"A classic is something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read." -  Mark Twain

I am starting my own person mini-challenge to read at least 7 classics next year.

I adore reading and would read 24/7 if I could. (okay, maybe 22/7 to be realistic :) ) As much as I love reading, I must admit that I haven't read alot of the "classics." The novels that survive the test of time. The books that remain bestsellers for generation after generation. The literary favorites.

So in an attempt to correct what I consider an inferiority in the literary world,  I am ensuring (with the help of my beloved bookclub) that I fit more classics into my reading agenda. At my standard reading rate, to read 7 classics in one year... that's about 1 classic for every 4 or 5 other books. I think that's realistic...only 20% of my reading. I am going to introduce myself to the admired and recognized authors of the past; hello Steinbeck, pleased to meet you Dostoevsky, what's up Orwell, let's do lunch Ms. Austen.

The books I have in mind to tackle:

• Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
• 1984 by George Orwell
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
• Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
• Pride & Prejudice (yep...shocker; I've never read it!) by Jane Austen
• Animal Farm by George Orwell
• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain - (I've only read Huckleberry Finn.)

I hope to enjoy them all and move on to more. Let's hope I don't get ultra-distracted with the thousands of other books on my list.

From a very early age, perhaps the age of five or six, I knew that when I grew up I should be a writer. Between the ages of about seventeen and twenty-four I tried to abandon this idea, but I did so with the consciousness that I was outraging my true nature and that sooner or later I should have to settle down and write books. more

Books online are amazing! More to come tonight I promise....and for all the Queers in the house, check out the I heart Calendar Girls Party tonight at southpaw....the whole neighborhood will be there. Here's a snippet of my Go write-up about it:

I Heart Brooklyn Girls and GO Magazine have teamed up for the exciting launch of the Brooklyn Girls 2009 Women at Work calendar. Famous for depicting real-bodied voluptuous queer femmes who call Brooklyn home, this year’s calendar effectively realizes its reference to 1940s and ‘50s Bettie Page style pin-up girls. It focuses on campy professions; all the ladies are dressed in carefully selected vintage attire and are shot in an ironic work environment. There is the “Baking Beauty,” the “Stitching Sweetie” and “Chemist Queenie” about to measure her beakers, but my favorite is obviously the “Literary Lady.” It’s about time that writers were hailed as sex icons! more

I'll be sure to review it afterwards x

Dateline March 2, 2009,

It has been revealed that the Rush Limbaugh Excellence in Broadcasting has been being transmitted offshore for several weeks. Many in the New Obama News News Media or NON News have been speculating about the whereabouts of the old school Obama non-loving radio propagandizer and an enemy of the people. Some reports leaked from insiders who remain anonymous stated that Limbaugh saw the jailing of blogger riggword as the canary in a cool mine sign that he was not far behind on the Ayers' list.

Boarder Blaster Rush Limbaugh is the new Wolfman Jack:

Many in the NON news community are comparing Rush Limbaugh's offshore broadcasts with those of the original boarder blaster Wolfman Jack from the 60s. The Wolfman sent messages across the California Mexico boarder over XERB-AM at Rosarito Beach in Mexico. The teenagers loved him and his wolfy voice. Limbaugh stands to become an even greater cult hero as he sends his Non-Obama loving messages across the waters into the minds of countless naive Americans.

Limbaugh said to be enjoying great cigars!

The anonymous reports reveal the Rush Limbaugh has moved his Radio Broadcasting facilities to a large Island in the Caribbean that he purchased recently after the Island's communist dictator fled for a Chicago suburb palatial home once owned by U.S. Commerce Secretary Tony Rezko. The Dictator left the Caribbean country in disgrace after he was revealed to be a clone of the real Communist leader who died in 2002. Limabaugh is said be be extremely satisfied with the fine cigars that came a long with the purchase.

Limbaugh recounted in his recent show the actions that lead to the Obamaists take over:

On his offshore broadcast today Rush Limbaugh recounted one of the many illegal actions that brought Obama into power. Last week he cited his broadcast of November 3rd, 2009 concerning George Soros' hand in the Wall Street plunge. Yesterday Limbaugh focused on the antics of the Obama ACORN election Machine. In the 12:00 hour he read from this Michelle Malkin stroy from Oct. 2009,

Lead Story

Judge rules Ohio Secretary of State violated federal election law; plus ACORN victim on tape

Remember what I wrote last month?

“Watch Ohio.”

Well, there’s news breaking tonight — and it’s good news for election integrity. A federal district court judge has found Democrat Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner guilty of violating federal election laws. The ruling goes to the heart of the ACORN-centered voter fraud epidemic spreading across the country. This is the second judgment against Brunner. Here’s the press release from the Ohio GOP:

Court Finds Brunner in Violation of Federal Law
Secretary of State appeals ruling, fights effort to validate registrations

(Columbus) - A federal court ruled tonight that Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner violated federal election laws by not taking adequate steps to validate the identity of newly registered voters.

The ruling from U.S. District Court Judge George C. Smith called the identification breakdown “a serious problem” and ordered Brunner to immediately comply with federal requirements to match voter registration data with the information in the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles and Social Security Administration databases. The court accused Brunner of failing to provide county election administrators with “an effective way to access and review mismatches.” She immediately appealed the ruling.

