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I do wonder what Eric Arthur Blair would think/tell us if he was alive today.
Despite Orwell’s disdain for the BBC during his life, a statue of the writer was commissioned by artist Martin Jennings and installed outside the BBC in London. An inscription reads, "If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear." The eight-foot bronze statue, paid for by the George Orwell Memorial Fund, was unveiled in November 2017.
"Would he have approved of it? It's an interesting question. I think he would have been reserved, given that he was very self-effacing,” Orwell’s son Richard Blair told The Daily Telegraph. "In the end I think he would have been forced to accept it by his friends. He would have to recognise that he was a man of the moment.”
Despite Orwell’s disdain for the BBC during his life, a statue of the writer was commissioned by artist Martin Jennings and installed outside the BBC in London. An inscription reads, "If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear." The eight-foot bronze statue, paid for by the George Orwell Memorial Fund, was unveiled in November 2017.
"Would he have approved of it? It's an interesting question. I think he would have been reserved, given that he was very self-effacing,” Orwell’s son Richard Blair told The Daily Telegraph. "In the end I think he would have been forced to accept it by his friends. He would have to recognise that he was a man of the moment.”
George Orwell
Posted from biography.com
Knowledge
Culture
Communism
Socialism
Creative Writing
Posted >1 y ago
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I always think of Postman's short essay in 'Amusing Ourselves to Death ' whenever I hear mention of Orwell's '1984'. Which is the more correct vision?
https://billmoyers.com/content/orwell-vs-huxley-who-are-you-behind/
COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Stephen F. SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen SPC Woody Bullard CPL Dave Hoover SFC William Farrell Lt Col Charlie Brown Col Carl Whicker SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth SPC Margaret Higgins Maj Marty Hogan SGT Jim Arnold Maj William W. 'Bill' Price SP5 Mark Kuzinski SGT John " Mac " McConnell LTC Wayne Brandon PO1 William "Chip" Nagel SPC Douglas Bolton PVT Mark Zehner
https://billmoyers.com/content/orwell-vs-huxley-who-are-you-behind/
COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Stephen F. SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen SPC Woody Bullard CPL Dave Hoover SFC William Farrell Lt Col Charlie Brown Col Carl Whicker SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth SPC Margaret Higgins Maj Marty Hogan SGT Jim Arnold Maj William W. 'Bill' Price SP5 Mark Kuzinski SGT John " Mac " McConnell LTC Wayne Brandon PO1 William "Chip" Nagel SPC Douglas Bolton PVT Mark Zehner
Orwell vs. Huxley: Who Are You Behind? | BillMoyers.com
In his book "Amusing Ourselves To Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business," the late media critic Neil Postman compares two dystopian futures
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"The essential premise of the "Amusing Ourselves...", which Postman extends to the rest of his argument(s), is that "form excludes the content", that is, a particular medium can only sustain a particular level of ideas. Thus rational argument, integral to print typography, is militated against by the medium of television for this reason. Owing to this shortcoming, politics and religion are diluted, and "NEWS OF THE DAY" BECOMES A PACKAGED COMMODITY. Television de-emphasises the quality of information in favour of satisfying the far-reaching needs of entertainment, by which information is encumbered and to which it is subordinate."
Because the "news of the day" has become a commodity, it strikes me that some people haven't figured that out, yet. Orwell and Huxley's allegories have become parasitic, feeding off of each other. When we were young, ADD/ADHD drugs (or soma in Brave New World) were sparsely used, today, they are heavily used and the children using those drugs have been likened to weak minded people easily manipulated into Orwellian Newspeak.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amusing_Ourselves_to_Death
Because the "news of the day" has become a commodity, it strikes me that some people haven't figured that out, yet. Orwell and Huxley's allegories have become parasitic, feeding off of each other. When we were young, ADD/ADHD drugs (or soma in Brave New World) were sparsely used, today, they are heavily used and the children using those drugs have been likened to weak minded people easily manipulated into Orwellian Newspeak.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amusing_Ourselves_to_Death
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Good article! Never made the comparison, but I lean toward “1984”, with a touch of Fahrenheit 451. Brave New World had more in common with H.G. Wells Time Machine. Funny thing is all three had elements of where we are and traveling toward.
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