AGREED

Genius

May have been taught the book as a polemic against collective action, because when you read it outside of the Soviet context and take it at face value, the message is much broader and much more open to interpretation like that. 4/4

Be aware of when determining root causes of authoritarianism AND solutions for it. AF might be an acceptable start to this philosophy but it doesn’t stand on its own as an analysis of its subject or as a helpful actionable philosophy. And given this convo I can see why some people 3/

Maybe makes it ill-suited for Orwell’s intent (either a bad faith argument or a poorly-informed argument about Soviet politics in particular). Your points are a good reminder to dig deeper into causality, because *that* is what will inform the decisions and historical factors we have to 2/

Thanks for your input on this. Definitely a really helpful level of detail. I think it’s easy to see historical events at a high level and assume the problems were simple - some person/people got power and started fucking everyone else over, end of. AF is maybe a parable at that level, which 1/

That’s not how I was taught it. I was taught it as a parable about how power corrupts. It was not framed about specific political stances. For me it was a cautionary tale not to trust people who say they have particular values but act differently. Eventually, they will show their true faces.