Do you have any favourite books?" they ask. - "Yes", I say, "1984." - "Wow, so many!" they say. Which just about sums up how much we have forgotten George Orwell's last and most defining and most prescient book.
Unfortunately, it was overshadowed by the success of his earlier highly acclaimed and more popular book "Animal Farm", so much so that they thought that "1984" was just another anti-Russian, anti-Communist condemnation of Stalinist atrocities. Which it isn't! "1984" is about us, about our world, about today's "newspeak" and "doublethink".
Every day public opinion is the target of rewritten history, official amnesia and outright lying, all of which is benevolently termed 'spin', as if it were no more harmful than a ride on a merry-go-round. We know better than what they tell us, yet hope otherwise. We believe and doubt at the same time, a state in which those in power want us to remain.
"1984" ought to be everyone's favourite book, especially around election time. Come on, I dare you to read it (again): "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen ..." [continue]
P.S. Any comments on this blog will be deleted by the Thought Police.
