[ExI] hasta be a pony in here somewhere

spike spike66 at att.net
Sun Nov 20 14:16:20 UTC 2016


 

 

>… On Behalf Of Rafal Smigrodzki
Subject: Re: [ExI] hasta be a pony in here somewhere

 

 

 

On Sat, Nov 19, 2016 at 9:52 PM, spike <spike66 at att.net <mailto:spike66 at att.net> > wrote:

 

If any high school student can read Nineteen Eighty Four without being deeply moved, that person cannot be moved. 

 

### I must admit I nowadays avoid books like 1984, Fahrenheit 451 or Atlas Shrugged. Dystopia affects me. The words of Wesley Mouch cut too close to CNN copy (which I also avoid like the dickens)…

 

 

OK I get that.  I avoid dark as well, even Dickens.  Dickens had both dark elements and personal redemption, so his work might be an exception, but I get it if people still avoid his work like the Orwell.

 

That being said, Nineteen Eighty Four had so many profound elements in it, the work causes me to struggle to endure the darkness for its redeeming quality, in a way analogous to the recent movie Hacksaw Ridge, which I endured with much pain.  That was perhaps the best anti-war film ever made.  Oh but it is rough going, so hard to view.  I recommend it, and suggest that every person who is elected to high political office be required to view Hacksaw Ridge, and to read 1984.

 

Nineteen Eighty Four was told from the point of view of an Outer Circle, with all the characters coming from that POV.  They had the persistent ignorance of and disdain for the proles (apologies Will) the constant fear of the Inner circle, the classic warrior mentality.  The reason why I cite that Orwell work in particular is that information had become currency in that world.  The control of information became the new wealth creation.  Wealth and political power had merged.  If one could control information to the public, one had arbitrary power.  

 

It feels like what happened in the US in the past year is that those in power lost control of information, which resulted in the loss of control of power.  Forced transparency was the hammer hurled by the girl in the Apple Macintosh advertisement.

 

>###…Stay ornery my friends, don't let anybody pull the wool over your eyes… Rafal

 

Read Orwell like the Dickens.  

 

May information be forever free.

 

spike

 

 

 

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