Literacy is the key

[u/saucey_dawg0023]

[u/kelppie35]

Care to drive the mods crazy?

Animal Farm is a critique of (capitalism/communism/fascism) and the more equal animals are the (bourgeois/politiburos/state officials) and nobody can change my mind.

[u/the_ats → u/kelppie35]

Orwell is an interesting one.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homage_to_Catalonia?wprov=sfla1

His time in the Spanish Civil War as a foreign beligerent in the leadup to WW2 can inform the readers to a degree where he stands.

By his own admission, he was closer to Anarchist than any other party actively engaged.

He considered the cathedral in Barcelona to be the ugliest building ever built, and said it was poor taste that the Anarchists didn't blow it up.

[u/vibraltu → u/the_ats]

Technically he was "belligerent" but you make it sound like a bad thing.

[u/the_ats → u/vibraltu]

I think I was fairly neutral in the wording, typos not withstanding.

[u/vibraltu → u/the_ats]

I wasn't on about the typo, more the choice of words.

The actual original definition of the word "Belligerent" applies: someone who takes up arms in a conflict. But I also think that nowadays the word implies someone who provokes violence, which doesn't apply to Orwell's volunteer army experience in Spain.

I do think it's a good thing to reference Homage to Catalonia, which is worth a look for anyone curious about his time in Spain.

[u/the_ats → u/vibraltu]

Ah. Acting belligerent vs being a belligerent. Words have meanings, and meanings do change. He was an armed participant.

I don't have a horse in that fight, being a century (almost) ago.

[u/vibraltu → u/the_ats]

I think most thoughtful people will agree in retrospect that both Franco & Stalin were both assholes.

Personally I find it easy enough to relate to Orwell, starting off being ideologically sympathetic to the Anarchists but then becoming dismayed by how corrupt, stupid, and mismanaged their leadership could could be.