George Orwell - The Animal Farm

[Leonardo17]

Here is a book that I had read years ago and that I revisited thanks to a local theatre play.
 
In this story George Orwell is actually making an allegory of the communist Utopia in his time. While many in his generation saw great potential in the Leninist approach in the Soviet Union and the communist bloc in general, Orwell saw everything for what it is.
 
In the book / theatre play it says “All animals are equals, some are even more equals”. Meaning that the pigs (the bureaucrats) simply became the new masters after the humans (the capitalists) were kicked out of the farm.
 
Orwell has very interesting remarks on the afterlife and the priestly class of animals who are spreading lies about the afterlife in order to control the animals
 
This book was published in 1945. If it had been published today and I had read the book today, I would probably say that the story is an allegory of the Maduro regime of Venezuela or the Mullah regime in Iran.
 
In fact this is rather a universal theme in human society. Someone comes with some great ideas (Karl Marx or the prophet of a religion). No one really understands the guy. The enlightened person or prophet dies. People start talking in the name of that intellectual or prophet. The “message” becomes somes sort of religion with another group of people “guiding” the rest of society toward better days. Then there is the animal farm.
 
The original idea might be socialism, communism, UFO’s visiting the earth, Islam…
 
In the end it ends up being some cunning people using their intelligence to fool other people and exploit them for their completely ego-based interests.
 
/This is why the only possible utopia in this world is the principle of justice (the Maat principle as the Egyptians called it). There has to be limits to everybody’s actions especially the actions of the ruling elite even the monarch himself. In ancient Egypt Pharaoh himself was not above the law and that’s probably how their civilization managed to last for 2-3 millennia.
 
Today modern societies are rediscovering this. We have laws that prevent anyone from being punished unless their crime has already been proven. Our rulers / presidents are not above the law and must answer to independent legal authorities. + We have not divine guides or anything like that. Our spiritual evolution is our own issue so it is harder for people to fool us for a better life after this life (whatever that means)

[The Grand Nudger]

Pharoah was not only above the law, his every utterance and whim was the law, as he was the earthly incarnation of divine authority. As for whether or not the law can ever grant us such a utopian existence....well, I'll give you another great quote.

The law, in it's majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread. - Anatole France

[Rev. Rye]

Umm... Old Major wasn't really misunderstood in his time. His teachings were pretty explicitly clear. It's just that his successors decided to do what they could to gaslight the other animals about what the rules actually were, and could get away with it because A: most of the animals on the farm were, well, dumb animals, or B: were aware of it but also aware that the pigs' power grab gave them no recourse.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

@Leonardo17

We have laws that prevent anyone from being punished unless their crime has already been proven. Our rulers / presidents are not above the law and must answer to independent legal authorities.

Two concepts that are honoured more in the breach than in the observance.

Boru

[Leonardo17]

@Leonardo17

We have laws that prevent anyone from being punished unless their crime has already been proven. Our rulers / presidents are not above the law and must answer to independent legal authorities.

Two concepts that are honoured more in the breach than in the observance.

Boru

But the principle is there and more and more people are standing up for these principles. And the fascinating part is that it is gradual. In the Middle Ages all you had was legends (like the Legend of King Arthur) and in practice everyone did whatever the stronger man told them to do.
 
Then you had the first codified laws like Roman Law, the Code of Justinian and gradually more codified systems like the Common Law in England or the Sharia Law in the East.
 
Then after 1789 we started to have universal principles like the “habeas corpus” (You own your body. The body is sacred. So no one can arrest you arbitrarily. No one can press charges unless your guilt had been demonstrated). These are such huge steps. (in a world in which the leaders of what used to be a very advanced civilizations have just murdered 30,000 of their own citizens because they wanted to)
 
And what is even more fascinating: Ancient Egypt’s foundation was this very principle of Maat. Yes the Pharaohs were seen as semi-divine beings. The very incarnations of their divinities. But they were not above the rule of Maat. Beyond the superficial knowledge, Ancient Egyptian religion has also this strong symbolism that according to many, deals with universal principles and how to be in tune with them to avoid complete chaos and destruction (or that’s my impression at this point)
 
And George Orwell’s book is a clear demonstration of that. You can decide to “kick out all the humans so the animals can be free and happy”. Well, will they really be free and happy when the humans are gone? – That’s the whole issue

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

^Same response.

Boru