I said it a couple weeks ago, the spiders are creating more cobwebs. I have been done with the book over a month ago. Sometimes, I write ahead and queue up posts at the time. Not this time, life has been way too busy. But, no worries I took some notes about what I wanted to say.

From my research on the book, it is pretty clear that Orwell wrote this book as an observation on Communism, particularly the Soviet style. In that vein, China hadn’t even had their revolution before Orwell was dead. So what other examples did he really have? The funny thing is, Orwell was also an advocate for Socialism. That is what I would call Communism’s softer, more attractive brother.

It’s hard to blame Orwell. He really died as Communism was budding. But, he also didn’t live to see that Socialism follows the exact same path as Communism, it just takes a lot longer to materialize. That is my take on it anyway. And I should add that my perspective is coming from an American point of view. I am not talking about countries that have a history of being subjects. To them, socialism represents some boundaries to absolute power (I speculate)

The point that I am trying to get across is that whatever you call it, it is not freedom to me. Even though this was a story warning of the ills of the Soviet Union, you just have a look and see if these things aren’t happening here.

Point One: Rally the people to a common cause. If you were an adult like I was during 9/11 or the most recent pandemic it is so much easier to manipulate people when they are united. It is the unity that enables fundamental changes such as the Patriot Act. Once that is enacted, it is never going away. That leads directly to Point Two.

Point Two: A successful revolution can only happen once in a generation. Incrementalism is the name of the game. I will ask, how many people are looking to repeal the Health Care mandate now? None, its over and it is never going away. People have accepted it for what it is. No matter how radical a change is, someday it will be the way it has always been.

Point Three: When the rules don’t suit, change the rules. This was abundantly spelled out in the book. Some examples below.

  • All animals are equal. Some more than others.
  • Animals shall never drink alcohol to excess.
  • Four legs good, two legs better.

This is actually a complicated strategy. The rules are really used as a division point between the ruling and the ruled. Remember my diversion into the iron law of bureaucracy last week. The rules are to be adhered and respected by those who’s belief is the mission. It is the rulers setting the rules.

Point Four: The tools of propaganda are repetition and misdirection. If you say something enough times in the right way, it is believable. For instance, how many people think that there is a gun violence epidemic in this country? Read this quote.

More Americans died of gun-related injuries in 2021 than in any other year on record, according to the latest available statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). That included record numbers of both gun murders and gun suicides. Despite the increase in such fatalities, the rate of gun deaths – a statistic that accounts for the nation’s growing population – remained below the levels of earlier decades.

Now, read it without full of context. More Americans died of gun-related injuries in 2021 than in any other year on record, according to the latest available statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

If you read further into the article, you will find this quote. Though they tend to get less public attention than gun-related murders, suicides have long accounted for the majority of U.S. gun deaths. In 2021, 54% of all gun-related deaths in the U.S. were suicides (26,328), while 43% were murders (20,958), according to the CDC. The remaining gun deaths that year were accidental (549), involved law enforcement (537) or had undetermined circumstances (458).

I am going to end this line of here. But, how many times have we heard about gun violence this year? I am not saying that there isn’t room for significant improvement. What I am saying is that be careful with the interpretation of meaning. It is true that there was an increase in deaths. Facts are facts, they are neither good nor bad.

I don’t know Orwell’s mindset here. From what I read about him and the book it seemed like this was a persuasion piece in the category of ‘for Socialism’ by contrasting how bad Communism was. It is my speculation that the story was easily transferred from the pages to the reader. Meaning, they got it intuitively.

End Your Programming Routine: If you believe my premise, then I think I made my case. America has jumped the shark on freedom. Socialism is now the name of the game. It is a matter what flavor do you want. Regardless, those tactics in Animal Farm are the same ones that we have here in real life.