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Comment by dang | Hacker News Reader

Edit: ok, you don't like that Orwell article?—we got others. See https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13672556.

> Orwell is great. This article is questionable.

Probably true, but it's an excuse to talk about Orwell and most commenters here are doing a great job of that. How about we keep it up and not take the bait? That would be breaking new ground on the internet.

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I don't terribly mind the "bait" -- it's an attempt to be topical. But the article is shallow garbage. There's plenty of other commentary on Orwell that would better serve as the basis for a discussion.

Two examples:

- Orwell's 1984 Still Matters, Though Not in the Way You Might Think / Charles Paul Freund / http://reason.com/blog/2015/01/15/orwells-1984-still-matters...

- The Importance of Being Orwell / Christopher Hitchens / http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2012/08/christopher-hitche...

Personally, I think the parent comment has done the best job of talking about Orwell and how he applies to our present situation of any in the thread.

I don't see anything particularly ground breaking about us all heaping praise on Orwell, it seems like we all love his writing.

What would be ground-breaking is bait resistance. A community that could respond to the substantive parts of a story and resist getting sucked in by the baity parts would be a new thing (where by 'new' I just mean I don't know of one).

The problem is the story's substance starts with poisoning the well by making the accusation that the state of fear described in 1984 and Orwell's other writing is due to Trump and the 'white nationalists' he has in his cabinet. Then, it gives sparse details about the specific connections between Orwell's writings and Trump, but because of the initial poison the reader is supposed to infer meaning that simply doesn't exist. That's why I called it a propaganda piece, because that's all it is. Orwell is fantastic, but Orwell in my estimation would be rolling in his grave upon hearing that the biggest hypocrites about 'government transparency' and 'fair free speech' in the world are using him to attack their political opponents.

A bait-resistant community would necessarily be bait intolerant. There are many other resources that could have been linked if the purpose was just to discuss Orwell. Orwell has not been voted up to the front page. This article has been voted up to the front page. Suggesting I discuss Orwell but not discuss the ideas presented in the linked article is unfair. The article discusses Orwell within that specific context; it is the substance of the story to which you would have me respond.

Well, the article does quote the seed of that:

> Above all, be skeptical of ... rhetoric ...

Quite self-referential ;)

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