NationStates Jolt Archive

For those who have read the book Animal Farm, have you noticed that our government seems to be following the "government" of Animal Farm? Sure, it seems that more rights are being given to people, but I see that as a coverup of sorts for the higher end of the government. For instance, there are groups who are violating laws in the United States to protect from terroristic threats by invading our privacy and a few other methods. It would not be a big deal if it was legal, but the point is that it isn't. I was always taught that no one was above the law. It seems like if people are above the law that eventually it will be like the country was before we separated from England. I feel like there are too many people in the government who want things the way they want them and not necessarily for the people. Corporate America is just that, it is run by corporations, paying people for a government that runs like they want.

And this is like ... something new? It's one reason the Constitution was written the way it was ... to ameliorate the tendency of some humans to lust for the power to make other humans conform to their own particular version of reality.

Looking forward to the "Foreigners Bad, Americans Good" being plastered all over the place.

It's one reason the Constitution was written the way it was ...
I think his point is that every time you look at the way the constitution is being treated, interpreted and enforced (and sometimes even written), you see a little bit extra, a little loop hole, a little "no alcohol to excess".

It's clearly one of the better first posts I have seen, and so I give it a http://assets.jolt.co.uk/forums/images/icons/icon14.gif.

Looking forward to the "Foreigners Bad, Americans Good" being plastered all over the place.

As opposed to the "Foreigners Good, American Bad" that you hardly ever see. :p

Hopefully, this thread will stay on target.

...or at least be hijacked by me into a sillier direction.

On that note: Perhaps we need a constitutional amendment that will let us ride subways without pants: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10982612/

Animal Farm was aimed at the USSR. It's weird now, they are using the same thing to parody the USA.

Animal Farm was aimed at the USSR. It's weird now, they are using the same thing to parody the USA.
A grand idea both of them, corrupted by lesser men.
I think that's the tragedy Orwell was aiming at, being a guy ready to give his life for the Worker's Revolution himself.

The pseudo-intellectuals drag back Animal Farm... joy

Not only "Animal Farm" but "1984". In "1984" the government tracked other government workers but not the common people. But the hint was that in the future common people would also be tracked. 1984 was 22 years ago. I would say we are right on schedule.

Well, we're still pretty far from the world described by Orwell, because we're still allowed to read his books...however, when the government violates the Constitution it needs to be smacked down.

Not only "Animal Farm" but "1984". In "1984" the government tracked other government workers but not the common people. But the hint was that in the future common people would also be tracked. 1984 was 22 years ago. I would say we are right on schedule.

Let us not forget that 1984 was a novel about contemporary post-war Britain, not a prediction.

Let us not forget that 1984 was a novel about contemporary post-war Britain, not a prediction.
1984 was written in 1948 about the trends that were starting then. It is a rather poorly written book and I wouldn't recomend it, but it traced the beginnings of government information gathering to the point where every government official was being watched. The next obvious step would be to expand that information gathering to the common people.

It seems like if people are above the law that eventually it will be like the country was before we separated from England.
But 18th century British government, even the king, was subject to the law. The trouble was that a lot of the laws were bad ones, and did not reflect the will of the British people, let alone colonists.
I feel like there are too many people in the government who want things the way they want them and not necessarily for the people. Corporate America is just that, it is run by corporations, paying people for a government that runs like they want.
Absolutely right, and if you think that it's bad in the USA, take a serious look at what the USA does abroard. International law and human rights are entirely dispensible when they get in the way of American corporate interests.

It's not the USA. What happened in Animal Farm happens with government wherever you are. The forces that try to stop you doing what you want and try to take your wealth and turn you into a dull work-drone are prevalent everywhere. The United Kingdom is more Animal-farm than the USA.

All the "oh-gawd-the-USA-is-so-horrible" Americans should be glad they live in such freedom. I am British, and although the government appears to give us more stuff, they try and take it away too. Of course however, even Americans should guard against the complacent acceptance of things which take away their rights.

Corporate America is just that, it is run by corporations, paying people for a government that runs like they want.

Better by corporations than by the government on its own.

Corporations want you to pay them an arm and a leg to do what you want.

Governments want you to pay them an arm and a leg to do what THEY want.

Remember, the baddies in Animal Farm were - in as much as animals can be any human organisation - a government, not a private company.

Let us not forget that 1984 was a novel about contemporary post-war Britain, not a prediction.

It might not have been intended as a prediction, but it seems a damnably accurate one so far (we've not got very far into the process of changing into fully fledged 1984. More like, say, 1951.) But privacy and public rights are starting to suffer a bit (not that I think that's bad, I'd rather have my day delayed by a few seconds while I have my bag searched before I get on the underground than be blown to pieces all over Harrow and Wealdstone.

For those who have read the book Animal Farm, have you noticed that our government seems to be following the "government" of Animal Farm? Sure, it seems that more rights are being given to people, but I see that as a coverup of sorts for the higher end of the government. For instance, there are groups who are violating laws in the United States to protect from terroristic threats by invading our privacy and a few other methods. It would not be a big deal if it was legal, but the point is that it isn't. I was always taught that no one was above the law. It seems like if people are above the law that eventually it will be like the country was before we separated from England. I feel like there are too many people in the government who want things the way they want them and not necessarily for the people. Corporate America is just that, it is run by corporations, paying people for a government that runs like they want.

Oh no here I go again, if you really want to know about an animal farm nation, think of Cuba, North Korea for exsamples, now those are real animal farm nations.

I used to work with some North Koreans and we used to talk of Cuba and North Korea, similar and the same.

Let us not forget that 1984 was a novel about contemporary post-war Britain, not a prediction.

It may not have been a prediction, but surely it was a warning or a possible scenario that Orwell envisaged. Your post seems to suggest he was actually writing about 1948, surely things werent as bad in 1948 as in (the book) 1984?

1984 was written in 1948 about the trends that were starting then. It is a rather poorly written book and I wouldn't recomend it.
It is not a poorly written book at all.