Nice books that feel like they’re becoming more like reality each day haha.
1984 link
Another version thanks to @xmagic
Enjoy!
“There will be no curiosity, no enjoyment of the process of life. All competing pleasures will be destroyed. But always— do not forget this, Winston— always there will be the intoxication of power, constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler. Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless.
If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face— forever. ”
― George Orwell, 1984
Not sure if you’ve actually read the book, highly doubt it. Also doubt you know anything about Orwell.
1984 was a warning against totalitarian regimes and fascism, partly based on Orwell’s own experiences. They were not a warning about democratic capitalism/socialism, which is what we’ve got.
Orwell was a big supporter of democratic socialism as he felt it was the best safeguard against fascism. Orwell's democratic socialism was based on his ethical concerns for equality and individual well-being.
Orwell was a democratic socialist because he cared about people — especially the poor, the voiceless, the crushed. His politics were just the natural extension of his compassion, not ideology for ideology’s sake.
1984 was a warning against communism and fascism whereas Animal Farm was directed at what was going on in the USSR, so specifically Communism. Democratic socialism was a relatively new concept in the 1930s and 1940s and what we have today didn't really exist then. If you think about it, WW2 was basically a fight between extremes and a middle ground came out of it, well it did in the West anyway. I don't like socialism (it's mediocre politics for mediocre people) and think it's a terrible form of government in the 21st century but even I have to admit that it did achieve a lot in its heyday - that heyday ended 50 years ago though. Orwell was a genius and his big books will always be relevant.
a warning against communism and fascism
More specifically a warning against totalitarianism. Do some reading. He was aware, through personal experience fighting in the Spanish Civil War, that authoritarianism can affect both left and right, and he believed democracy was the only really effective tool against it. He knew that, when taken to the extreme, such as totalitarian USSR and Nazi Germany, both of which he studied in great detail, personal freedom is over, and horrible things happen to society.
I think we got oligarch technocrat ( big techs are teaming up with government to ' protect ' us ) that cloak under crony capitalism ( big corp got bail out by government, using tax payer money ). For example, GFC 2008, tesla, Qantas etc receives tax payer money during covid ..
Oligarch technoracy is probably the best name for it. There's a guise of democracy of course to keep the masses placated, lest the herd be spooked and they start buying discounted pitchforks en masse from Amazon or Bunnings.
Don't forget the totalitarian lock downs (like we're all just prison inmates) which all happened at the same time all across the world regardless of left-right branding of the political party in 'power' and even though it didn't feature in any pandemic preparedness plans.
And let's not forget all the public-private partnerships and social impact investing (fascism with a friendly face) that both "sides" engage in.
You can choose Coke or you can choose Pepsi, just keep chugging, peasants.
Not sure if you’ve actually read the book, highly doubt it. Also doubt you know anything about Orwell.
Not sure why you're disagreeing with Jack's point of view gestures at the USA
Maybe the human mind is capable of all possible action…driven by SELF-interest: whatever the mind believes?
Just look @ the comments @ Ozbargain.
Won't be long before this post will be deleted as a Thought Crime
you might like to add Brave New World to the list
https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0CFT773QL
Love this book. Got an A on my English exam for it in Grade 11. Didnt finish the book…..best result I got in high school. The rest was filled with disappointment
Bought TV series version on ATV+ (assume other streamers)
Jessica Brown Findlay as Lenina Crowne made it memorable and not at all disappointing.
Not quite the same as the book though, particularly the ending.
We did 1984 and Brave New World as a reading set in fifth form in 1978. Thoroughly recommend both books and they are both becoming more and more relevant as we go along.
Literally 1984 /s
In 1984 ~ ‘Old MacDonald’ had an Animal Farm.
Hiya Hiya Yo! 😭
Release the Epstein Files!!!
There is no files, just flies MAGA lol
apparently there are some court sealed files on individuals, but not a “list”.
