“1984” wasn’t science fiction

I think the worst thing that Orwell neglected to see was the revelling in ignorance and stupidity, OP. He imagined a world where people would always be trying to better themselves - hence the need for books to be banned. Little did he realise that in a few short generations people wouldn't even be bothering to read - they would be proud of their ignorance.

As much as it pains me to say it, the worst cultural aspects of humanity crawled out of the US and infected all the countries its media touches. It is more damaging than any bomb or army. It is insidious.

I agree R1. It’s remarkable that “cosmopolitan” and “intellectual” have become pejoratives. With the need for bread and circus met, the Inner Party has managed to turn the Proles against the Outer Party.

Boris, if this is another one of your attempts to divide and conquer, it's not a good one. It sucks. You and your quad can stop high fiving each other now.

R3 is an example of the anti-intellectualism that Orwell warned about.

[quote]I think the worst thing that Orwell neglected to see was the revelling in ignorance and stupidity, OP. He imagined a world where people would always be trying to better themselves - hence the need for books to be banned. Little did he realise that in a few short generations people wouldn't even be bothering to read - they would be proud of their ignorance.

With all due respect, I don't think you don't have the faintest idea of what Orwell thought or imagined, and I don't think you're familiar at all with his work.

Orwell was a pessimist; he invented the "dystopia", the genre in which the future is painted as completely bleak and hopeless. 1984 is a dystopian future in which oppressive governments successfully use media and language to brainwash and manipulate the masses into suppressing their individualism and sense of self-determination. This was one of Orwell's biggest fears; he was noticing that even in the West, journalism was beginning to adopt the propaganda techniques of Stalinist Russia so he wrote 1984 to say, "See, it could happen here, too."

Orwell couldn't have cared less about "intellectualism" vs "anti-intellectualism" but manipulators vs the manipulated.

[quote]As much as it pains me to say it, the worst cultural aspects of humanity crawled out of the US and infected all the countries its media touches. It is more damaging than any bomb or army. It is insidious.

Oh, really? I didn't know Americans invented Nazism, the worst cultural aspect of humanity there is. I didn't know they were the ones that are responsible for the huge resurgence in Neo-Nazism and white nationalism right now. Hmm, go figure.

A counter-point:

Surveillance of police has exposed a pattern of abuse of authority following a pattern of bias. Anyone who watches the shooting of Philando Castile from the live stream his girlfriend recorded, combined with the audio from the cop’s dashcam should recognize the power of social media to bring injustice to light and gather opposition to government authority. This is decidedly not Orwellian.

But the anti-intellectual movement on the right most assuredly is. The burning of books in 1984 coincides with the screens captivating viewers with idiotic pap. I’m not sure even Orwell could have envisioned reality programs, but I doubt he would be surprised by Fox News.

And I likewise doubt he would be surprised by the left’s newfound power in alliances of the aggrieved that result in more critiques and upending of longstanding conventions (I.e. the concept and terminology of male and female) that speaks directly to thoughtcrime and required reversals of language that place old and new into alignment with good and bad.

We live in a bizarre moment of human history, and I have never appreciated George Orwell more.

A doctor friend worked in Baghdad in the late 1980s and spoke of a wonderfully learned city with exquisite bookshops where you could have a coffee and talk with the owners. He was appalled at the Desert Storm bombing/war, which destroyed a city and whose other war 13 years later saw a country torn apart and fragmented. This is the bad side of America.

[quote]I think the worst thing that Orwell neglected to see was the revelling in ignorance and stupidity, OP.

But "Idiocracy" did. It's now become a documentary.

^ “Ow My Balls!” has more substantive content and intellectual value than the Real Housewives shows and a Fox News commentary combined.

For all the technological progress made over the past two decades, I still have a sense we’re moving backwards.

Calm your tits a bit, R5. You make some good points. However, let's not forget that some Americans (among others) are responsible for Operation Paperclip, along with other nefarious doings.