1984 Foreword "fascistic disposition"

[pynchonoid]

> From an article by Louis Menand on Orwell:
[...]
>When people talk about Big Brother, they
> generally mean a system of covert surveillance and
> manipulation, oppression in democratic disguise
> (unlike the system in Orwell's book, which is so
> overt
> that it is advertised). 

Perhaps Pynchon makes such a harsh critique of Bush's
US in 2003 in the Foreward because the system of
surveillance, manipulation, and oppression in
democratic disguise is becoming in-your-face overt
(in-your-face PATRIOT act, widely publicized
detentions and torture, etc.) in the wake of 9-11.

>'1984' taught people to
> imagine government as a conspiracy against liberty.
> This is why the John Birch Society used 1984 as the
> last four digits in the phone number of its
> Washington
> office."

Not surprising to see this quoted by somebody who
calls Pynchon a crank for worrying about the
Internet's current use and future potential for social
control.  The marginalization of those who worry,
appropriately, about the erosion of civil liberties in
the US (by comparing them to the fringe crazies like 
John Birch Society members and others) represents a
propaganda victory for more mainstream folks who have
embraced Bush and his Democrat counterparts in the
U.S. and their programs for Fortress America.



=====
<http://www.pynchonoid.blogspot.com/>

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