What 'Orwellian' really means | The Gray Area

We use “Orwellian” to describe everything from campus dust-ups to authoritarian crackdowns. But what did George Orwell actually stand for, what did he get wrong, and what can we learn from him about our age of surveillance capitalism and distraction?

Sean’s guest is Laura Beers, historian at American University and author of Orwell’s Ghosts: Wisdom and Warnings for the 21st Century. They dig into Orwell’s defense of truth over ideology, his crusade against euphemism, his experience with propaganda and persecution in Spain, and why 1984 and Animal Farm only capture part of his project.

Host: Sean Illing (@SeanIlling)
Guest: Laura Beers, historian and author of Orwell’s Ghosts

00:00 Intro
05:52 Truth in political speech
11:01 Doublethink: holding two mutually contradictory ideas in your head
12:35 Orwell did not support the women's movement
17:27 Colonialism and Orwell's essay: Shooting an Elephant
22:00 What is the value of reading Orwell today?
27:23 Uses and abuses of language
35:58 Why did Orwell understand totalitarian societies?
42:05 What did Orwell get wrong?

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