I monitored an English class the other day, and the assignment
was to watch a portion of the film, “Animal Farm”. At some point in time, most
of us have read both “Animal Farm” and “1984”.
https://bookanalysis.com/george-orwell/censorship/
Animal Farm Censorship
Animal Farm, has often fallen victim
to overzealous school boards and the high bar of strict religious or
politically oppressive governments. The book has been banned around the world
for a variety of reasons, ranging from its anti-communist attitudes (banned in
the USSR) and its depiction of talking pigs (banned in the UAE). To this day
the book is still banned in Cuba and North Korea for its satiric depiction of
communism.
1984 has
repetitively been banned for two major reasons– obscenity and supposedly
pro-communist passages. For anyone who knows anything about the author or has
even read the novel, these two reasons are should be striking absurd. Orwell was a
self-proclaimed democratic socialist. He spoke out articulately in his novels, non-fiction
books, and essays about the failings of Soviet Communism. It is only due to the
fact that some segments of the public have been in the past unable to separate
communism from socialism that the book has, in some instances, been banned.
Animal Farm is a beast fable in the form of a satirical allegorical novella, by George Orwell, first published in England on 17 August 1945. It tells the story
of a group of farm animals who rebel against their human farmer, hoping to
create a society where the animals can be equal, free, and happy. Ultimately,
the rebellion is betrayed, and under the dictatorship of a pig named Napoleon, the farm ends up in a state as bad as it was before.
According to Orwell, Animal Farm reflects events leading
up to the Russian Revolution
of 1917 and then on into
the Stalinist era of the Soviet Union. Orwell, a democratic socialist, was a critic of Joseph Stalin and hostile to Moscow-directed Stalinism, an attitude that was critically shaped by his
experiences during the Barcelona May Days conflicts between the POUM and Stalinist forces during the Spanish Civil War. In a letter to Yvonne Davet, Orwell
described Animal Farm as a satirical tale against Stalin
("un
conte satirique contre Staline") and in his essay "Why I Write" (1946), wrote that Animal Farm was
the first book in which he tried, with full consciousness of what he was doing,
"to fuse political purpose and artistic purpose into one whole".
The original title was Animal Farm: A Fairy Story, but US
publishers dropped the subtitle when it was published in 1946, and only one of
the translations during Orwell's lifetime, the Telugu version, kept it. Other titular variations include subtitles like
"A Satire" and "A Contemporary Satire". Orwell suggested
the title Union des républiques socialistes animales for the French translation, which abbreviates to
URSA, the Latin word for
"bear", a symbol of Russia. It also played on the French name of the Soviet
Union, Union
des républiques socialistes soviétiques.
Orwell wrote the book between November 1943 and February 1944, when the
United Kingdom was in its wartime alliance with the Soviet Union against Nazi Germany, and the British intelligentsia held Stalin in high esteem, a phenomenon
Orwell hated. The manuscript was initially rejected by several British and
American publishers, including one of Orwell's own, Victor Gollancz, which delayed its publication. It became a great
commercial success when it did appear partly because international relations
were transformed as the wartime alliance gave way to the Cold War.
Time magazine chose the book as one of the 100 best English-language
novels (1923 to 2005); it also featured at number 31 on the Modern Library List of Best 20th-Century Novels and number 46 on the BBC's The Big Read poll. It won a Retrospective Hugo Award in 1996 and is included in the Great Books of the Western World selection.
Nineteen Eighty-Four (also published as 1984) is
a dystopian social science fiction novel and cautionary tale by English writer George Orwell. It was published on 8 June 1949 by Secker & Warburg as Orwell's ninth and final book completed in his
lifetime. Thematically, it centers on the consequences of totalitarianism, mass surveillance and repressive regimentation of people and behaviors within
society. Orwell, a democratic socialist, modelled the authoritarian state in the novel on Stalinist Russia and Nazi Germany. More broadly, the novel examines the role of
truth and facts within societies and the ways in which they can be manipulated.
The story takes place in an imagined future in the year 1984, when much
of the world is in perpetual war. Great Britain, now known as Airstrip One, has become a province of the
totalitarian superstate Oceania, which is led by Big Brother, a dictatorial
leader supported by an intense cult of personality manufactured by the Party's Thought Police. Through the Ministry of Truth, the Party engages in omnipresent government
surveillance, historical negationism, and constant propaganda to persecute individuality and independent
thinking.
