| George Orwell 1903-1950 |
| George Orwell is one of my favorite writers. I've been extremely impressed with the high quality of his writings about politics. Orwell's writings combine an amazing combination of 1--compassion for unpopular causes 2--clear and forceful expression 3--knowledge-richness 4--truthfulness and fairness |
| Some of Orwell's main claims: --Nations governed by democratic governments must vigorously defend themselves against threats posed by nations with totalitarian governments. Successful defense requires that democracies carefully assume some characteristics of a totalitarian government. --After the end of WW II, there was a significant risk that all nations would become dictatorships. Orwell wrote his two most famous books in reaction to this threat: Animal Farm, and 1984. Orwell believed that persons who have never lived under a totalitarian government typically have severe misunderstandings of what such an experience is like. Animal Farm and 1984 were primarily aimed at such readers. He was especially critical of persons who believe that safety from the abuses of a dictatorship can be found by entering it and living under its power. --Dictatorships have some significant advantages over democracies when preparing for and engaging in warfare. One of the most imporant is that a dictatorship can pay soldiers little or nothing simply by threatening the soliders with torture and/or death of the soldier (or his relatives) if he doesn't behave in ways that make him an effective soldier for the dictatorship. --Misuse of human language (both intentional and unintentional) is a critically important problem afflicting the human race. Orwell's famous essay Politics and the English Language vividly describes various ways writers misuse language (note: this essay purportedly is the most-read essay ever). A primary problem, Orwell claimed, is with vagueness. Orwell believed that the main effect sought by writers who express claims with vague wording is to hide their motives, "like a cuttlefish squirting out ink" (these are his words, from Politics and the English Language). --Capitalism causes extreme maldistributions of wealth in nations that have a capitalistic economic system. Orwell's main objection about the disproportunate wealth and income of rich people was the "free ride" (that's my paraphrase of his opinion) given to the rich when they gain lots of money and other benefits from merely owning things like title's to land, rentable property, etc... Orwell summarized his objections in his small book The Lion and the Unicorn. |