'1984 is often reduced to its base components, the catchphrases and slogans of the fictional government in Orwell's dystopian allegory for Soviet totalitarianism. The takeaway is often: Oppression bad, liberty good.'
'But Orwell's book is much more sophisticated. Orwell was interested not just in communicating the badness of totalitarian regimes, but also dissecting how they succeed through the manipulation of language.
'He was really most concerned with language and how language was used in a propaganda type of way or as a means of control," Yetur says.
"Orwellian" is not just applicable to the fascists and communists of Orwell's era, though. 1984 is relevant to our current political moment.'
Orwell is relevant to this political moment, but not how the mass- thinknics conflate Orwell with big brother. Trumpism comes to mind for me and for David Ulin, associate professor of English at the University of Southern California and former book editor of the LA Times.
Shades of 1984 ... '2 minutes of hate'. Sound familiar. Is this how the Proud Boys were whipped up?
I think one of his most seminal works was Down and Out in Paris and London, I would start there. And people should remember that ORWELL WAS A SOCIALIST .
@ptrtwtr
https://medium.com/@dleybz/orwell-was-a-socialist-e444d34f3fbe
"An appearance of solidarity .... Would Trump invite any of the 'White house Revolutionaries' to his home in Florida, would Trump move into a trailer park in Arkansas. That is metaphorically what Orwell did in Down and Out in Paris and London. @ptrtwtr
Please, I beseech you to start reading Orwell here to really understand him and before using the term "Orwellian" in a casual manner, lancing anything that goes against your political grain:
@ptrtwtr
Then move on to Homage to Catalonia ... 'Published in 1938, this personal account of Orwell's experiences fighting in the Spanish Civil War is essential to understanding every work that followed.' You ARE probably using Orwellian wrongly. And Orwell is spinning in his grave.
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