Reread 1984 now that it doesn’t seem quite as bad with the doublespeak. Paid particular attention to the way we retain three classes bit. In 2021, we still have quite a bit of work to do on that.

Animal Farm/1984 (audio CD) by George Orwell.

This was a classic I had never read but heard so much about. I found myself engrossed from the start so highly entertaining. An ironic comparison of the animal world to that of humans. Should be added to everyone's library.

‘There are no replacements for George Orwell, just as there are no replacements for a Bernard Shaw or a Mark Twain…he pricked, provoked and badgered lazy minds, delighted those who enjoyed watching an original intelligence at work.’
Time

"Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely"

Animal Farm is a timeless classic that has captured the hearts and minds of readers around the world. The novel is a unique work of fiction that uses animals as characters to satirize the events leading up to the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the early years of the Soviet Union. The novel is not only entertaining but also thought-provoking, making it a must-read for anyone interested in politics, history, and society.

What sets Animal Farm apart from other novels is the use of animals as characters. By using animals to represent human beings, Orwell is able to comment on the nature of power, corruption, and revolution in a way that is both humorous and poignant. Additionally, the novel is accessible to readers of all ages and backgrounds, making it a true classic.

Orwell was inspired to write Animal Farm based on his experiences fighting in the Spanish Civil War and his disillusionment with the Soviet Union. Animal Farm is for those in power who will always seek to maintain that power, even at the expense of others.

The novel shows how the pigs, who were once the oppressed animals, quickly become the oppressors once they gain power. This is a timeless theme that is relevant to any society, past or present.

Even though Animal Farm was written over 78 years ago, it is still relevant today. The novel is a cautionary tale about the dangers of authoritarianism and the need for accountability in leadership. This message is particularly relevant in today's world, where we have seen the rise of authoritarian leaders and the erosion of democratic values in many countries.

Rana Dil Nawaz.
https://ocdil.blog

2020-09-22 (This review is of 1984 only, at least for now.)

"the three slogans of the Party stood out in bold capitals:
WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH."

This is the defining import of this book to me. The slogans were not only repeated many times in the book, but what they represented was carefully explained many times and ways. Orwell's masterpiece did a fantastic job of showing how corruption of the language (in "Newspeak" words were supposed to mean the exact opposite of what they originally and truly meant) was key to the horror of the total state and every citizen's being controlled by "the party" of "Big Brother."

I first read this book about 50 years ago, when I was in High School. It made a very big impression on me. I learned much about it and from it. Over the years I have been referred to it or myself referred to it literally hundreds of times. Fortunately, it is a classic and still well read. It has so much to offer. It is so prescient in so many ways.

But probably because there were major errors, confusions, an almost total pessimism and lack of any good understanding of what a free society is really based on, that too many people just did not quite get or lost sight of the good and important parts. Our society today is so overrun by the very things that Orwell so graphically warned us about, that I urge you in the strongest terms to read this book (or again, like me, if necessary).

Take the three slogans highlighted above. Orwell calls them part of the "Doublethink" he explains was the crucial strategy of the party/Big Brother to get people to eliminate any real critical thinking and be able to just parrot back anything the party wanted them to believe. The book goes into example after example. But let me suggest a few that are happening in our society today
(and for the last 150 years or so), to show you how important Orwell's concept is:

Progressive = those who believe in progress, right? Well, in fact, NO. It means the OPPOSITE to the people who claim that title. "Progressives" for the last 140+ years have believed in and acted on the idea that slavery = freedom, that more government control of our lives somehow equals more freedom. Their program is to slowly, piece by piece (or faster, if they come clean and admit to being Marxists, Bolsheviks, Khmer Rouge, Chavistas, Juche, etc. etc.) put government in control of our lives by taxing, regulating, regimenting - controlling us.

Liberal = those who believe in liberty, right? Well, in fact, for most of them, NO, except in a few select areas. People who have taken over this word in the US (not everywhere in the world, where it actually does still mean pro-liberty policies, to a bit greater extent), want less liberty and more government taxes, schools, controls, regulations, etc. Very similarly to how "progressive" was corrupted the same way - liberal really now means partial slave or at least anti-liberty, in most key areas. They just delude themselves when they think they are getting more liberty with their policies. They always conveniently forget that taxes are compulsory, regulations put you in jail if you don't follow them, that you have less of your freedom the more the government takes from you or tells you what to do.

