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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

#561

Post by dajohnson89 »

Arizhel wrote: post #544
wallace_f wrote: post #348

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the world today still is a better world it was say 20 or 30 years ago Are you sure? Can you tell me why you think this? Domestic crime has increased. We're bombing seven countries. Civil rights have been diminished. Human rights have been diminished. The last administration went to far greater lengths to go after whistle blowers and journalists than any in history. Income inequality is at all time highs. More than…

20 years ago in the US was an anomaly. Remember "The Matrix" when Agent Smith said that 1999 was our society's peak? He was right, the movie makers just didn't realize how right they were at the time. Many things have indeed gone downhill since then, thanks to Bush. For the stuff about war, what you're forgetting is all the stuff that came before: Vietnam, Korea, WWII, various other police actions, Beirut, etc. The 6…

Ever heard of a country called Rwanda?

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

#562

Post by bbctol »

nathan_long wrote: post #560
bbctol wrote: post #529

Orwell's work beside 1984 is better (in the sense of more complex/relevant to our time, not as entertaining.) In particular, his writing on the Spanish Civil War has seemed relevant today: "I know it is the fashion to say that most of recorded history is lies anyway. I am willing to believe that history is for the most part inaccurate and biased, but what is peculiar to our own age is the abandonment of the idea that…

> I say the idea of the destruction of truth was more important than the methods anyway I agree. I'm appalled that Trump feels free to lie about something as falsifiable as the weather ( https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/22/us/politics/president-tru... ). And it does make me worry about totalitarianism. But in American culture, the use of "alternative facts" is hardly an invention of the government. Postmodernism made…

To what are you referring when you say "postmodernism"? Which postmodernists have you read?

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

#563

Post by mattnewton »

rokosbasilisk wrote: post #493
mrbrowning wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

And we are arguing that it's not relevant. Men are treated differently in our society, dicks have a different connotation, etc. This is a great example of how simple metaphors strip important nuance.

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

#564

Post by eli_gottlieb »

jakeogh wrote: post #303
twright0 wrote: post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll also point out that Trump lost the popular vote by almost 3 million votes (2%), which makes it really stretch the imagination to even call it a "near-landslide".

Sure, except popular vote does not matter, nor should it. If it did, CA and NY's echo boxes would run the US, and there would be no US in short order. Don't forged why the Unites States exists; taxation without representation. He could have lost FL _or_ OH and still won.

We all know that the Electoral College and these complaints about California and New York are disingenuous. They're devices to make sure the South controls the country.

So, did Trump win by a lot when you take out California and New York? Yes. He also lost by a lot when you take out the South. Population is the only fair metric for weighting regions against each other. The South is not entitled to control everyone else's lives, especially since they're the damned region that demanded extra Representatives for their slaves.

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

#565

Post by eli_gottlieb »

baddox wrote: post #480
jakeogh wrote: post #303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, except popular vote does not matter, nor should it. If it did, CA and NY's echo boxes would run the US, and there would be no US in short order. Don't forged why the Unites States exists; taxation without representation. He could have lost FL _or_ OH and still won.

Popular vote doesn't matter for who becomes president, but neither does the presence or lack of a "landslide." But both can certainly be relevant when analyzing an election. Also, the "CA and NY would run the US" is an extremely weak argument. It's logically equivalent to saying that Texas and Oklahoma are currently running the US, since their electoral votes are sufficient to swap the winner from Trump to Clinton.

>Also, the "CA and NY would run the US" is an extremely weak argument. It's logically equivalent to saying that Texas and Oklahoma are currently running the US, since their electoral votes are sufficient to swap the winner from Trump to Clinton.

Actually, I don't think it's equivalent, since basically no Congressional majority or Presidency has been won without the South for the past 50 or so years. You can actually estimate which party will be dominant in an American party system by looking at who consistently holds the South, irrespective of how other regions vote.

So California and the Northeast can consistently vote one way, and it basically just doesn't matter if the South happens to disagree.

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

#566

Post by bb611 »

humanrebar wrote: post #379
martinpw wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> When ontop of oscillations, they are never obvious from the vantage point of a single wiggle. I am reminded of the Martin Luther King quote: "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice."

That was probably a theological opinion, for what it's worth. People forget MLK was a pastor.

I disagree, he was paraphrasing early 19th century abolitionist Theodore Parker: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Parker

Another theologian for sure, but pretty squarely in the context of black rights in the US.

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

#567

Post by MrZongle2 »

rokosbasilisk wrote: post #493
mrbrowning wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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

And there would be cries about vulgarity and "what about the children?!" along with it.

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

#568

Post by antisthenes »

mattnewton wrote: post #563
rokosbasilisk wrote: post #493

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

And we are arguing that it's not relevant. Men are treated differently in our society, dicks have a different connotation, etc. This is a great example of how simple metaphors strip important nuance.

Yes, applying double standards when it suits your narrative, and arguing for equality when it doesn't is another example of why liberals lost.

Apparently the fly-over country is at least smart enough to notice the blatant hypocrisy, so props to them for that.

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

#569

Post by vectorpush »

leereeves wrote: post #427
XparXnoiAx wrote: post #347

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do a search for "Obama Antichrist" and you'll see plenty of examples. "Obama devil" gets some hits, too.

Worth a try. Obama antichrist - 445 thousand results Obama anti-christ - 2 million Trump Hitler - 32 million

Try

Trump antichrist - 447k

Trump anti-christ - 1.7mil

Obama Hitler - 27mil

I think the takeaway is that stringing a couple terms together in google gives us little in the way of political insight.

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

#570

Post by jakeogh »

eli_gottlieb wrote: post #564
jakeogh wrote: post #303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, except popular vote does not matter, nor should it. If it did, CA and NY's echo boxes would run the US, and there would be no US in short order. Don't forged why the Unites States exists; taxation without representation. He could have lost FL _or_ OH and still won.

We all know that the Electoral College and these complaints about California and New York are disingenuous. They're devices to make sure the South controls the country. So, did Trump win by a lot when you take out California and New York? Yes. He also lost by a lot when you take out the South. Population is the only fair metric for weighting regions against each other. The South is not entitled to control everyone el…

Funny that you think CA and NY are so entitled. I don't have a map handy, are MI and PA in the south too now?
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