also vis a vis "I can't believe these fascists are destroying the scientific institutions", I would like to remind everyone that albert einstein was german before he was american
Replies
i think this specifically is because the nazis get mythologized as having incredible engineers and being ruthless but competent
aug 31, 2025, 1:11 am • 3 0 • view
weimar germany was actually a bit of a globally renowned intellectual and scientific powerhouse until it got taken over by people who thought the theory of relativity was a piece of jewish trickery meant to deceive them
aug 31, 2025, 12:19 am • 265 49 • view
“Jewish science” (sneer)
aug 31, 2025, 12:24 am • 15 1 • view
It’s the same reaction the contemporary US far right has had to relativity.
aug 31, 2025, 12:25 am • 19 1 • view
fascism is almost definitionally rule by the most ignorant, so going "wow their ignorance goes beyond fascism" is like saying it's bizarre for a fish to swim well. it's not, in fact it's in their very nature. if they weren't violently ignorant, they would have self-selected out of the party by now
aug 31, 2025, 12:22 am • 261 52 • view
Orwell portrays this quite well in _1984_. Indeed, one of the mottos of the Ingsoc government is "Ignorance is Strength". Party loyalty is measured by one's ability to enthusiastically embrace all the official lies and contradictions.
aug 31, 2025, 5:50 am • 12 1 • view
1984 is more broadly critical of authoritarianism, and largely draws from both the fascists in Spain as well as his experience working for Britain's ministry of war in ww2.
aug 31, 2025, 10:49 pm • 1 0 • view
Hm, I think 1984 kinda gets it wrong, because it portrays the fascist government as self-awarely manipulating the people into the ignorance prerequisite to maintaining power and control, rather than the party leaders themselves being extremely stupid, petty, and vindictive.
aug 31, 2025, 1:53 pm • 4 0 • view
True, but also Orwell is showing a mature fascist state, like Germany in 1940 or North Korea today. People have to embrace the stupid willingly at first. The typical evolution is for a charismatic yet stupid leader to sweep the first generation of popular yet stupid fascists into power. 1/2
aug 31, 2025, 8:37 pm • 2 0 • view
Then opportunistic smarter psychopaths kill or discredit the first wave and ruthlessly enforce an evolving state ideology to maintain their power. Stalin's rise to power following Lenin's death in 1924 provides a good example, though in that case the predecessor died of natural causes. Probably. 2/2
aug 31, 2025, 8:37 pm • 1 0 • view
No I'm pretty sure Orwell's dystopia is just kind of juvenile and naive and that anyone who goes to him for how to approach thinking about these topics is going to be ill-prepared for what it actually looks, and that these 2 posts you just wrote are maybe the best possible indication of that.
aug 31, 2025, 8:54 pm • 3 0 • view
As you will. It should perhaps be noted that Orwell had first-hand experience with this process during his service with the Republican forces in the Spanish Civil War. His autobiographical account of this, _Homage to Catalonia_, is an amazing story and an examination of the dynamics of power. 1/2
aug 31, 2025, 9:12 pm • 0 0 • view
If you're interested, my review is linked below. I highly recommend this book; it illuminates much of Orwell's later writing. 2/2 www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
aug 31, 2025, 9:12 pm • 0 0 • view
"jewish trickery" and it's just the most widely-proven and tested and accurate theory in the history of science
aug 31, 2025, 12:30 am • 30 2 • view
THAT'S HOW YOU KNOW IT'S TRICKERY Because those nasty Experts know big words while the people who think it's trickery can't tie their shoes right on the first two tries.
aug 31, 2025, 4:56 am • 5 0 • view
that's just more evidence of the power and perfidity of the trickster you see
aug 31, 2025, 12:31 am • 19 1 • view
This was such a big part of why they were doomed to lose WW2 too. So much of that politically motivated brain drain went straight to the what became the Allied Powers.
aug 31, 2025, 12:53 am • 27 2 • view
Absolutely. And for all of their monstrous effectiveness in utilizing slave labor for industrial production, they Absolutely fumbled when it came to managing what lands they invaded. Their mishandling of the Czech peoples and, specifically Skoda, meant they were perpetually behind the 8 ball.
aug 31, 2025, 7:14 pm • 2 1 • view
Germany's industrial complex was still based on a sort of skilled guild system, which France and the Czech Republic had discarded for mass production. Kinda hard to win a war when you kill and rob the conquered blind while your home team is being gang pressed to go die on the Russian plains.
aug 31, 2025, 7:18 pm • 2 1 • view