@Oxymandias
In fact real life totalitarian regimes are considerably
worse than 1984. You are trying to rationalise it and I understand that because I have been doing that too for years, we tell ourselves they just want power, its just a stratagem to get power. Sure it sort of sounds plausible, but why do all these random people still so desperate to get it all going again, gulags and all? Even if they get what they are aiming for then they are all fucked too. Why would turkeys vote for Christmas?
Go back to the power motive, did it not occur to you that the communists aren't the only ones to desire power, actually everyone desires power and every regime in history has sought power but yet most are not complete beasts about it.
Why does a human want power? To live longer, have more wealth, have a comfortable life, survive enemies, protect a legacy, make beautiful things, be honoured for greatness, prestige etc.
Why does Satan want power? In the Christian view to war against heaven, to torment mankind as a way to punish God.
So really which fits the spirit of the communist's power lust? Fredrick the Great wanted power, Ghengis Khan wanted power but even the latter for all his ferocity and ruthlessness is more human than Lenin and the rest.
Just don't dismiss it out of hand, people the world over throughout all of history have entertained in all seriousness the god hypothesis that we are not alone in the universe, aside from animals, there are non-human intelligences, gods, demons and angels. How can so many people be wrong about that? And if they exist then why wouldn't they be behind the most repellent regimes in history just as the good gods may be behind the most benign?
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annatar1914 wrote:And, Orwell was a Socialist, which fact must no doubt really leave people like Solar Cross scratching their head. But some people don't know what Socialism, Capitalism, or Totalitarianism really is, and is not.
Orwell was a truthseeker, a journalist, exploring the world and people. To know a thing especially as a journalist you sometimes have to wear it, like going under cover. He is a "socialist" yet manages to be one of the most eloquent critics of it. You affect an arrogant tone, but it is you that doesn't really understand anything. Orwell was a considerably more complex and contradictory person than you realise.
Was George Orwell a patriot or a traitor?