3 ms·

Why do we care so much about this kind of stuff? 1984 is a great book- has a great message/warning about how dangerous a world without privacy and unchecked ins

• cs702 3y ago
  > Why do we care so much about this kind of stuff? Because we're in an environment in which authors can be and sometimes are "canceled" for reasons that have nothing to do with the quality of their work. For me, it was refreshing to come across a piece that expresses admiration for Orwell's work, and also recognizes he was a flawed person when judged by modern standards. The two thoughts are not incompatible with each other. Also, this passage struck a chord with me: > However bad Orwell’s attitudes toward women were, the warning he gave us in “1984” was not that society might someday become so twisted that women would criticize him. His novel was a warning against the kind of leaders who call their opponents “vermin,” leaders who want to punish people for having the “wrong” opinions or being of the “wrong” ethnicity. It was written about leaders who become cult figures, whose idealized image is plastered everywhere as a symbol of belonging, who hold rallies at which their followers join to scream in ecstatic hatred. It was written about a world in which such leaders could avail themselves of advanced technology, in which propaganda and surveillance were unavoidable and ubiquitous." I couldn't agree more.