1984 popped back onto everybody’s radar after the election. We dive back to our high school reading list to see what lessons we can learn for today.
Plus we have dystopia-aficionado Amanda Leinbaugh and comedian Nariko Ott here to help us break down Big Brother and to discuss what scary thing would be strapped to our faces.
You know . . . Gary Johnson didn’t win either, I’m not STILL crying about it. Further, 1984 is fundamentally about the dangers of too much government, and I thought that you all on the Left just loved tons of government. This show was a lot better before I had to listen to all the political bellyaching.
I appreciate you listening and taking the time to comment, but I think it’s important to talk about issues happening in the real world so we’re going to keep doing it, albeit through the lens of pop culture.My political philosophy is that I give a shit about people. Big and small aren’t moral terms. Regardless of size, what matters is how much good a person, government, and society can do.
Well, sir, we just have a fundamental disagreement re: the role of government. I believe that government is the problem, and that individual liberty and choice are the solution. But, that’s okay. It takes all kinds to make a village. We can agree to disagree.
To clarify, I peg the disagreement elsewhere. We seem to disagree about your personal role in helping people and society improve. It sounds like you’re using government and liberty as an excuse to abdicate moral responsibility. But we can agree to disagree about that if you like.
No, sir. I believe in private charity, and help my fellow man whenever I get the chance. But, I do so on an individual and personal level. If the government forces one into being charitable, where’s the charity in that? I don’t understand why you think the government’s proper function includes private charity. There’s no need to get snippy, or go all ad hominem on me.
No, it’s about the dangers of totalitarianism, as well as building on the abuses of truth he saw in the British Ministry of Information during World War 2. His original title was “1948” – he thought Western governments were that close to their own version of dictatorship in the name of fighting dictatorship.You might also like to know Orwell considered himself a democratic Socialist. (Read Homage to Catalonia.)