That's all.

Yeah, I don't see how anyone could argue that the surveillance state would be Trump's creation. We know that it has existed for a long time and it has only gotten stronger under Obama [1].

[1] https://theintercept.com/2017/01/13/obama-opens-nsas-vast-tr...

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