There is an article by Epstein’s Lawyer in today’s The Australian pouring cold water on a list, and situation based on knowledge of and statements by Epstein himself.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/the-inside-scoop….
seeing how the Oz is subscription only, here are some excerpts:
*“ I was Jeffrey Epstein’s lawyer [Alan Dershowitz] I know the facts, some of which I can’t disclose because it is privileged or subject to court-imposed sealing orders. But what I can disclose makes several important things clear.
Epstein never created a “client list”. The FBI interviewed alleged victims who named several “clients”. These names have been redacted. They should be disclosed, but the courts have ordered them sealed. I know who they are. They don’t include any current officeholders.
We don’t know whether the accusations are true. The courts also have sealed negative information about some of the accusers to protect them.
Neither the Justice Department nor private defence lawyers are free to disregard court sealing orders. The media can and should petition the courts for the release of all names and information so the public can draw its own conclusions.”*
Dershowitz then goes on to say that he believes Epstein did kill himself (the subject of many conspiracy theories and very funny memes):
*“ It is clear from the evidence that Epstein committed suicide. What isn’t clear is whether he was assisted by jail personnel. That seems likely to me, based on the evidence of allegedly broken cameras, transfer of his cellmate and the absence of guards during relevant time periods.
I have absolutely no doubt that Epstein never worked for any intelligence agency. If he had he would surely have told me and his other lawyers, who would have used that information to get him a better deal. ”*
If there was any list I bet Trump’s name would be on it. No wonder Trump is going ballistic at the MAGA mob that is demanding answers. I suspect this little wagon has got away from Trump.
@try2bhelpful: Unlikely as he refused to let Epstein anywhere near his properties. And as above,
“ They should be disclosed, but the courts have ordered them sealed. I know who they are. They don’t include any current officeholders.”
@dins: Is Trump Derangement Syndrome one of the thousands of adverse reactions you can get after getting one of DJ Trump's miracle Warpspeed jabs (which he wanted everyone to call "Trumpcines" because he's just so god damned proud of it)?
@entropysbane: Keep thinking that. Trump knew Epstein and has form on walking into the change rooms of young beauty pageant contestants.
@dins: I don’t need to “think”, I know. This is fact. Something you seem to have trouble understanding. Trump is record bragging about sexually assaulting women and a judge found that he sexually assaulted a woman.
@try2bhelpful: So from that you conclude he's a pedo? 👏
For argument's sake if that's all the dirt they have on him, having been a well-known public figure since what the 80's, fair to say that it's more of a nothingburger than anything else.
Hate to break it to ya but a lot of these politicians, celebrities, billionaires, multi-millionaires etc have way more and way worse skeletons in their closets, guaranteed.
@dins: Being a pedo is just one of his many crimes that he gets away with because he is rich. Because he is President he can’t be prosecuted for anything, as the stacked Supreme Court has said.
@try2bhelpful: Trump was pretty much idolized by the establishment and MSM before he ran for presidency.
Only when he started running for POTUS they started mocking him claiming he had no chance and calling him all sorts.
Then to their shock horror when Trump won they tried to make him out to be a Russian asset and when that didn't work attacked him profusely via MSM for anything and everything.
Then they installed a senile puppet as POTUS and a DEI clown as his sidekick and continued to gaslight and con the world and went about running the country into the ground.
Then for awhile they forgot about Trump but when he decided to run for a second term they again ridiculed his chances and started attacking him via MSM 24/7.
Then when that wasn't working they waged lawfare to disrupt his campaign and tried to bankrupt him.
Then when they realised that their psyop was not working as intended and instead people were starting to see through their BS they tried to kill Trump via stochastic terrorism by calling him a Nazi, a dictator and a threat to democracy.
So no you don't need Google. What you need is a bit of critical thinking.
"The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command."
George Orwell
@dins: Americans have an excuse for being like this, but it's fascinating to see people who don't have all of the disadvantages of Americans behave the same way. (I nearly said "think," but that would clearly be incorrect.)
@dins: Nah mate. Trump has never been idolised by anyone with a brain.
You need critical thinking and Google. Please engage both.
@try2bhelpful: I don't need Google because I lived it.
Before he ran for presidency and MSM started attacking him 24/7 his popularity (the good kind) was right up there.
