BC CULTURE

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Meghna Chakrabarti
@MeghnaWBUR 5 years, 5 months ago 538 views

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The faces of the insurrectionist, anti-American mob that attacked the country have inspired me to re-read George Orwell's "The Road to Wigan Pier".

One of his lesser known, but IMHO best books. Thread.

First, so many right wing extremists tweeting Orwell quotes right now, as if he would have supported an attack on democracy. Read his work. Here's what HE believed, in his own words:

Orwell was a socialist. In fact, he was fighting against fascism in the Spanish Civil War when the book was published in 1937. He took a bullet in the neck.

https://t.co/OPFiahKtbE

I'm re-reading the book because of what Orwell writes about class.

Buying plane tickets, purchasing weapons of war and body armor, taking time off from work, that takes time and money.

This is why Orwell is so interesting. Who are the people most prone to fascism?

Orwell points right at the middle class. The "shock absorbers of the bourgeoisie", he calls them.

Clinging to status, for fear of losing it, and therefore prone to hatred.

https://t.co/yX67dgbmCQ

Orwell introduces the kind of "anxiety" that matters. Middle class anxiety that others will rise.

Orwell is writing for 1930s Britain.

For 2021 America, add centuries of racism, party lies, the normalization of extremism, Trump godhead worship, and a society marinated in an ocean of misinformation.

Result: white lawmakers, business people, etc. attempting to overthrow Democracy.

To stave off the threat, Orwell warned elite leftists that they were missing the point. (His critique of them is vicious and worth is own long thread.)

Orwell warned of a Very British Fascism.

It's not hard to imagine an Americanized version.

"The Road to Wigan Pier" was published in 1937. Orwell warned that time was running out. Two years later, World War Two.

The class analysis is just from the second half of his book. The first half is a complex analysis of coal mining life in northern England.

Full book here.

https://t.co/smx7UCwS10

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Thread below

PC: Google

1/

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2/

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