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   Lydia Conwell :mastodon: (lydiaconwell@todon.nl)'s status on Friday, 21-Feb-2025 08:31:55 JST Lydia Conwell :mastodon:

   in reply to

   This is an interesting section from the essay. Remind you of any politician?:

   "As any politician knows, no evidence of any kind is ever required.

   It is only necessary to make a statement — any statement — forcefully enough to have an audience believe it. No one will check the lie against the facts, and, if they do, they will disbelieve the facts. Do you think the German people in 1939 pretended that the Poles had attacked them and started World War II? No! Since they were told that was so, they believed it as seriously as you and I believe that they attacked the Poles."

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     Lydia Conwell :mastodon: (lydiaconwell@todon.nl)'s status on Friday, 21-Feb-2025 08:31:57 JST Lydia Conwell :mastodon:

     Isaac Asimov critiques Orwell's 1984.

     It's an interesting read because it's a critique of a writer by a writer, so there's a lot of picking apart how the 1984 world would (or wouldn't) work.

     And he needs a hero. Asimov hates the lack of heroes in 1984, which I kinda liked.

     He also rightly points out that the state surveillance wouldn't work without robots or computers. And there are some interesting points made of Orwell's colonial leanings.

     I think Asimov is a touch too hard on the book, yet his criticisms seem quite valid. It goes to show that a writer can sort of get it wrong, yet end up creating something that kinda gets it right, and inspires people for generations in a slightly different way.

     Another thing I think Asimov misses is the culture of propaganda, an area Orwell worked in. I think the book is good at propaganda techniques.

     What's also interesting is that some of the things Asimov is dismissing in 1980, when he wrote the critique, seem very accurate descriptions of the present. So maybe Orwell did get it right?

     But I agree that I don't think Orwell was a prescient genius. I think he just happened to write something engaging and meaningful whilst bitching about the Soviet Union.

     https://redsails.org/asimov-on-1984/

     #Orwell #Asimov #1984 #Writing #Writers

     Bill repeated this.