It was banned in both the Soviet Union and the US.
In the Soviet Union it was banned for being anti-communist.
In the US it was banned for being communist.
its crazy to me how people will read it and not realize the main point was anti authoritarianism/totalitarianism, and think it was about socialism despite orwell himself being a democratic socialist. Most be up in the list of most misinterpreted writers
It comes down to framing. You put Animal Farm (unapologetically anti-Soviet Union) and 1984 (more broadly anti-authoritarian) on the required reading list for high schools. You haven’t provided any education around Marxist theory anywhere in the curriculum besides “communism bad”. That lets you transfer the idea that the USSR is representative of all leftist thought, and these books are about the USSR. Breeze over all the stuff in 1984 that points to any kind of leftist theory–which Orwell helps with because he expects people to get bored and skip that whole bit–and boom, Orwell becomes an anti-leftist icon.
If Homage to Catalonia were also added to the curriculum, this whole farce would be torn down.
True. without much context other than knowing animal farm was written against the soviet union for example, it’s easy to think that.
Orwell becomes an anti-leftist icon.
Honestly this is a really interesting phenomenon, where very famous figures being leftist/socialist is conveniently left out. MLK, Einstein, Orwell, Picasso, Nelson Mandela. They were all socialists yet that is not taught.
As others have told you, yes. And the worst part is the justification is usually because Winston and Julia have sex. And it’s not titillating. Orwell was not exactly writing erotica.
record skip, everyone stares at HawlSera awkwardly, guns are cocked and pointed at her
Because when you tell a people that a piece of media is too evil and vile to ever be looked at, that only makes them wanna read it more. I guruan-fucking-tee more people have read 1984 now that they’re not allowed to!
Is 1984 banned? That was mandatory reading…
It and Fahrenheit 451 are, ironically, among some of the most banned books in the US.
1984, Fahrenheit 451, To kill a mockingbird and several others were among the banned books in my school.
Ironically tho, Mein Kampf was still sitting proudly on the shelf. Of a middle school library…
That’s funny, they were both required reading where I am in the U.S.
It was banned in both the Soviet Union and the US.
In the Soviet Union it was banned for being anti-communist.
In the US it was banned for being communist.
Orwell was trolling before it even existed lmao
Nah he was just anti-authoritarian and both the US and USSR governments saw themselves reflected in the text
lmao, yeah thats why i love his books.
its crazy to me how people will read it and not realize the main point was anti authoritarianism/totalitarianism, and think it was about socialism despite orwell himself being a democratic socialist. Most be up in the list of most misinterpreted writers
It comes down to framing. You put Animal Farm (unapologetically anti-Soviet Union) and 1984 (more broadly anti-authoritarian) on the required reading list for high schools. You haven’t provided any education around Marxist theory anywhere in the curriculum besides “communism bad”. That lets you transfer the idea that the USSR is representative of all leftist thought, and these books are about the USSR. Breeze over all the stuff in 1984 that points to any kind of leftist theory–which Orwell helps with because he expects people to get bored and skip that whole bit–and boom, Orwell becomes an anti-leftist icon.
If Homage to Catalonia were also added to the curriculum, this whole farce would be torn down.
True. without much context other than knowing animal farm was written against the soviet union for example, it’s easy to think that.
Honestly this is a really interesting phenomenon, where very famous figures being leftist/socialist is conveniently left out. MLK, Einstein, Orwell, Picasso, Nelson Mandela. They were all socialists yet that is not taught.
Footloose amusingly enough as well.
Is it because the title track has the line “kick off your Sunday shoes?”
Presumably because it’s about a real thing that made them scared in the 1800s and they’re scared they’ll be scared of being scared.
As others have told you, yes. And the worst part is the justification is usually because Winston and Julia have sex. And it’s not titillating. Orwell was not exactly writing erotica.
Yes, and I’m glad that it is.
record skip, everyone stares at HawlSera awkwardly, guns are cocked and pointed at her
Because when you tell a people that a piece of media is too evil and vile to ever be looked at, that only makes them wanna read it more. I guruan-fucking-tee more people have read 1984 now that they’re not allowed to!
Points for self awareness, and for Streisand effect.
yes they are literally banned at most schools in my state. Along with books that have LGBT charicters in them