Why is orwell so popular among twoofers

[NWO Sentryman]

As we all know, 1984 is a book only twoofers read and only they understand.

Which explains these:

http://www.youtube.com/user/prolefeedtv

http://www.orwelltoday.com/

http://www.newspeakdictionary.com/

Why is this?

[Pardalis]

Because they haven't read him.

[Praktik]

WEll they just see what they want to see - referring to Orwell gives them a veneer of intellectual depth that unfortunately many fall for.

I think it helps ease the spread of CTs among the CT-vulnerable. "Hmmm Orwell..." - they think -this guy's done his homework!

You'll also see it cited in debates here but a lot of times I think its internally directed, a CT blogger mentions Orwell and all the CTers nod their heads sagely and say to themselves, "Yes, just like Orwell".

Works of dystopia/utopia figure prominently in the movement. A telling example from my personal life would be a discussion of Aldous Huxley's "Island" - what I probably loved most from Huxley. The basic plot is that this island paradise exists somewhere out in a tropical ocean. The society is enlightened and well structured - a kind of experiment in human living. Their rite of passage is a mushroom trip of much importance and its treated in a very compelling way in the book. Ayn Rand lovers would be horrified, but in the first 4/5ths of the book Huxley shows a version of paradise on earth - breaking free of negative social dynamics and making positive dynamics in their stead. A loving, successful, thriving community is on this island.

Now, at the end of the book - all is lost as a neighbouring Banana Republic-style Dictator marshalls his forces to essentially rape the island of its vital natural resources.

The moral of this book is that "no country is an island". No matter how perfect you try to make things, there is no escaping the outside world. It must be dealt with - it cannot be run away from.

Now I say this to my friend (who hasn't yet come across woo he doesn't buy) and he says that wasn't the lesson of the book at all - to him it was as if the end of the book never happened, and that Huxley was essentially saying we could make a better way of living just by isolating ourselves and really working on it.

This is the very common phenomenon, of which I think no human is an exception, of individuals seeing what they want to see.

THe same thing is at work with 1984, and the lessons they draw from it - and then the error is compounded by them looking at the real world with the same warped lens.

To them 1984 is almost prophecy - and they're in a continual mode of trying to jam the real world into a template derived from a work of fiction.

RFID? Thats so 1984!

Operation Enduring Freedom? Newspeak! *though maybe I can buy that one, propaganda is universal and timeless

Surveillance laws? Chips in the digital TV tuners??

ORWELL SAW IT COMING!

[Cl1mh4224rd]

Now I say this to my friend (who hasn't yet come across woo he doesn't buy) and he says that wasn't the lesson of the book at all - to him it was as if the end of the book never happened, and that Huxley was essentially saying we could make a better way of living just by isolating ourselves and really working on it.


The counter to that claim being, "If that were the case, the end should have come first; a bad thing happens to the island, the inhabitants regain freedom, isolate themselves, rebuild, and live happily ever after".

I haven't read the book myself, but the actual order of events should make it impossible to come to the conclusion that your friend did.

Some people...

[brodski]

Most people who quote or allude to 1984 usually either haven't read it, or have failed to grasp the point.

One of the most misused terms is "thought-crime"- just because motivation is a factor in a crime doesn't make it a thought crime- in legal systems based on English Common Law (and in some others), virtually all crimes can only be committed if the accused can be shown to have been thinking certain things at the time of the crime.
When Orwell wrote of "thought crimes" he was not talking about actions which became crimes based on motivation or intent- he was talking about the idea that thoughts themselves could be criminal even when no action at all was taken based on those thoughts.

If I decide to commit a terrorist act and begin to plan it, getting surveillance information, getting information on how to build a bomb etc. I would have committed a crime based on the actions which flowed from my thoughts- this is not a thought crime.

If I were to be arrested just for wanting to commit a terrorist act, despite making no physical record of my plans or any attempts to gather information or material which would help me commit this act, then that would be an Orwellian thought-crime.

