Zach McCarthy

[Zach McCarthy @Z__McCarthy]

With all the fading into the background and spotty memory, Mr. Charrington seems like a wraith of the past, half-remembered and slowly fading away, just like people’s memories of history before Big Brother started putting history into a word processor

[Zach McCarthy @Z__McCarthy]

@liammurphyreads It’s really weird that the bombings don’t receive more than passing mentions, but the ways he can misstep are at least in areas he can control and do something (maybe) about within the extremely narrow bounds of “acceptable” in his society, so it’s a twisted sort of practicality?

[Zach McCarthy @Z__McCarthy]

Winston brings up his weird trust in O’Brien on page 152, and the trust that he seems to have in the man with having shared a single glance is really suspicious to me

[Zach McCarthy @Z__McCarthy]

@nick_popolizio The amount of fatalism built into Winston’s thought process is kind of sad and horrifying at the same time, but I can’t say that it’s entirely wrong when things like Syme’s “termination” seem to be regular

[Zach McCarthy @Z__McCarthy]

@Giovannacanread @nick_popolizio I agree, the treatment of the proles was really unnerving because they were glorified in the "official propaganda" while being seen as less than human in actual society.

[Zach McCarthy @Z__McCarthy]

@nick_popolizio He really just idly comments on it, kicks a severed human hand into the gutter, and then goes on with his day, like it's just another Tuesday. Don't know what's more unsettling, that Winston's that apathetic or the event is that common.

[Zach McCarthy @Z__McCarthy]

Mr. Charrington's remark on page 97 that the telescreens were too expensive makes me question why the society of 1984 didn't enforce or subsidize the telescreens. Maybe it's a comment on how the lower classes' lives did not noticeably change after the transition of power?

[Zach McCarthy @Z__McCarthy]

The purpose of Newspeak seems like watching a disaster imo: horrifyingly fascinating, since the removal of any specificity or nuance for the broad purpose of speaking in concepts seems to be almost inhuman, since I don't think any spoken language only conveys narrow concepts

[Zach McCarthy @Z__McCarthy]

@jam_vico I agree, and I think the most unnerving thing about Winston's recollection is that he could remember that things were left out of the history books of Big Brother and that they are intentionally incomplete.

[Zach McCarthy @Z__McCarthy]

"Nothing was your own but the few cubic centimeters inside your skull" (47), sums up the extent of both the surveillance of 1984 and the permeation of propaganda in that society, since the citizens could not escape government surveillance or the propaganda burrowing into them

[Zach McCarthy @Z__McCarthy]

@EvahernandezBC I agree with that, the most unsettling part of the depiction of the Parsons children was how they idolized the thought police through their Junior Spies uniforms and how excited they were about the hanging, it was like going to see a movie in normal society, seemingly normal.

[Zach McCarthy @Z__McCarthy]

I think the most concerning thing to me about the telescreen in 1984, besides the criminal breach of privacy, is that it cannot be turned off, only lowered, so any propaganda, which seems to be the only transmission, is always unconsciously absorbed by anyone around it.

[Zach McCarthy @Z__McCarthy]

If Le Bon dislikes any established belief, whether it's religious or scientific (92), I am curious how he took his psychology and anthropology seriously or anyone else's work, for that matter.

[Zach McCarthy @Z__McCarthy]

@IggyIm22 The stubbornness of people like flat-earthers and various conspiracy theorists can also be rooted in a sense that they are "special and superior" compared to those that do not share their beliefs.

[Zach McCarthy @Z__McCarthy]

@nick_popolizio Agreed, I don't know if the average person heard Le Bon around that silver spoon that he had in his mouth.

[Zach McCarthy @Z__McCarthy]

I am really confused by Le Bon's attempt to connect education with criminality as a way to discredit education, he's like halfway to understanding that his contemporary society had problems that educated people were criticizing, but he kind of loops around to denounce the critics

[Zach McCarthy @Z__McCarthy]

I find it interesting how as much as Le Bon seems to despise crowds, he at least acknowledges that good can come of them. I was not expecting that given how much he seems to look down on mob mentality.

[Zach McCarthy @Z__McCarthy]

@Giovannacanread I'm also curious about that, since what can be construed as the "common good" depends on what group benefits and what the cost is, like many urban renewal programs throughout history, which were supposed to be "good" but ended up screwing up many communities.

[Zach McCarthy @Z__McCarthy]

@PVMHardClass I agree, the ideas of "I can do this with little to no repercussions", "No one will know it was me" and "Everyone else is doing it, so it must be ok" is a dangerous mix.

[Zach McCarthy @Z__McCarthy]

Le Bon's line about crowds making individuals "become an automaton who has ceased to be guided by his will" (8), gives me "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream" vibes.