"fascistic disposition" paragraph

[Dave Monroe]

What is not perhaps much appreciated here (in at least
a couple sense the sentence so far might well take on
...) is the ironic voice which this paragraph assumes,
as signalled precisely by, "Now, those of fascistic
disposition--or merely those among us who remain all
too ready to justify any government action, whether
right or wrong ...." (ix).  This alone ...

It is hardly too great a stretch here to suggest that
"all too ready" and "whether right or wrong" all not
exactly positive assessments, though by the time the
sentence sets up the, if not equation, rough
equivocation of "those of fascistic disposition" with
"merely those among us who remain all too ready to
justify any government action," well, again ...

So it's "those of fascistic disposition" et al. who
"will immediately point out that this is prewar
thinking" et al.(ix-x), right on up to and including
and "if you want to call that fascism, very well, call
it whatever you please, no one is likely to be
listening, unless it's for the air raids to be over
and the all clear to sound" (x).  And not the
authorial voice per se ...  

That reenters with the subsequent critique of the
aforementioned, as signified by the change in tone,
"But the unseemliness of an argument [...] in the heat
of some later emergency"--and note that "later," by
the way ...--"does not necessarily make it wrong." 
This calls into question the assertions of the
aforementioned, ironically, perhaps even satirically
assumed "fascistically disposed."

And here's where the authorial voice plays devil's
advocate, as one COULD "certainly argue that
Churchill's war cabinet had behaved no differently
than a fascist regime" based on the subsequent
criteria.  Give, not that "one"--say, that authorial
voice--neceessarily DOES, but ... 

Just as one COULD certainly argue that FDR/Truman had
their "fascistic" moments as well, placing citizens in
concentration camps, visiting horrific mass death on
the civilian popluations of Dresden, Hiroshima,
Nagasaki, perhaps even manufacturing emergencies by
ignoring warnings about an impending assault in order
to incite, polarize a nation to war ...

http://www.unansweredquestions.org/timeline/main/timelineshort.html

http://www.unansweredquestions.org/timeline/

But I digress ...

And then it's back to the
(political-historical-)biogrpahical.  But keep in
mind, GR hardly presents WWII as "The Good War," and
it's just as much "about" The Vietnam War as it is
Dubya Dubya Too ...

--- jbor <jbor at bigpond.com> wrote:
> 
> The second sentence in the "fascistic disposition"
> paragraph explicitly restates Orwell's attitude
> towards British Labour: "(...) well, if you want
> to call that fascism (...)".

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