As am I. Fear is appropriate when something very bad is coming your way, and definitely better than denial. Fear can paralyse us. It can also be useful. Question is: Will we just stand there and get run over (bad), get out of the way (slightly better), or figure out how to derail the danger (best).
My guess is that the American people are only now, slowly, beginning to wake up to the full danger they face. It’s not their fault - they haven’t had the experience of tyranny. My guess is that they won’t like it, and when that happens, look out.
The German High Command would have said something so simplistic as "Big, Beautiful Bill." They would have likely called it something along the lines of "Sonderaußergewßhnlichen Maßnahmen, i.e., Special Extraordinary Measures. But I made up the term...
It’s an amazing essay, though sometimes I worry that the sheer crudity of our current rulers - their ignorance, their lack of sophistication - will make his analysis slightly less useful to our moment. I’d like to think not.
Orwell was showing how language could reveal the bulldozer behind it; they’re driving a bulldozer over language - and everything else.
I'm truly frightened
As am I. Fear is appropriate when something very bad is coming your way, and definitely better than denial. Fear can paralyse us. It can also be useful. Question is: Will we just stand there and get run over (bad), get out of the way (slightly better), or figure out how to derail the danger (best).
My guess is that the American people are only now, slowly, beginning to wake up to the full danger they face. It’s not their fault - they haven’t had the experience of tyranny. My guess is that they won’t like it, and when that happens, look out.
The German High Command would have said something so simplistic as "Big, Beautiful Bill." They would have likely called it something along the lines of "Sonderaußergewßhnlichen Maßnahmen, i.e., Special Extraordinary Measures. But I made up the term...
I was just debating the merits of "Politics and the English Language," which is one of my favorite essays, and as you point out never more relevant.
It’s an amazing essay, though sometimes I worry that the sheer crudity of our current rulers - their ignorance, their lack of sophistication - will make his analysis slightly less useful to our moment. I’d like to think not.
Orwell was showing how language could reveal the bulldozer behind it; they’re driving a bulldozer over language - and everything else.