Antifa = those who are Anti-Fascist, and actually fight fascists, right? Well, in fact NO. They are the ones who act most like the fascists of the 1930s and 40s - using violence to achieve their goals. Not caring about civilized behavior at all. Starting or expanding riots. Disrupting peaceful meetings, so audiences cannot hear speakers, but only the chants/shouting of the "protesters." Guess why I put that word in quotations? Bet you can. Does the term "mostly peaceful" ring a bell? Another lie and type of doublespeak of the mainstream media. Sure, most of the "protesters" may well be "peaceful," for a time. But when they allow and actually support (even if passively) the violent rioters, arsonists, looters, etc. they should be called accomplices, NOT protesters at that point.

So, I have tried to give you just a small taste of how super-relevant Orwell's classic is today. There are so many parts I could highlight to show this. But I trust you get it. Treat yourself - you will not regret it.

So I want to move on to just a little on 1984's deficits and where you can and should go AFTER reading or rereading 1984. First is a great biography of Orwell: "Orwell Your Orwell" by David Ramsay Steele. It is simply indispensable in explaining Orwell 's milieu and his thinking on this and all his other key writings, and life. Orwell's pessimism and pro-socialist confusions (in 1984 and elsewhere) as well as brilliant insights are explained in that book. Don't miss it.

But in addition to Steele's bio of Orwell, one really needs to read at least some key works of Ludwig Mises to understand not just where Orwell went wrong, but the positive case for a better world, a free, peaceful and abundant world and the system of human social cooperation that makes it possible - free markets, otherwise known as capitalism, if you have a clear understanding of that term. To start, I would pick his "Liberalism" (in the original/classical sense). And next I would go to his fairly long, but totally worth it, "Socialism" to eviscerate that scourge of the mind and of the real physical world.

Feel free to check out any of my Goodreads reviews of these books.

Addenda:
Perhaps listing some more gems of doublethink terms from 1984's Newspeak might be enticing:
Ministry of Truth - Where the main character Winston works changing the historical record to suit the current party/Big Brother needs. Gee, any connection here to what Youtube, Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc. are doing with dissenting opinion from the mainstream government orthodoxy these days?
Memory Hole - where the past evidence is put and taken to be burned - and sooooo close to what is happening today.
Ministry of Love - where the torture of citizens is performed - especially in "Room 101." Think Lubyanka Prison.
Ministry of Peace - war making part of the government

And how about a few passages I loved that seem so appropriate today:
"He was a fattish but active man of paralyzing stupidity, a mass of imbecile enthusiasms—one of those completely unquestioning, devoted drudges on whom, more even than on the Thought Police, the stability of the Party depended."

"so vicious was the boy’s demeanor, that it was not altogether a game.... He spun round just in time to see Mrs. Parsons dragging her son back into the doorway while the boy pocketed a catapult [slingshot]. “Goldstein!” bellowed the boy as the door closed on him. But what most struck Winston was the look of helpless fright on the woman’s grayish face....Another year, two years, and they would be watching her night and day for symptoms of unorthodoxy. Nearly all children nowadays were horrible. What was worst of all was that by means of such organizations as the Spies they were systematically turned into ungovernable little savages..." Any parallels with today's society?

"and yet this produced in them no tendency whatever to rebel against the discipline of the Party. On the contrary, they adored the Party and everything connected with it. The songs, the processions, the banners, the hiking, the drilling with dummy rifles, the yelling of slogans, the worship of Big Brother—it was all a sort of glorious game to them. All their ferocity was turned outwards, against the enemies of the State, against foreigners, traitors, saboteurs, thought-criminals. It was almost normal for people over thirty to be frightened of their own children. And with good reason, for hardly a week passed in which the Times did not carry a paragraph describing how some eavesdropping little sneak—“child hero” was the phrase generally used—had overheard some compromising remark and denounced his parents to the Thought Police."
Think: Hitler youth, Red Guards, young pioneers, communist youth, present day eco groups, SJW groups ...

"Even the slogans will change. How could you have a slogan like ‘freedom is slavery’ when the concept of freedom has been abolished?" Note: it is freedom that is abolished, not slavery!

"In fact there will be no thought, as we understand it now. Orthodoxy means not thinking—not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness.” Note: Anther key point (think PC speak for "orthodoxy") that is happening now too.