The protagonist, Winston Smith, is a diligent
mid-level worker at the Ministry of Truth who secretly hates the Party and
dreams of rebellion. He keeps a forbidden diary and begins a relationship with
his colleague Julia, and they learn about a shadowy resistance group
called the Brotherhood. However, their contact with the Brotherhood turns out
to be a Party agent, and Smith is arrested. He is subjected to months of
psychological manipulation and torture by the Ministry of Love and is released once he has come to love Big
Brother.
Nineteen Eighty-Four has become a
classic literary example of political and dystopian fiction. It also popularized
the term "Orwellian" as an adjective, with many terms used in the novel entering common
usage, including "Big Brother", "doublethink", "Thought Police", "thoughtcrime", "Newspeak", and "2 + 2 = 5". Parallels have been drawn between the novel's
subject matter and real life instances of totalitarianism, mass surveillance, and violations of freedom of expression among other themes Orwell described his book
as a "satire," and a display of the "perversions to which a
centralized economy is lie," while also stating he believed "that something
resembling it could arrive."[Time included the novel on its list of the 100 best English-language
novels from 1923 to 2005, and it was placed on the Modern Library's 100 Best Novels list, reaching number 13 on the editors' list and number 6 on the
readers' list. In 2003, it was listed at number eight on The Big Read survey by the BBC.
Although the world was well aware of
the chaotic state of Russia under Josef Stalin, the emerge of Adolf Hitler in
Germany made partnership with Russia the lesser of two evils. It was not until
March of 1946 that Winston Churchill gave his “iron curtain’ speech, and it is
entirely possible that he may have been influenced by George Orwell, although and
American diplomat George Kennan was also sounding the alarm.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Iron-Curtain-Speech
John Morrison Birch (May 28,
1918 – August 25, 1945) was a United States Army
Air Forces military intelligence captain, OSS agent in China during World War II, as well as former Baptist minister and missionary. He was killed in a confrontation with Chinese Communist soldiers during an assignment he was ordered on
by the OSS, ten days after the war ended. Birch was posthumously awarded
the Army Distinguished Service Medal.
The John Birch Society (JBS), an American anti-communist organization, was named in his memory by Robert H. W. Welch Jr. in 1958. Welch considered Birch to be
a martyr and the first casualty of the Cold War. Birch's parents joined the JBS as honorary life
members.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Birch_(missionary)
Anti-Communistic sentiment continued to grow after the “iron curtain”
speech, which caused a young senator from Wisconsin named Joseph McCarthy to
became nationally famous – until Edward R. Morrow exposed him as the fraud that
he was, and the Army-McCarthy hearings of 1954 sealed his fate.
He died of alcoholism in 1957.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_McCarthy
Despite the warnings of George Orwell, totalitarian leaders have
continued to gain power throughout the world.
Turkey is a NATO ally, but it has been governed by Recep
Tayyip Erdogan since 2014, but he has held office in the country since 1994,
when he was mayor of Istanbul.
In
the more recent years of Erdoğan's rule, Turkey has experienced democratic backsliding and corruption. Starting with
the anti-government protests in 2013, his government imposed growing
censorship on the press and social media, temporarily restricting access to
sites such as YouTube, Twitter and Wikipedia. This stalled
negotiations related to Turkey's EU membership. A US$100 billion corruption scandal in 2013 led to the
arrests of Erdoğan's close allies, and incriminated Erdoğan. After 11
years as head of government (Prime Minister), Erdoğan decided to run
for president in 2014. At the time, the presidency was a somewhat ceremonial
function. Following the 2014 elections, Erdoğan became the first popularly elected president of
Turkey. The souring in relations with Gülen continued, as the government
proceeded to purge his supporters from judicial, bureaucratic and military positions.
A failed military coup d'état attempt in July
2016 resulted in
further purges and a state of emergency that lasted until 2018. The government
claimed that the coup leaders were linked to Gülen, but he has denied any role
in it. Erdoğan's rule has been marked by increasing authoritarianism, expansionism, censorship and banning
of parties or dissent.
Bashar Assad has ruled Syria since July of 2000. He was
preceded in that role be his father Hafez Assad, who had been president since
1970.
https://www.npr.org/2021/06/23/1009582085/arab-nations-that-opposed-assads-regime-have-begun-rebuilding-ties-with-syria
Kim Jong-Un became leader of North Korea following his
father’s death in 2011.
Viktor Orban has been Prime Minister of Hungary since May of
2010, and is a popular figure for the right wing faction of American Society. Tucker Carlson broadcast one of his
shows there in some of this shows from Hungary in August of 2021.
This relationship
between right-wing media figures and authoritarian leaders is not
unprecedented. For the right, building relations with authoritarian regimes has
been a way to support policies no longer – or not yet – acceptable in the US, a
way to learn from foreign leaders, offer much-needed support and project their
political fantasies for the US on another nation free of the constraints of
American law and tradition.
