/lit/ - Literature

"Wow fagtron you sure convinced me with those hot opinions," by George Orwell:

http://www.netcharles.com/orwell/essays/lear-tolstoy-and-the-fool.htm

Interesting bit. All the modern 4chan debate techniques are on view: "my opponent is an asshole and therefore his argument is invalid," "popular doesn't mean good," "popular doesn't mean bad either," "what you said was nonsense because I choose to willfully misinterpret what you said," it's all there. Even the /pol/ derail!

>>3046838
Well, I'll be it! Orwell I'll be it not!

Nice and easy entry point to Orwell's work?

There is nothing intellectual about so called high culture. Art is just a way for people to establish a personal identity, and high culture is just a way for people who otherwise profess to believe in egalitarian doctrines (such as communism) to establish a barrier that separates themselves from the lesser, unwashed, blue collar peons. There is no rigor, no vetting, nothing that actually measures the intellect of one person in the culture against another or anyone outside of it, merely a collection of names to be dropped and some insular language designed curb accessibility.

The funny thing is, left leaning people who are a part of high culture are often exactly the thing they most profess to despise, namely the bourgeois who produce nothing and benefit from the labors of others. After all, what could be a more privileged and less productive existence than spending all of your time consuming and socializing about art?

There is nothing intellectual about so called high culture. Art is just a way for people to establish a personal identity, and high culture is just a way for people who otherwise profess to believe in egalitarian doctrines (such as communism) to establish a barrier that separates themselves from the lesser, unwashed, blue collar peons. There is no rigor, no vetting, nothing that actually measures the intellect of one person in the culture against another or anyone outside of it, merely a collection of names to be dropped and some insular language designed curb accessibility.

The funny thing is, left leaning people who are a part of high culture are often exactly the thing they most profess to despise, namely the bourgeois who produce nothing and benefit from the labors of others. After all, what could be a more privileged and less productive existence than spending all of your time consuming and socializing about art?

The more I read of Orwell, the more I realize that he was of victim of the same tendencies he saw as failings in other writers: dressing up simple ideas in important sounding language, and hiding his own biases in a veil of impartiality.

What do you think of him?

mebbe i zuk ya dick

>>1031297
niggas-dont-know-bout-my-time-fightin-for-the-anarcho-communists-in-spain

Of Orwell's novels, 1984 is my least favorite right behind Coming Up for Air.

Discuss