This for instance was an interview with him on the View of all places back in 2011.
You can't even imagine this happening now one and a half decades later.
How dare he secure his nation's borders, deport terrorists/criminals and illegals, strengthen the economy especially manufacturing, try to stop Iran from acquiring nukes and ICBMs, fight against censorship of citizens and indoctrination in schools and colleges, wage war on drugs especially fentanyl, protect women's sports and spaces, and basically try to stop globalists and anti-West forces from destroying the country.
@dins: Blah, blah, blah. Stop drinking the Trump KoolAid and do some real investigation, all Trump is interested in is making himself rich. Everything else is completely ineffective or counterproductive for the good of America. It is really pathetic some people can’t use cool logic instead of blind obedience. The war on drugs is completely stupid as most of the fentanyl is from America but he isn’t trying to stop that. He is using it as an excuse to come up with stupid taxes that will hit the American people hardest.
@dins: Well the MAGA sure are proud of their ignorance. They refuse to go out and look for evidence and facts.
Just what someone on the list would say!
Another edition of 1984 is also free on Kindle: https://www.amazon.com.au/1984-George-Orwell-ebook/dp/B0D5QT…
Cheers. I’ll add to the OP.
It's also free on Gutenberg Australia, because it's in the public domain now https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100021.txt
Any idea what the difference is between the two editions?
Seems to be just layout differences.
1984 in the public domain means any press can publish it, for profit or not.
this book is fake news
Written by Obama, Crooked Hillary, Biden and Comey
Hey everyone! This guy's satire is too subtle, get him!
Definitely. Complete fiction.
"It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.” - George Orwell,1984
criticize the government as much as you want
If you criticise Trump, strong chance won't be allowed to enter the US
Is there an example of this happening?
Only for people who can read, unfortunately.
@mickeyjuiceman: Reading is unironically proganda.
Had to read so many gay DEI texts in HS, and got faililng grades for them. We read a book about an autistic dude, and I got written up, for suggesting we discipline him. Psychopath bit children for god sakes. He was also super smart. He may never understand that biting children is wrong, but if you beat him enough, he will learn not to. But noooo, apparently DEI doesn't allow that. All opinions are correct, but mine are always wrong. For all the shit about diversity/cultyre they preach in English, they really don't allow us to put our own culture in our damn eassyas.
Any text good enough, will be converted to a tv show/movie. And even then many TV shows are DEI/WOKE. You(2018) had a transgender chareacter, and I didn't figure out that HE was transgender, until I checked the actors. And one of the girls was so so ugly. I thought she was transgender, until i read she was born female. Super ugly, don't know why they hired her.
how many examples do you want:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politic…
https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/incidents/tour…
@battler: Mads wasn’t banned for trolling JD Vance — he was denied entry because he casually told US officials he used drugs.
Turns out honesty isn’t always the best policy when chatting with Homeland Security.
@Ju5t1n: If you read the articles they were itching for anything to ban him and that is what they finally decided on. They are people who have been banned from going in because they have social posts critical of the current administration.
Username checks out.
Hmm.
"The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command." George Orwell, 1984.
And I fondly remember the recent years of tyranny especially the NZ Prime Minister… "We will continue to be your single source of truth," and, "Unless you hear it from us it is not the truth."
And no, there are a lot of things you can't say any more. It may not be specifically the government that isn't allowing it.. but workplaces are essentially the government now, if you have any opinion on the wrong side of many topics, you're gone the same day.
years of tyranny
Have you even read 1984?
War is peace
Unless you're talking about Russia, North Korea, in some respects China, etc
These countries represent more than 20% of the global population and more than 22% of the global economy.
Reverse that: US/UK look like 1984 to China, Russia… CiA dir William Casey 1980s 'We'll know our dis-information program is complete when everything the American (Anglo) public believes is false' :( Congrats - you passed the test of dis-information
I think one of those snorted forks must have become lodged in someone's brain.
Ignorance is strength
Some other countries are more overt in their authoritarianism, at least according to 'mainstream' media which is all basically owned by a small handful of oligarchs, so that means our nation is not authoritarian.