This was
especially true in the 1970s with the apartheid nations of South Africa and
Rhodesia. Like Orbán, who has lobbied for years to win over Carlson, the
leaders of these countries sought support from right-wing media. They quickly
found it. Upset at the heavy criticism and sanctions facing these Cold War
allies for their racist governments, conservative outlets like the magazine
National Review, the newsweekly Human Events, and the radio show The Manion
Forum rushed to South Africa and Rhodesia’s defense. Manion, whose weekly radio
show had been airing nationwide since 1954, sat
down for repeated interviews with pro-apartheid leaders in
the late 1960s and 1970s, including Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith and
members of parliament, military officials and journalists from South Africa,
all of whom argued in defense of their White-led system of government.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/05/opinions/tucker-carlson-hungary-viktor-orbn-hemmer/index.html
The CPAC clown show in Washington, D.C. ended yesterday. If you need further proof
that the event was a clown show, take a look at who the speakers were:
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/campaigns/cpac-schedule-2023-speakers
Although Donald Trump was one of the speakers, his potential
rival Ron DeSantis did not attend , and this year’s attendance was down
significantly from prior years.
Viktor Orban attended the CPAC convention in Dallas in August
of 2022.
https://www.npr.org/2022/08/04/1115541985/why-hungarys-authoritative-leader-is-drawing-conservative-crowds-in-the-u-s
His visit was a natural outcome of the fact that CPAC held a
conference in Hungary in May of 2022.
https://www.npr.org/2022/05/18/1099680587/a-prominent-conference-of-american-conservatives-is-taking-place-in-hungary
America, of course, has not been immune from totalitarian
leaders. Although Ron DeSantis is the last public official to embrace the philosophy,
Donald Trump took it to another level.
His personal management style led a record-setting staff
turnover ratio. The ratio was higher than any of the 5 previous presidents, and
that was as of 2018. By the time that he left office, the turnover for his most
senior officials was 92%.
https://www.brookings.edu/research/why-is-trumps-staff-turnover-higher-than-the-5-most-recent-presidents/
https://www.brookings.edu/research/tracking-turnover-in-the-trump-administration/
Since he was essentially a totalitarian leader, it was natural
that he was attracted to other totalitarian leaders, starting with MBS of Saudi
Arabia, who he visited with on his first foreign trip, and he also boasted that
he “had a great relationship” with Kim Jung-Un of North Korea. At the same time,
he antagonized our traditional allies, especially those who are NATO members.
Several studies have confirmed that he is either the worst, or
one of the worst, presidents that we have ever had, so the question is why is
still popular with the MAGA crowd, and the answer is actually fairly simple,
and Psychology Today provides the explanation.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-human-beast/202101/why-conservatives-love-authority-and-hate-government
Conservatism involves respect for all kinds of
legitimate authority figures. This includes respect for religious authority and
for government leaders. It establishes men as the leaders within families and
ascribes a subordinate role for women.
Indeed, recent research has shown that respect for
dominant white men is a significant predictor of support for Trump in both
presidential elections even when controlling for nativism, sexism,
homophobia, and xenophobia.
Researchers referred to this phenomenon as support for
the hegemonic male. The hegemonic male is dominant not only over women but also
over nonwhites, homosexuals, and less assertive men.
This version of masculinity is expressed in uniformed
authorities such as police and this helps to explain the affinity between
conservatives and law-enforcement.
It may also account for the obsession with symbols,
including flags (e. g., the Confederate flag), with the Bible as the
authoritative Christian book, and with the paraphernalia of male dominance from
guns and pickup trucks to military fatigues.
During the 2020 election, Trump carried 24 of the 50 states,
and lost to Joe Biden by more than 7,000,000 votes. He was the most popular in
Wyoming, where he got nearly 70% of the vote.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-elections/president-results
9 of the 10 most popular shows on cable news are on FOX, which
helps to explain why our country has become increasingly conservative in recent
years. Fortunately, the craziness of today’s Republican Party led to a backlash
form the more reasonable members of our society, and the 2022 mid-terms became
an embarrassment for the GOP.
Although Animal Farm was published nearly 70 years ago, its
lessons still apply to today’s society. “All animals are equal, but some are
more equal than others” can be seen today in policies where everyone except
white Christian men are deemed to be less deserving. As a result, “don’t say
gay” passed in Florida, trans people are considered second class citizens, and
women are denied the right to make their own health decisions.
If he were alive today, George Orwell would be horrified. He
died less than a year after the release of “1984”. He was only 46 years old.
