Jason's review
1984 by George Orwell
Jason's review
rating:
recommended for: Montana Freemen and Other Paranoids
status: Read in September, 2008
rating:
recommended for: Montana Freemen and Other Paranoids
status: Read in September, 2008
With the year 1984 nearly a quarter-century behind us now, Orwell's classic has more historical value than practical usefulness. His nightmarish negative-utopia offers a glimpse into the sense of horror that one most have felt as totalitarian regimes of the middle of the last century seemed to slowly take over the globe. As a caricature of the very real horrors of then-defunct Fascism and still-rising Stalinism, Orwell's 1984 has real merit.
But if I ever again hear somebody claim that the world I live in today bears any resemblance to Orwell's hopelessly paranoid prediction, I'll recommend some meds or just slowly back away. I'm not exactly a fan of big government myself, and nobody has ever accused me of having a too rosy view of human nature, but I found Orwell's "warning" pretty much absurd. The book is about as predictive as that old Conan O'Brien routine about the year 2000 and not nearly as funny. In hindsight, I think Aldous Huxley has proved more the prophet w...more
But if I ever again hear somebody claim that the world I live in today bears any resemblance to Orwell's hopelessly paranoid prediction, I'll recommend some meds or just slowly back away. I'm not exactly a fan of big government myself, and nobody has ever accused me of having a too rosy view of human nature, but I found Orwell's "warning" pretty much absurd. The book is about as predictive as that old Conan O'Brien routine about the year 2000 and not nearly as funny. In hindsight, I think Aldous Huxley has proved more the prophet w...more
