1984 vs. 2008 -- Was Orwell a prophet?

[Juan_Bottom]

Something JONESTHECURL said reminded me of this, I bumped into it a while back....

http://www.newspeakdictionary.com/go-now.html

[Juan_Bottom]

The Department of Homeland Securities new "Thought Crimes" Bill. I do hope that they wait untill it becomes law, before they start to enforce it....
This makes perfect sense, since they have yet to catch a single terrorist.


http://www.roguegovernment.com/news.php?id=11255

[Hologram]

Orwell was a prophet in the sense that he predicted what could happen. And yes, I have a book called the Dictionary of Bullshit where it has a bunch of words in different parts of life, such as government and corporate America that seem to use the principles of doublethink and newspeak.

[jonesthecurl]

Interestingly it was meant to be a warning against totalitarian communist states. Orwell was a left-winger but thought the USSR had betrayed the ideals. He didn't invent the retrofitting of news for example, this was a well-known practice in the USSR.

[InkL0sed]

First link:

Didn't bother looking at the second one...

[Juan_Bottom]

First link:

Didn't bother looking at the second one...

AROOGA!!!! THOUGHT CRIME IN PROCESS!!!!

[InkL0sed]

First link:

Didn't bother looking at the second one...

AROOGA!!!! THOUGHT CRIME IN PROCESS!!!!

Sure...

[bbqpenguin]

juan, i didn't even have to look at the op's name to know it had to be you who started this thread...

[Juan_Bottom]

juan, i didn't even have to look at the op's name to know it had to be you who started this thread...

Wait.... is that bad?


I just thought there were a couple of other people here who had read 1984..... I read it in 6th or 7th grade. I don't remember it too well, but it's coming back to me... This thread was not to be taken seriously to begin with....

[Skittles!]

I read it last year, or early this year. I'm going to read it again :]

[vtmarik]

If by prophet you mean "Guy who sees the pattern of freedom -> autocracy in every society ever" then yes.

If you look at history, it really is a series of great civilizations that start out all happy and free, something weird happens, and then everything becomes draconian and harsh.

Rome, Egypt, Medieval England, Puritan America, World Wars 1 and 2, etc.

[ksslemp]

My damned teachers forced me to read it! They must have been secret agents of the thought police!

FYI: they were Democrats of course.

[Iliad]

My damned teachers forced me to read it! They must have been secret agents of the thought police!

FYI: they were Democrats of course.

and it was of course the evil democrats and not the actualy syllabus?

[Neoteny]

My damned teachers forced me to read it! They must have been secret agents of the thought police!

FYI: they were Democrats of course.

This guy creeps me the hell out.

[MeDeFe]

My damned teachers forced me to read it! They must have been secret agents of the thought police!

FYI: they were Democrats of course.

This guy creeps me the hell out.

As long as you don't wear a bandanna you should be safe from him.

[jonesthecurl]

No, Andy - not "banana".

[ksslemp]

My damned teachers forced me to read it! They must have been secret agents of the thought police!

FYI: they were Democrats of course.

This guy creeps me the hell out.

That's because you're 12 and sleep with a night light!

[Neoteny]

My damned teachers forced me to read it! They must have been secret agents of the thought police!

FYI: they were Democrats of course.

This guy creeps me the hell out.

That's because you're 12 and sleep with a night light!

Or it might be the fact that obnoxious self-righteousness is frightening.

[happyjoel]

No, Orwell was not a prophet. Just because you can see what's going to happen in the future doesn't make you a prophet. The fact is, with over 6 billion people on Earth, he could have predicted anything and it would have been right:

People will move towards socialism vs. People will move towards capitalism
Companies will get bigger vs. Companies will get smaller
Music will become more complex vs. Music will become simpler

On any one of those things, and millions more, you can find TONS of examples from various people and places on Earth to support your theory. Watch, I'll make predictions and I guarantee they will come true:

a) The pornography industry will grow larger.
b) The speed of computers will increase, making complex mathematics simpler.
c) The US postal service will be less important.

See, it's easy! Go ahead and give it a try!

[Juan_Bottom]

For the record, when I pul l articles or papers off the web, I always copy-paste ther title. So I'm not the one calling him a profit.
It's not really about his profitedness though.....

[strike wolf]

SO he could have predicted that people would grow wings and fly and still be right?

[Juan_Bottom]

How so?

[strike wolf]

It's what the person 2 posts above me said. He said "He could have predicted anything and it would have been right."

Therefore if he can predict anything and it would automatically be right then this must also apply to predicting that humans would gain wings and be able to fly.

[Juan_Bottom]

Ok, that made it funny...

[Hologram]

It's what the person 2 posts above me said. He said "He could have predicted anything and it would have been right."

Therefore if he can predict anything and it would automatically be right then this must also apply to predicting that humans would gain wings and be able to fly.

Eventually, sure. Evolution, duh.