European Politics

[____no5]

Oceania has always been at war with Eurasia. Since the beginning of your life, since the beginning of the Party, since the beginning of history, the war has continued without a break, always the same war.

Yeah probably. I had to google it, haven’t read 1984 yet.

 

[Jer]

I had to google it, haven’t read 1984 yet.

You should definitely put it on your reading list.

 

[GhostofCain]

You should definitely put it on your reading list.

Orwell is a must.

 

[Onhell]

Orwell is a must.

So is Huxley. While Orwell wrote of totalitarian dystopias, Huxley's Brave New World is the "free" world's handbook. Life sucks? By a big truck! A bigger TV! Do you guys remember what Bush said after 9/11? Go shopping.

 

[GhostofCain]

So is Huxley. While Orwell wrote of totalitarian dystopias, Huxley's Brave New World is the "free" world's handbook. Life sucks? By a big truck! A bigger TV! Do you guys remember what Bush said after 9/11? Go shopping.

Agreed.

Funnily enough, I live quite close to the places mentioned in Brave New World.

 

[Azas]

Also there's Yevgeny Zamyatin's We, which predates both aforementioned novels. It influenced both of them. I have read all three novels. My rating: 1) 1984 2) We 3) BNW

About 'We'

 

[Onhell]

Also there's Yevgeny Zamyatin's We, which predates both aforementioned novels. It influenced both of them. I have read all three novels. My rating: 1) 1984 2) We 3) BNW

About 'We'

Nice, thanks for the recommendation!

 

[Diesel 11]

1984 is great but Animal Farm is even better.

 

[Jer]

1984 is great but Animal Farm is even better.

Eh, I read both back to back recently, and while they’re both great I still think 1984 is superior.

 

[LooseCannon]

It's funny, I vastly prefer Animal Farm, if only because I think while Orwell was trying to write about Communism, he really described a lot of populist movements.

 

[____no5]

This was what kept me off Orwell all these years. I would prefer it more neutral with less references to then systems, say what those ideas would be if written by Kafka.

 

[Perun]

Orwell could only use the observations he made about his time to try and describe where he thought things could be headed.

 

[Diesel 11]

It's funny, I vastly prefer Animal Farm, if only because I think while Orwell was trying to write about Communism, he really described a lot of populist movements.

What is never mentioned when talking about Animal Farm is that it isn’t an anti-communist book, it’s an anti-authoritarian book. Orwell was a socialist who hated Stalin. That’s why Snowball (Trotsky) and Old Major (Marx) are portrayed in a good light and Napoleon (Stalin) is the villain.

 

[____no5]

Also there's Yevgeny Zamyatin's We, which predates both aforementioned novels.

Impressive personality. Also he was a naval architect

 

[Onhell]

Just saw this short (too short) vid on the Reunification of Germany. I thought it was a nice intro into the issue and also one that is a not so microcosm of what happened to Europe, especially the East, as a whole, not just Germany. I remember watching a doc on John Paul II who fought to bring about the end of Communism, but later derided his fellow Poles for buying into Capitalism a tad too much. I remember thinking, "Well, watcha expect?" Anywho, worth a watch: