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This is fucking fantastic... its truly Orwellian to gaslight people into thinking they're using "Orwellian" incorrectly. When what all these people really mean
by cbozeman 6y ago
This is fucking fantastic... its truly Orwellian to gaslight people into thinking they're using "Orwellian" incorrectly.
When what all these people really mean, but obviously can't say, is, "We didn't think we would become the Orwellian overlords!"
Chomsky said it best, “Goebbels was in favor of free speech for views he liked. So was Stalin. If you’re really in favor of free speech, then you’re in favor of freedom of speech for precisely the views you despise. Otherwise, you’re not in favor of free speech.”
Right now, there's an enormous liberal bias in Silicon Valley. The founders of these companies are more libertarian - some are even conservative, but their employees by-and-large are anywhere from left-leaning to far-left. That's fine. I don't see anything wrong with that. The resultant problem is with the helicopter parenting generation that produced these people, and their inability to accept things that make them uncomfortable.
But... its okay, because like all complex systems, it trends toward equilibrium, and now you're starting to see the system self-correct.
- Bakary 6y agoI think the term Orwellian should be used carefully not because of a strategy to censor people but because it tends to accompany and be a symptom of sloppy, armchair thinking that leads to fruitless fights on social media. (similar to Godwin's law)
- ransom1538 6y ago"because it tends to accompany and be a symptom of sloppy, armchair thinking that leads to fruitless fights on social media" Exactly we need an elite social group to determine what is Orwellian.
- Bakary 6y agoThat's not the point I'm making. I'm saying that as an individual it's a probably a good idea to avoid constructing arguments out of prepackaged notions. Whatever "elites" do isn't the factor I am considering here, especially not NY Times pundits or their equivalent. YMMV