Reading '1984' Makes You An Extremist?

[Karl12]

Following warnings from Orwell about this group it now looks like reading his book '1984' could well get you labelled an 'extremist' by the British Government.

Not only Orwell but also authors such as Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Conrad, Huxley, Shakespeare etc.

Anyone in search of a textbook example need look no further than the government’s Prevent programme, into which the government’s official review was finally published last week. William Shawcross’s excellent comprehensive report contains many things worth lingering over.



Radicalisation could occur from reading C.S. Lewis, Tolkien,
Huxley or Conrad. I kid you not



There is also a reading list of historical texts which produce red flags to RICU. These include Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes, John Locke’s Two Treatises of Government and Edmund Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France, as well as works by Thomas Carlyle and Adam Smith. Elsewhere RICU warns that radicalisation could occur from books by authors including C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Aldous Huxley and Joseph Conrad. I kid you not, though it seems that all satire is dead, but the list of suspect books also includes 1984 by George Orwell.

Prevent was meant to protect people. It evolved, in time, into something committed to going against almost everything about our country, including its people. 

Link

No idea what problem they've got with Tolkien, C.S. Lewis etc. but considering Orwell and Huxley were specifically warning about the horrors of totalitarian dictatorships then do find all this rather 'ironic'.

[Maxmars]

I don't know what to say anymore.

It appears that anything that might make a person think about the nature of their world now has a danger of 'radicalizing' the reader.  I'm sure these people (who make such assertions) would enjoy being granted the power to make those texts disappear.  And then we might all just enjoy the 'approved' materials that lead to the warm and fuzzy Utopia in their minds.

But what will they do to anyone who spontaneously raises the same questions which these authors evoke in their work?  Oh, that's right... misinformation/disinformation list and "cancelled."

They scrape at reality to justify their fears.  If they ever encounter a thought which makes them falter... they recommend labelling it "bad."

I'm convinced they are truly lost in their cloisters.

[Karl12]

Yes it's all starting to sound a bit insidious mate and recently saw this short vid about 1984 'child spies' being employed by the British Government.







Also found it interesting that Hitchens mentions here that North Korea was founded almost the same year '1984' was published and it's almost as if they used the book as an instruction manual.

Suppose if the folks don't resist and blindly tolerate this kind of tyranny then in a weird kind of way they deserve it.

[Karl12]

I don't know what to say anymore.

It appears that anything that might make a person think about the nature of their world now has a danger of 'radicalizing' the reader. 

I'm sure they'd prefer everyone be immersed in counterfeit pseudo-realities mate (curated by behaviour change specialists) and before long we'll probably have seemingly intelligent members of society believing snow is black.

Anyway thought the author below raised an interesting point about the Tolkien, Lewis and Shakespeare additions.

Really did wonder why they were attempting to demonize such well loved authors of British literature.. and perhaps it is just as simple as their promotion of 'resistance to evil insanity'.

Really!? Lewis, Tolkien, Orwell, Conrad, Huxley, Hobbes, Locke, Burke, Carlyle, Smith, and even Shakespeare are now to be considered potential terrorist profile components!?

What, really, is going on here?


I strongly suspect that there is an underlying "current" or theme in the writings of all these men - particularly Tolkien and Lewis - that has triggered these woke wackos, and the theme is "resistance to evil insanity". It's hard to avoid the obvious message in Tolkien, for example, as a bunch of power hungry...er... "people" are literally hell bent on taking over the rest of their world and turning it into  a charnel house of unrelenting slaughter and ugliness, and many of these "people" are the "orcs", twisted creatures "created" by the torture and twisting of Tolkien's elves into the heartless cannibalistic monsters that they are in throughout The Hobbit  and The Lord of the Rings. 

One does not have to read very far into the works of Shakespeare to confront similar memes of the power-mad literally made insane by evil and their quest for power. MacBeth comes to mind, but there are many others. Orwell's warnings over the future direction of society at the hands of such people need no introduction nor reprise here.  And as for Huxley being on the list, perhaps he too was too dangerous for daring to write a book titled The Perennial Philosophy... how dare he write about a theme that had also preoccupied Lewis et al.?

Link

[LogicalGraffiti]

Books that make you think are now seen as radicalizing the reader yet music glorifying criminal behaviour is not!  What a crazy world our young people are having to grow up in.

[Tecate]

I would postulate that their aversion to George Orwell is not only limited or due to “1984”, but also definitely due to “Animal Farm” as well.

There is no doubt in my mind that these imbeciles are seeing themselves in his writings and thus are very likely trying to eradicate the population’s capability to identify them as such.

My 2 pesos.

Tecate

[Karl12]

Books that make you think are now seen as radicalizing the reader yet music glorifying criminal behaviour is not! 

What a crazy world our young people are having to grow up in.

Yes could not agree more mate.

It may appear 'crazy' to everyone but am sure it's being done by design.

Feel sorry for the youth these days when it comes to their options for music consumption and there's a good example below.



Viewer discretion:

Cancelled Vs Uncancelled Song Lyrics

[Karl12]

I would postulate that their aversion to George Orwell is not only limited or due to “1984”, but also definitely due to “Animal Farm” as well.

There is no doubt in my mind that these imbeciles are seeing themselves in his writings and thus are very likely trying to eradicate the population’s capability to identify them as such.

My 2 pesos.

Tecate

Appreciate the astute postulation mate (and the two pesos) - would say their actions are also being reflected in Huxley's work and it's no bloody wonder they want to shut him down as well.

Here he is warning about 'malevolent' enslavement and Pavlovian indoctrination techniques (sounds a bit familiar to modern day education and mainstream media conditioning).









As for going after the other well loved (and world famous) British authors thought Orwell made an interesting observation here.

[Karl12]

[argentus]

I was brought up to think that it was not only my right to question government, but my obligation.  

I was brought up to peaceably protest injustice.   

I am recently aware that all around the world, those concepts are considered to be seditious.   

I guess they'll just have to kill all us old bastErds that aren't so malleable.