1984

Here's an article that discusses whether Orwell's book is still relevant: http://www.reason.com/news/show/134074.html. I think it is, just for the reasons that the author points out--the idea of masking real intentions or truth with diversionary rhetoric. The piece points out that "1984" has been used by both the left and right for their own purposes. When I read it, eons ago, it was then fashionable to ascribe it as a lesson on the threat of fascist or right wing politics. Hardly anyone ever took the trouble to consider when it was written or Orwell's own political leanings to see that his viewpoint was influenced by what was going on in Stalin's Soviet Union. That's what I thought when I read it, but that ran counter to the conventional wisdom of our Yankee teachers charged with properly educating/indoctrinating the ignorant redneck children under their tutelage with a proper world view. Alas, they largely failed as we remained primarily interested in fast cars, girls, shooting guns, and waving rebel flags around a lot. Jim Beam was also popular. What would Orwell have written had he grown up in Texas? Maybe something about the horror of iced tea or wandering into a prickly pear flat. I once fell off a horse directly onto a healthy cactus and it wasn't fun. There's also a cactus that grows primarily in South Texas called a tasajillo or known by some gringos as "Jumping Cactus" because it has a tendency to affix immediately or "jump" onto you if you get even close to it. Orwell wouldn't have liked that shit, either, I can tell you because I once saw a guy wearing shorts fall right into one when we were trying to get out of the way of a falling tower blind on a Llano County ranch that we thought we knew how to bring down. Bad deal all around in that the blind went to pieces and the poor son of a bitch was digging those needle like thorns out of his legs and backside for the rest of the weekend.