The other misunderstood aspect of 1984 is that thruthers seem to think that it's about a secretly oppressive government who spies on, and controls, the population covertly. It's clear that the Government of Oceania takes every opportunity it can to point out to its citizens how much they are spied on (and encourages them to spy on each other) and just how much control the government has over them at all times.

[dudalb]

Anybody who has read Orwell's essays knows that Orwell , if he were alive today, would be among the first to ridicule the Twoofersand their insanitities.

[LightinDarkness]

Anybody who has read Orwell's essays knows that Orwell , if he were alive today, would be among the first to ridicule the Twoofersand their insanitities.

Exactly. Orwell would have been horrified that his book had been used and abused by the woo movement. Instead of finding real signs of a encroaching government, twoofers find it in organizations that do not exist (aka, the NWO).

[Monketey Ghost]

He wrote things that sound spooky and give us the "that's-a-bad-direction" jitters, and, what Pardalis said.

[dropzone]

A telling example from my personal life would be a discussion of Aldous Huxley's "Island" - what I probably loved most from Huxley. The basic plot is that this island paradise exists somewhere out in a tropical ocean. The society is enlightened and well structured - a kind of experiment in human living. Their rite of passage is a mushroom trip of much importance and its treated in a very compelling way in the book.Huxley lerved his shrooms!

[Travis]

I often am amused at the Truther's deification of Orwell when they clearly are the pigs walking about as humans.

[Caustic Logic]

It's a bit Ironic - dare I say Orwellian? - that the "Truth Movement" utilizes Orwell to get that tinge of braininess, like Praktik said, laquered onto their idiotic constructions. They'd be the first to demand a "Ministry of Truth" (or Department I guess here in the States) to uncover the "Truth" of 9/11. That's how it starts... "Ministry of Peace" starts to root out the world conflict-causing Joooooos...

I know this point already came up in other threads, but I didn't pop in there.

[Nosi]

A truly oppressive government would do something to make the troofers shut up would it not? Not just stare at them occasionally shaking it's head and occasionally snicker at them. Government only steps in if the Troofer in question threatens someone or slanders someone. Meanwhile, dissers with bullhorns make themselves less than inconspicuous targets for the 'black helicopters'.

[Cl1mh4224rd]

A truly oppressive government would do something to make the troofers shut up would it not? Not just stare at them occasionally shaking it's head and occasionally snicker at them. Government only steps in if the Troofer in question threatens someone or slanders someone. Meanwhile, dissers with bullhorns make themselves less than inconspicuous targets for the 'black helicopters'.


Many of them believe that "we" are that something. They believe that ridicule, people who know what they're talking about, and "that sciency stuff" are all part of a concerted effort to keep them subdued.

And there's a weird twist of logic that actually makes this more believable. In the past the government used things like firehoses, tear gas, the military, and even some deaths to suppress dissent... but that all failed.

That the 9/11 Truth™ Movement (not to mention the JFK and Moon landing conspiracy movements) has utterly failed to make any traction--with their only opposition being the above-mentioned ridicule, experts, and "sciency stuff"--is somehow proof that these methods of opposition are far, far more effective than physical harm or even death.

[HeyLeroy]

With his continuous themes of paranoia, I'd have figured Philip K. Dick would be more popular amongst troofers.

[JohnG]

With his continuous themes of paranoia, I'd have figured Philip K. Dick would be more popular amongst troofers.


Who can forget his classic "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheeple?"?

[Travis]

With his continuous themes of paranoia, I'd have figured Philip K. Dick would be more popular amongst troofers.

Well, first one of them would have to read it and then misinterpret it and tell their online buddies their misinterpretation so they can then parrot it on online forums thinking it makes them "literate." In other words, exactly what they did with Orwell.

[Squidgy]

Huxley lerved his shrooms!
I think everybody should do them at least once.