A Literary Diversion

Back in my school days, when I was forced to study "Animal Farm" for a term or two, I didn't appreciate George Orwell nearly as much as I should have, and although I reacting strongly to the message of "1984" the shine was taken off of it by the execrable film adaptation.

It seems that the vision of IngSoc lives on -- persons can be turned into unpersons, and history can be deleted to pretend that events never happened, and we get a new appreciation for the principle that "Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past".

And as you watch people post intelligent comments and advice in a forum you are sometimes reminded of Winston's thought, "Unquestionably, Syme will be vaporized ... there was something that he lacked: discretion, aloofness, a sort of saving stupidity" -- although not in an unkind way, of course. But you know that pretty soon all of their helpful advice will be gone and their existence will no longer be acknowledged, because Big Brother was watching them.

You know what I'm talking about?

Of course you do. But if not, here's that book recommendation again: 1984 by George Orwell.