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How is it that conservatives can use the novel Animal Farm against socialism?
Animal Farm is a book about the dangers of totalitarianism. The farm animals unite around good ideals (Orwell at least accepts the ideals as good), but allows a few of their number, the pigs, to control everything. All that is bad in the book comes from the authoritarianism of the pigs, not from any sort of socialism.
For the record, George Orwell was a Democratic Socialist, i.e. he supported a form of government wherein all productive property is collectively, in some way or another, and government is by democratic representation.
This is in opposition to the Stalinist bureaucratic socialism, which the book critiques, of the USSR. There are bureaucratic dictatorship governed while the state owned all productive property.
I think you can see the difference in the two positions. Orwell was drawing attention to the fact that authoritarianism, no matter its nominal ideology, is not the way to go, and has nasty consequences.
THE QUESTION REALLY STARTS HERE (what preceded is background that would be general knowledge if our educational system were a touch better).
Conservatives use Animal Farm without really understanding its purpose or its logic. If you take it to be some slight against socialism go back and read it, point to me where there was anything that damages the Democratic Socialist edifice. It was a tract against Stalinism and and Soviet apologists.
Nearly everyone (now if not in the mid-century) can agree that bureaucratic socialism is bad. That is the end of the critique of Animal Farm.
When people use it for the purpose of denigrating egalitarian endeavors have they not read the book, have they not understood it? How is it that they use it? How can they feel justified in using it? Help me please.
I meant Animal Farm. 1984 for whatever reason is thrown around less it seems, probably because it is not so transparently satire of bureaucratic socialism.
If you aren't familiar with Animal Farm, here's a link:
<Shovel Ready> I tried to explain why I thought Animal Farm wasn't a useful tool against democratic socialist (and by extension social democratic) policies in my question. Can you explain to me why "Obots" would benefit from reading a critique of Stalinism?
<thor_torkinson> If you enter the three terms, Animal Farm and Obama, into google you will get over 700,000 hits. While I am sure a lot of these are coincidental, from the first few pages, it seems that it is a fairly popular point to make that "if Democrats would just read Animal Farm they would understand why they are wrong." I am just pointing out a misunderstanding.
10 Answers
- Anonymous1 decade agoFavorite Answer
Because by and large, they are, as a group -- highly illiterate.
Books ain't their thing, man.
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See what I mean? The two conservatives who have answered thus far only threw out a lame partisan insult. They are rabid Obama haters. They did not even make a half-hearted attempt to address the specificity of your question.
A lucid, succinct, well-phrased question, I might add.
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I will answer your question.
They are throwing around the Animal Farm reference, the 1984 reference, and the Hitler reference - totally, completely, and solely because *WE* threw out those references against bush for eight miserable years.
That's it.
It is not necessary that there be any factual basis upon which to formulate a reference. They are only playing tit-for-tat.
- MadelynLv 45 years ago
Yes, I do know that he was a socialist, as far as anyone citing these works as evidence against socialism, that does not mean that Orwell was against what he was writing. I watched a biography on Orwell and it appears to me that Orwell would say and do almost anything as he seemed to give himself a free pass to any behaviour he felt like indulging. He doesn't give the same pass to his "inferiors"
- Anonymous1 decade ago
That's hilarious. I've seen people stretch a premise before to make some obscure point, but I think this one is a real hoot. I've never heard of anyone use the novel Animal Farm against socialism...and neither have you.
- Anonymous1 decade ago
"All that is bad in the book comes from the authoritarianism of the pigs."
Liberals want to control what we eat, drink, consume, inhale, drive, the temperature of our homes, the climate/environment, thought, wealth, what we read, banks, pay, credit card companies, education, health care, etc......
You can have your authoritarianism, I'd like to keep America.
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- 1 decade ago
Looking at the world in terms of black and white, and not acknowledging gray, is a big problem.
- Anonymous1 decade ago
They like farm animals and relate really well to them.
Also they couldn't find any picture books to twist around, so they had to go for the next best thing.
- Anonymous1 decade ago
Conservatives lie, at least the current breed does -- Barry Goldwater would turn over in his grave.
- Anonymous1 decade ago
You just suffer from Obama derangement syndrome.
