1984 - Dystopias and Apocalypses - Extra Sci Fi

What makes 1984 still relevant to modern readers is that it serves as a warning against fascism in all its possible forms. George Orwell's service fighting in the Spanish Civil War led him to see that the heart of totalitarianism is about xenophobia and nationalism no matter which kind of government it came from.
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♪ Music: "Hypothetical" by Surasshu

[extrahistory]

The idea that Orwell presents us in 1984 is that people subtle enough and brutal enough can take the undirected dissatisfaction and anger of a society and point it at whatever they will, using us to damn ourselves.

[kebabremoveth]

You should also have talked about the manipulation of language. It’s an important part of the ideas Orwell tries to express.

[TheFireHawkDelta]

"One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power." - my favorite quote from 1984

[harbingerofsarcasm]

Something I didn't know until recently is that George Orwell is a pen name. In reality his name was Eric Arthur Blair.

[TheFuriuswc]

*Big Brother would like to know your location*

[stormydragon]

Subtle detail in 1984 a lot of people overlook: the appendix keeps referring to Ingsoc in the past tense, implying the people did eventually overthrow them.

[floorpuncher]

I just finished reading a 1984 chapter like 10 seconds ago. Did you install telescreens in my room?

[adityaraman]

"War is peace 
Freedom is slavery 
Ignorance is strength.”

[shaddonon]

Thank you for focusing on the *really* scary stuff in 1984--the mental gymnastics we can inflict on one another (and on ourselves). The surveillance tech is of course very frightening but nothing is scarier than what happens in the very last line of 1984. Being mindful--even just putting yourself in check for a moment--was a great note to end the vid on. Critical thinking is something that *many* people simply do not experience. So take a breath! Be mindful! Be empathetic!

[discordingstichery]

I think twitter should be called the two minutes of hate

[DiracComb.]

I have seen analyses from Overly Sarcastic Productions, and Crash Course Literature, but I have a feeling that I will still learn something new from this channel

[yozen]

5:00 Always important to remember in the appendix
"Newspeak **was** the national language of Oceania"
Ingsoc fails.

[Jinglestv-xzhu]

One of my favorite things about 1984 is that I have watched dozens of videos, each detailing, in great detail, what Orwell’s central thesis (on what we should avoid) truly is.
All of them are different, yet somehow, all of them are correct.

[seanmurphy]

I was gonna say, if you think taking 2 minutes out of your day to yell at out-of-context clips of someone you're told you should be mad at is absurd, you clearly have never used the internet. Or, for that matter, watched cable news.

[_lmb_]

1949: In 1984 there will be dictatorship
1984: ONNN

[frankharr]

That book messed with my head for months after I'd finished reading it.

My brother once, for reasons that are not important, decided that he was going to write a paper finding the humor in 1984. He decided that it was, in part, a really bad British boys' school.

[rileyknapp]

Honestly kinda surprised you didn't go into doublethink further. Still really like this though

[Jodonho]

Only two minutes of hate?
Sovereign citizens can do better than that.

[AverytheCubanAmerican]

1984, the year Los Angeles hosted the Summer Olympics for the second time, the Soviet bloc boycotted, and the US won a lot of medals which led to an awful promotion by McDonald's

[blake-]

As someone raised on (and having fled from) a Communist Totalitarian Dictatorship, reading Orwell's books (which, btw, were banned on my country) always felt terrifyingly close to home; how I could draw parallels between things I knew, experienced myself, and even participated on, and how a lot of events in real life took place just as he said they would take. A lot of what Orwell pictured happens for real (although on a much more low-key level) back there....