This blog is the new home of The Mad Farmer Liberation Front. Within you'll find lots of References to Retrotech (mainly of the typewriter variety) as well as Whimsical and Amateurish Poetry and the occasional Commentary on Whatever I'm Thinking About at the Moment.
I wanted to comment on this but it's been so long since I read it that I hesitate. However I did think the ending of "Colossus: the Forbin Project" was a happy one.
Yes, Big Brother has certainly gotten more subtle. He's turned into billions of Little Brothers who, most of the time, aren't even humans but are tiny robots that process information billions of time faster than any human brain. How delightful.
I'm no socialist, but I will point out that socialists and communists don't necessarily believe in dictatorship. Free enterprise and political liberty often overlap, but not necessarily: many liberal democracies in Europe have socialized industries, or used to, and China and Russia now have free enterprise plus poltiical authoritarianism.
Yikes, you should crown your coworker Mr. Cognitive Dissonance 2011. Or is it 1984?
Seriously though, as the eponymous Pogo once said, "We have met the enemy, and he is us." Big Brother doesn't need to come after out privacy; we sign up to give it away. I guess we can comfort ourselves with the fact that we didn't have to be coerced...
Richard - point taken on the difference between individual socialism and Totalitarian Socialism. I guess what left me head-scratching is the fact that the particular breed of socialism described in 1984 is pretty obviously, and horrifically, the latter. And that a socialist would choose this as his favorite book is a bit odd.
Maybe comparable to: "I'm Catholic. The Davinci Code is my favorite book." I don't find any problem with being Catholic, or picking Brown's book for top honors (okay, maybe I DO have a problem with that, just on literary grounds). But the two together makes my head spin.
Way back in high school as a student reading 1984, I remember vividly the descriptions of writing on REAL paper with a fountain pen, found in that dusty store, and how Winston had to hide his writing activities.
It is interesting how these "retro" writing materials have become dear again, although not strictly forbidden.
Amen (she wrote, whilst staring into the telescreen...)
ReplyDelete1984 is another book I should reread one of these days, though it's a little scarier every time I read it. If you know what I mean.
Can't help you on interpreting the motives of the co-worker, though. That's baffling.
I wanted to comment on this but it's been so long since I read it that I hesitate. However I did think the ending of "Colossus: the Forbin Project" was a happy one.
ReplyDeleteYes, Big Brother has certainly gotten more subtle. He's turned into billions of Little Brothers who, most of the time, aren't even humans but are tiny robots that process information billions of time faster than any human brain. How delightful.
ReplyDeleteI'm no socialist, but I will point out that socialists and communists don't necessarily believe in dictatorship. Free enterprise and political liberty often overlap, but not necessarily: many liberal democracies in Europe have socialized industries, or used to, and China and Russia now have free enterprise plus poltiical authoritarianism.
Yikes, you should crown your coworker Mr. Cognitive Dissonance 2011. Or is it 1984?
ReplyDeleteSeriously though, as the eponymous Pogo once said, "We have met the enemy, and he is us." Big Brother doesn't need to come after out privacy; we sign up to give it away. I guess we can comfort ourselves with the fact that we didn't have to be coerced...
Richard - point taken on the difference between individual socialism and Totalitarian Socialism. I guess what left me head-scratching is the fact that the particular breed of socialism described in 1984 is pretty obviously, and horrifically, the latter. And that a socialist would choose this as his favorite book is a bit odd.
ReplyDeleteMaybe comparable to: "I'm Catholic. The Davinci Code is my favorite book." I don't find any problem with being Catholic, or picking Brown's book for top honors (okay, maybe I DO have a problem with that, just on literary grounds). But the two together makes my head spin.
Way back in high school as a student reading 1984, I remember vividly the descriptions of writing on REAL paper with a fountain pen, found in that dusty store, and how Winston had to hide his writing activities.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting how these "retro" writing materials have become dear again, although not strictly forbidden.