• soft [she/her]
    ·
    2 years ago

    To say a few words about this, we have here our friend and Definitely Real Socialist, Comrade Orwell. Come on up.

    England is perhaps the only great country whose intellectuals are ashamed of their own nationality. In left-wing circles it is always felt that there is something slightly disgraceful in being an Englishman and that it is a duty to sremoved at every English institution, from horse racing to suet puddings. It is a strange fact, but it is unquestionably true that almost any English intellectual would feel more ashamed of standing to attention during ‘God save the King’ than of stealing from a poor box. All through the critical years many left-wingers were chipping away at English morale, trying to spread an outlook that was sometimes squashily pacifist, sometimes violently pro-Russian, but always anti-British. It is questionable how much effect this had, but it certainly had some. If the English people suffered for several years a real weakening of morale, so that the Fascist nations judged that they were ‘decadent’ and that it was safe to plunge into war, the intellectual sabotage from the Left was partly responsible.

    Wow George, um... wow. :rust-darkness:

    • AcidSmiley [she/her]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Reactionaries of all imperialist nations believe this about their own country. You will hear the exact same whining in Germany, in France, even in the US, even though all of these are marked by being incredibly full of themselves and having their own brand of megalomaniac national exceptionalism.

      George Orwell was just an all around garbage human being, this is just as much evidence of that as his anti-communist main works, his inability to shoot at his fellow nazis in the Spanish Civil War, him having served as a colonial cop in India, him sexually assaulting his own cousin, his snitching on British leftists complete with anti-semitism and homophobia and so on and so on. Fuck George Orwell and fuck all the artless, bloodless drivel he's written.

      Oh, and also, fuck the UK and burn all of London to the ground. It is extremist NOT to hate the English.

      • Sharon [none/use name]
        ·
        edit-2
        2 years ago

        Thanks for saying this, I fully agree. I tried so hard to make sense of his writings and life because the mainstream "leftish" sphere holds him in such high regard. I know now that he is kept front and center in order to absorb the energy of young leftists. It would be too dangerous if people found more authentic idols to emulate...

        • emizeko [they/them]
          ·
          edit-2
          2 years ago

          you might have already read these but I found them really good

          https://redsails.org/on-orwell/

          https://redsails.org/jones-on-animal-farm/

    • glimmer_twin [he/him]
      ·
      edit-2
      2 years ago

      that it is a duty to sremoved at every

      My drunk brain has been trying to figure out what triggered the filter in this sentence

      Edit: oh. Oh god. I figured it out.

      • soft [she/her]
        ·
        2 years ago

        https://archive.ph/zDFxK

        I don't recommend reading it. All I could think while reading it was that Orwell was at best being a raging patsoc for an empire that rivalled even the US for its monstrousness. :pathetic: