evelynwaughblack:

❝It is wrong to constrain political thought, even bad political thought. And if the targets of political correctness have changed over the years, its power over what gets printed, heard, or seen has not.

This may, in fact, be more a problem now than then.

England has no written constitution, and therefore no First Amendment. But even if there had been a British Bill of Rights it would have offered no protection to Orwell in this matter.

The First Amendment does not require a publisher to print anything the publisher doesn’t want to—because publishers have rights, too. If a law were passed prohibiting the expression of certain views, it would be held unconstitutional. But political correctness is not a law. That’s why it’s so dangerous. Its victims have no constitutional protections. And even today it prevents the expression of uncomfortable truths more effectively than any statute ever could.

If Orwell were with us today, he would probably welcome the Internet blogs as an alternative to the mainstream political correctness that almost kept him from print. (He would have faulted the blogs on other grounds.)

Of course, Orwell is with us today, but that was a very close call ❞

David Lebedoff, The Same Man: George Orwell and Evelyn Waugh in Love & War, 2008

“If you had asked me why I had joined the militia I should have answered: ‘To fight against Fascism,’ and if you had asked me what I was fighting for, I should have answered: 'Common decency.“ 

“When you are taking part in events like these you are, I suppose, in a small way, making history, and you ought by rights to feel like an historical character. But you never do, because at such times the physical details always outweigh everything else. Throughout the fighting I never made the correct analysis of the situation that was so glibly made by journalists hundreds of miles away.” 

I picked up HTC before I went on holiday to Barcelona and after I finished ‘A short introduction to the Spanish Civil War.’ George Orwell, despite being an icon for right wingers, was a trot who fought with the POUM during the Spanish Civil War. 

In HTC, Orwell fondly recounts the men he served with, their military operations (or lack thereof) and vents his frustration at how the war progressed. Later, he recalls his anger at how the Republic’s government managed the water and, in his opinion, betrayed his comrades and the working class. Orwell is disillusioned with the war by the end of book but clearly still passionate about its ideals. This is a gritty account of the war, far from the glossy propaganda pictures that adorn the internet. This is an outsider’s perspective on the war but an interesting one. 

Some of the books i’ve read this year so far: “Zaman Makinesi (The Time Machine)” by H. G. Wells, “On Küçük Zenci (And Then There Were None)” by Agatha Christie, “1984” by George Orwell, “Bir Mars Destanı (A Martian Odyssey and Selected Stories)” by Stanley G. Weinbaum, “Bir Noel Şarkısı (A Christmas Carol)” by Charles Dickens.