And you also get to throw your vote and 49% of everyone elses votes in your electorate in the bin every 3 years. And then in the interim you get to have basically the same policies pushed by both 'sides' in our country as is being pushed in most other countries at about the same time, and despite those policies not coming from the people it just means democracy is working guys.
Don't think too hard about it. Or anything.
Did you catch the latest sportsball game?
"The OzBargainers moved in vast digital herds, ceaselessly clicking, scrolling, refreshing — their lives a liturgy of coupons and codes, cashback and clearance. They were permitted everything and yet wanted nothing that could not be shipped express. To them, the highest good was a price error honoured; the gravest injustice, a deal expired. No doctrine governed them, save the belief that value could be extracted from the system with sufficient vigilance. The Party, if they knew of it, was a poor competitor to Amazon and Kogan. Their rebellion, if it existed, was transactional — a defiance measured in cents. And so they lived, chattering in forums, upvoting en masse, their collective power immense, their will dormant, their freedom a function of frugality." - George Orwell, 1984
I upvoted this but that wasn't enough. Well done!
🤣 Did you actually write all that? Or GPT? So funny.
This is gold. You have my upvote, Sir.
They are keeping an eye on who is downloading this book ;)
Buy it in cash from the copies desolute from high school english literature graduates, that now fill suburban op shops.
Bezos cannot then take it away from you.
1984, 2019.
Jackson Hole
"So much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot."
George Orwell
The irony of that getting a neg…
Nobody could have said it better - and today we're seeing this in spades.
I'm assuming you and the commenters above don't know the context of this quote.
If you assume this quote is relevant to what "left-wing" means today, you don't really know the context.
At the time Orwell wrote this (1940, which is 85 years ago, well before the end of WW2, and seven years before Orwell wrote 1984), the term "left-wing" had a different connotation that it does now.
Nowadays "left-wing" is associated with support for progressive taxation, equal rights, universal healthcare, anti-discrimination, environmentalism, etc.
However, in 1940, left-wing was often associated with support for communism, revolution, Stalinism, pro-USSR sentiment, etc.
Many people at the time were not yet aware of the horrors of Stalinism as Orwell was.
Orwell had a very active, well-connected life, with hands-on political experiences that a typical person would not have had.
In the article this quote was taken from (it was actually a book review), Orwell is criticizing specific academics and writers at the time who were affiliated with the British Communist party and/or sympathetic to the Soviet Union. These were radical leftists who romanticized socialist/communist revolution, but had no experience or direct knowledge of its consequences. They were kind of hypocrites, living a free and luxurious life while advocating for the kind of thing that destroys civil society and all its freedoms and luxuries.
For you to take this quote out of context and pretend that it is relevant to left-wing thought in Australia or the US/Europe today indicates you are either completely lacking knowledge about the context, or are one of those people who like to oversimplify and generalize everything to soundbites that are not representative of reality.
If you are actually in tune with what's going on these days it should be fairly obvious that the Left, especially throughout most of the West, has been hijacked by extremists, to the point that they don't even know what a woman or terrorist is or why it's important to protect your borders or why censorship is bad etc.
The last paragraph of yours pretty much described yourself which is quite hilarious. Time to wake up and smell the coffee! ☕
I think even you would agree that is a simplistic view.
Give it 6 months and then the eSafety Karen won't let you read this anymore
This book Is Extremely Dangerous To Our Democracy
The 14-year-old boy reading this book in China would never have imagined that it would lead him to live in another country after ten years
Is that boy you?
:)
Can someone share this free book link with the e-Karen? It is free!!
I have an au amazon account and it says the book isn't available in my location!!?!?
That's called censorship
Call it what you like. Id rather live in 1984 than this "its all about me society"
Time to buy a tool to tell them its not.
Be careful what you wish for!
![[eBook] Free - 1984 and Animal Farm by George Orwell @ Amazon AU](https://files.ozbargain.com.au/n/03/915903.jpg?h=eff11d03)
Sigh. They were supposed to be warnings, not the playbook.