If you haven't read 1984 yet...

[madmusic]

You can:

http://www.online-literature.com/orwell/1984/1/

[mom cat]

1. Thanks. I need to reread it!

[madmusic]

3. Me too.

I forgot how well he wrote.

[allisonthegreat]

17. I need to reread 1984

It's been years....

[MnFats]

2. you'll find it in the non-fiction section...

...it's happening right now, isn't it?

[madmusic]

5. Yes, it has been for years.

But no one noticed it.

[H2O Man]

4. A great book.

Thank you for reminding us. It's never been more important to read than now.

[Jacobin]

6. I re-read part of it last spring. I had to stop

It was too painful

[razors edge]

7. mike malloy audio links

http://server4.whiterosesociety.org/content/malloy/1984/

don't know if white rose will finish these or not, I do hope so.

[madmusic]

11. Thanks! n/t

[WinstonSmith4740]

8. Started reading it in college...

back in the 60's. Actually put it down about 2/3 through, thinking "Well, this is an interesting take on, and condemnation of, the Soviet system. But this is America...it'll never happen here."

Picked it up again in 1984 during the reign of the great god Reagan, and it scared the hell out of me THEN. It's the damn blueprint for this administration.

BTW, hence my screen name.;-)

[garybeck]

9. one of the few films still not available on DVD.... why?

you'd think there would be a lot of interest in this film. still you can't get it on Netflix because it's only on VHS. Why are they holding back releasing this on DVD?

[madmusic]

16. It needs a good remake.

And a new release.

[cascadiance]

19. Probably for the same reason ABC won't re-release Amerika!

I just dubbed some VHS tapes I'd made of that miniseries broadcast. Even though Coors sponsored it, and many of its digs were against Soviet hegenomy instead of our own fascism, the parallels are pretty obvious in so many places of what is going on now. I'm sure that the drones at ABC/Disney are aware of this too.

I'm thinking of creating a bumper sticker:

I'm an AMERICAN,
NOT an AMERIKAN!

[LSK]

10. K&R #5

Welcome to greatest.

[madmusic]

14. Thanks. Orwell deserves it. n/t

[progressoid]

12. I re-read it last year. Scary.

[Gregorian]

13. Animal Farm

Animal Farm is also on that site.

I think it's even more valuable. It parallels this administration so closely it is frightening.

I thought Squeeler just might be Rove. I don't recall right now, but maybe I'm getting the character mixed up with another.

[madmusic]

15. Strange, I never read all of it.

Tried in high-school and didn't really get it. Will have to give it another shot.

Thanks for the reminder.

[brazil]

22. Squealer is Rush Limbaugh

They even look alike.

[CantGetFooledAgain]

18. 1984 tells us a lot about torture

Its intention is not to get information. It is to entirely break the spirit of those who would resist.

Scary stuff.

[tex-wyo-dem]

20. Just a little taste...chilling to say the least....

"And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed—if all records told the same tale—then the lie passed into history and became truth. 'Who controls the past' ran the Party slogan, 'controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.'"

"Day by day and almost minute by minute the past was brought up to date. In this way every prediction made by the Party could be shown by documentary evidence to have been correct; nor was any item of news, or any expression of opinion, which conflicted with the needs of the moment, ever allowed to remain on record. All history was a palimpsest, scraped clean and reinscribed exactly as often as was necessary."

[brazil]

21. What Orwell didn't realize...

...is that strict control over the records of the past isn't necessary. The Ministry of Truth managed to convince people that its propaganda was more "real" than their own memories were. Orwell spent a lot of time dealing with the editing of the past - but it doesn't even matter if contradictory records are available.

For instance, anyone can go onto Google and pull up quotes like:

"The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our number one priority and we will not rest until we find him."
- G.W. Bush, 9/13/01

and

"I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority."
- G.W. Bush, 3/13/02

If you present these quotes to a Republican, they'll get uncomfortable and come up with a twisted rationalization for this flip-flopping. It's unlikely that you'll get any other response.

Part of the reason is that anyone who still supports Bush at this point has a great deal invested in him (mentally, that is). Changing your opinion requires admitting that you've been wrong (or bamboozled) for the last six years. It's not just hard to admit you're wrong... it can trigger a complete mental breakdown, depending on how much identification you have with a particular belief. So as a self-defense mechanism, the brain either rejects the conflicting data or constructs a rationalization that fits the preconceived belief.

Of course, everyone has a breaking point for how much contradictory information they can hold in their head.

Much easier to just watch Fox News then, and avoid mental anguish...

***

"If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts." - Albert Einstein