“There is a word in Newspeak,” said Syme. “I don’t know whether you know it: duckspeak, to quack like a duck. It is one of those interesting words that have two contradictory meanings. Applied to an opponent, it is abuse; applied to someone you agree with, it is praise.” Unquestionably Syme will be vaporized, Winston thought again. He thought it with a kind of sadness, although well knowing that Syme despised him and slightly disliked him, and was fully capable of denouncing him as a thought-criminal if he saw any reason for doing so. There was something subtly wrong with Syme. There was something that he lacked: discretion, aloofness, a sort of saving stupidity."

I could go on and on. this book has so much to give. But I bet you get the point.

"Animal Farm" tells the simple and tragic story of what happens when the oppressed farm animals rebel, drive out Mr. Jones, the farmer, and attempt to rule the farm themselves, on an equal basis. What the animals seem to have aimed at was a utopian sort of communism, where each would work according to his capacity, respecting the needs of others. The venture failed, and "Animal Farm" ended up being a dictatorship of pigs, who were the brightest, and most idle of the animals. Napoleon literally becomes their god .

Orwell's mastery lies in his presentation of the horrors of totalitarian regimes, and his analysis of communism put to practice, through satire and simple story-telling. You understand the ruthless ruling policy of the pigs when then send sick Horse ( most hardworking and ever loyal to Napoleon ) to slaughterhouse , making an excuse of sending him to hospital for his betterment . Well everyone is informed later that Napoleon spent a lot of money on his treatment but the horse could not survive .

Most amazing thing is how the pigs alter the "Seven Commandments" , I thoroughly enjoyed reading this . I read it a year ago when I was in my high school .

Very clever book.

In this book, the hidden veil of Democracy vs Socialism is entirely explained through this wonderful analogy.


Someone recently stated that if one really lived by the principles of most of the New Testament, one's world view would be Socialism/Communism as explained by Marx. However, no one has ever truly tried to live in a world that is without a caste system.

It is difficult to rate a novel which is incomplete. This version if Animal Farm and 1984 does not contain the full versions of either book. Animal Farm has only the first 10 chapters and ends abruptly on page 86. 1984 has only the first 3 sections and repeats itself.
This is more a sampling of Orwells Classics rather than a complete read.
If you want to read the full novel. Don't purchase this one

There is no doubt that 1984 is a brilliant book and Orwell was a genius. It is amazing that it was written in 1948 and has managed to stand the test of time well into this century. The portrayal of life in the totalitarian state of Big Brother and the total crushing control The Party exercised on everyday life was hugely believable and felt frighteningly real.

However, great swathes of the book read like a political manuscript, explaining and justifying the Party’s evil methods to maintain its hold on power. Along with the need to set the scene of a futuristic way of life in an alien political system, it left little room for storytelling.

What story there was, was expertly devised but dreadfully dark, horribly depressing and joyless. At times it was the stuff of nightmares. I understand this was the point of the book, to show that an ideology corrupt society can crush individual spirit, destroy opposition and rebellion, and thereby hold onto power indefinitely. This was done quite brilliantly but for me personally although there was plenty to admire there was very little to enjoy.

I found this very difficult to rate. It is a brilliant book so in that sense was worthy of 5 stars, but for me personally I found it too dark to enjoy so dropped it down a couple. I’m glad I read it but even more glad it’s over.

"Диктатурата не се установява, за да се защити революцията, революцията се прави, за да се установи диктатурата".
Както в "1984",  така и във " Фермата на животните" Оруел жестоко отправя своята критика към тоталитаризма, представен през призмата от една страна на фанатичен софизъм, а от друга - на измисления "анимализъм".
Страшното обаче е, че антиутопията на писателя всъщност отразява до голяма степен и нашата реалност днес -  устройствата, чрез които биваме наблюдавани до незнайна степен, пропагандата, деморализацията на личността, пренаписването на историята, за да се впише в даден наратив, и контрола над словото с цел предотвратяване на "престъпмисъл"(днес бихме го нарекли запазване на политкоректност).
От много време не съм бил така развълнуван от книга. Може би причината е, че това не е художествена измислица, а предупреждение, което трябва да бъде възприето. Учудващо е, че Оруел не присъства в задължителната учебна програма. А може би не чак толкова...

I never saw that ending coming!

The Animal Castle novel has a simple, humorous language, and is very entertaining and engaging, yet is based on a symbolic and symbolic style. She takes it upon herself and expresses her personal emotion in this novel with complete honesty and courage. In the novel, the farm animal revolution symbolizes the workers' revolution and its fate against the capitalist system.

"All animals are equal, but some are more equal" ..."