Just two or three generations ago, most Americans understood that George Orwell’s classics Animal Farm and 1984 were written to explain how freedom is lost to totalitarianism and the intolerance that accompanies it. “Big Brother,” a term still casually used to describe an all-knowing governing authority, comes right out of 1984. In the state that Orwell describes, all subjects are continually reminded that “Big Brother is watching you,” by way of constant surveillance through the pervasive use of “telescreens” by the ruling class.
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WNU editor: For those who have never read George Orwell's 1984 or Animal Farm, go to the following link where you can download the e-book for free. (The link is here).
2 comments:
Good books and a good essay... Unfortunately it is written from a Pro-Right perspective and not, therefore, any more neutral than if it came from an author at Berkeley. Americans (and Canadians) need to understand that there are two competing forces pulling the country apart - not a single group of bad-guys. Those in the middle are being forced into competing camps against their will, often without them being aware of it, by all-of-the-above mentioned in the essay. It is the people who only see Red or only see Blue that are the problem.
The Founders had their differences but they were willing to find common ground for the sake of the Nation. No-one is willing anymore.
The Author is blaming the "Left" - and he, IMHO, is right to do so. But by not acknowledging the Dogma, both political and religious, of the "Right" he is propagating a false narrative of only a single "Bad-guy". It is NOT the Government's job to control society by dictating what constitutes moral behavior and moral thought - which is what "Big Brother" was all about. It's job is to guarantee that our Constitutional Rights are protected - that is all!
BOTH sides are more interested in forcing people to behave and think a certain way - to justify their own positions, I suspect - than they are in functional Government. It's not Facebook, or a biased media, or 24 hour news, or college campuses, or fiery sermons - those are the symptoms - It's blind, partisan politics that is the threat to Liberty.
One can find all sorts of people of all sorts of perspectives citing Orwell as support for their cause. His non literature writing is consistenly left of center.
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