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Orwell: The Rewrite
- llm_trw 2y ago[flagged]
- haliskerbas 2y agoTook me a second to understand this, but it was faster than clicking the link and finding out for myself. Thanks!
- KineticLensman 2y agoThen you missed some interesting content. E.g. what Orwell's wife did in the Spanish civil war. (I'm not saying it was a good article, but it had more than just a 'cancelling' of Orwell)
- llm_trw 2y ago[flagged]
- philwelch 2y ago[flagged]
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- Animats 2y agoThe gay retconning is strong here. Orwell has been accused elsewhere of being homophobic. Neither side has a convincing case. Orwell was an cynical observer, not an organizer. Orwell on socialists, from "The Road to Wigand Pier": "In addition to this there is the horrible–the really disquieting–prevalence of cranks wherever Socialists are gathered together. One sometimes gets the impression that the mere words ’Socialism’ and ’Communism’ draw towards them with magnetic force every fruit-juice drinker, nudist, sandal-wearer, sex-maniac, Quaker, ’Nature Cure’ quack, pacifist, and feminist in England." That book is about why socialism in England never got much traction. Yes, in the late 1940s and 1950s, the UK had "lemon socialism" - the government ended up owning the steel, coal, and railroad industries, all of which were in trouble. That was not a people's movement. For the organizer's point of view, see Saul Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals".[1] Alinsky is all about how to organize and win, working from the bottom. Alinsky was a labor organizer. His approach is independent of political position. Orwell offers cautionary views, but he's too cynical to propose solutions. [1] https://www.openculture.com/2017/02/13-rules-for-radicals.html https://www.openculture.com/2017/02/13-rules-for-radicals.ht...
- cardanome 2y agoAs someone who has adored Orwell a great deal in my youth I do have to say that his works are vastly overrated for as far a literally merits go. They are popular because they offer an easy way to project your own political opinions and biases into them. They are tempting by their simplicity while offering a way to show off how intellectual your are. That thing you don't like? Literally 1984! Again, I am saying this as someone who has been very fascinated by his works and always will be be. You can like something while recognizing its flaws. Orwell hasn't introduced anything substantial that hasn't been done better by other authors. Some of the ideas he partially helped popularize like the concept of language shaping how we think has been pseudo-scientific nonsense that is still actively harming society today. Except instead of being applied by authoritarian regimes it is political activists that waste their energy on useless battles trying to police language. The childish idea that we could change society by changing how we speak is just too tempting . Orwell was also not a great human being but I think it is fine to separate the author from the works.
- Dalewyn 2y agoAs someone who speaks English, Japanese, and computer programming languages, I will say that language absolutely affects how we think. My trains of thought are very different from someone who only speaks English or Japanese, let alone someone who doesn't speak programming; and I definitely can't fully relate to someone who speaks Spanish, Chinese, etc. either. As far as I'm concerned, that theory is not psuedo science.
- Yoric 2y agoWhile I'm also multi-lingual, and I also strongly believe in (some version of) the Sapir Whorf hypothesis, to the best of my knowledge, it has never been demonstrated. See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_relativity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_relativity .
- johnisgood 2y agohttps://mw-live.lojban.org/papri/Sapir-Whorf_Hypothesis https://mw-live.lojban.org/papri/Sapir-Whorf_Hypothesis There was a great writing about it, in great detail. I remember it being "lojban.txt", but I cannot seem to find it. :(
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- yew 2y ago[flagged]
- jappgar 2y agocommunists never did like orwell and they're still around so naturally we get these articles every now and again.
- Log_out_ 2y agoCommunist also were happily allied to nazis, so there articles are worse than worthless the moment they propose any centralized solution.