1984 Foreword "fascistic disposition"

s~Z keithsz at concentric.net
Wed Apr 30 12:58:57 CDT 2003


>>>"This was not exactly Orwell's intention," for
example, or his prophecies, as found in, say,
1984--"in the heat of some later emergency"--say,
9/11--"does not necessarily make it"--them--"wrong."
One certainly COULD argue that Bush's, er, Churchill's
"war cabinet had behaved no differently than a fascist
regime [...] subordinating civil liberties to
self-defined wartime necessity."  Difficult for me to
find most any other significantly different reading
anything but either uniformed or disingenuous.<<<

(1) Fascists say antitotalitarianism is irrelevant in war.

(2) Orwell's antitotalitarianism does not become wrong when viewed from the
perspective of war.

(3) One COULD argue that Churchill was totalitarian during war.

Is this simplified paraphrase accurate?

If so, then how does (3) relate to (1) + (2)?

What is he saying about Churchill's actions?
Is he saying that Churchill was fascist and one is a pro-govt lemming if one
says he was just doing what must be dome during war?





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