“For some reason, Jennifer Brunner does not want these new registrations checked,” said Ohio Republican Party Deputy Chairman Kevin DeWine. “Her refusal to comply with federal law raises serious concerns about her ability to objectively oversee this election. It’s especially troubling in light of her connection to ACORN and that group’s stunning confession this week of fraudulent registration activity happening right here in Ohio.”

Brunner’s effort to fight the court order comes just two days after the Democrat activist group ACORN admitted to the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections that the group engages in fraudulent voter registration activity.

Ohio ACORN officials “blamed the elections board for not scrutinizing ACORN’s suspicious cards,” claiming the group “can’t be expected to catch everything.”

ACORN is facing similar inquires in other Ohio counties as well as 10 other states. Members of the group’s “voter-mobilization arm,” Project Vote, regularly advise Brunner on election strategy, even recently issuing a news release that claims credit for Brunner’s directive restricting challenges to suspected fraudulent voter registrations. Democrat presidential candidate Barack Obama also has strong ties to ACORN, working previously as an attorney and “leadership trainer” for the group. (more Malkin)

riggword is the "Canary in a Cool Mine"

"Bürgerrechtlerinnen und Bürgerrechtler rufen bundesweit zur Teilnahme an einer Demonstration gegen die ausufernde Überwachung durch Wirtschaft und Staat auf. Am Samstag, den 11. Oktober 2008 werden besorgte Bürgerinnen und Bürger in Berlin unter dem Motto "Freiheit statt Angst - Stoppt den Überwachungswahn!" auf die Straße gehen. Treffpunkt ist der Alexanderplatz um 14.00 Uhr." (Quelle)

Wer sich hierbei angesprochen fühlt (hoffentlich alle) und am 11.10. Zeit hat (hoffentliche viele), der lese hier und fahre los!

In memoriam:

Nada más empezar a leerles, me llamó la atención que coincidíamos en algo: Ruiz Zafón es una de las personas que peor escribe en España. Y no son pocas las que lo hacen. Por ahí andan, para ellos -y supongo que, en algún momento, también para mí-, ejemplos tan insultantes como Javier Marías (que está viviendo de las rentas que el apellido reporta) o Umbral (RIP, pero que conste que era un cateto y un guarro).

Yo me conformo con saber que, cuando leo, tengo espíritu crítico, y sé distinguir entre la novela de estética con fondo de la literatura comercial con camuflaje esotérico. Saber que El Juego del Ángel es una bazofia y que 1984, de Orwell, merece la pena.

Lo he dicho muchas veces, no es lo mismo un escritor, que un juntador de palabras. Escritores quedan pocos, muy pocos, en comparación con la turbamulta que se disfraza de ellos para seguir sirviendo al Ministerio de Cultura y al grupo de presión Planeta-Alfaguara.

Algún día me atreveré a publicar aquí la lista de los diez peores libros del año. Esperaré, para ello, a diciembre o a enero -cosa lógica...-. Sorprenderá que todos los libros que, a mi juicio, son basura encuadernada, están en las listas de los más vendidos y son jalonados en los suplementos (a)culturales como grandes logros de la literatura.

Vergüenza de país. Si Cervantes levantara la cabeza.

A Dice, desenvolvedora da famosa série Battlefield, apresentou melhor ao mundo na recente edição da E3, nos Estados Unidos, o que claramente pretende ser uma revolução no modo de encarar os jogos em primeira pessoa: Mirror's Edge, que chega para PC, PS3 e Xbox 360, com produção da EA, agora em Novembro, na plataforma Unreal Engine 3, que garante qualidade visual.

Apesar da premissa oferecida pelo jogo, que é ação em primeira pessoa não focada em armas de fogo, não ser totalmente inovadora ( já que outros títulos de peso como Elder Scrools IV: Oblivion e Breakdown oferecerem uma jogabilidade em primeira pessoa não completamente apoiada em armas de fogo, que incapacitam a definição FPS [First Person Shooting]) a Dice recentemente revelou informações que levam a crer que o jogo pode sim se tornar um clássico instantâneo em um momento que jogos originais estão fazendo falta. Entenda a seguir.

Os produtores queriam fazer o que eles chamavam de "Le Parkour em primeira pessoa". Para os mais desinformados, a atividade, inventada na frança por David Belle, consiste em chegar de um ponto a outro de maneira mais rápida e eficaz, transpondo todo tipo de obstáculos.

Na pele de Faith (que emportuguês significa Fé) uma “cocota” oriental de curvas sinuosas, look pós-moderno e integrante de uma organização chamada “Runners” (em alusão ao free runing, que também é sinônimo de Le Parkour) você literalmente corre contra o tempo e adversidades do cenário. Isso envolve também tomar decisões contra inimigos armados até os dentes, dos quais você pode simplesmente correr ou encarar de frente. Tudo isso acontecem em uma cidade dominada por um controle autoritário que monitora a tudo e todos, em troca de uma “cidade perfeita” para seus habitantes.

Faith corre justamente para enfrentar esse controle, circular informações de forma clandestina e paralelamente desvendar o mistério que envolve a acusação de sua irmã por um assassinato que ela alega não ter cometido. Rhianna Pratchet, que escreveu o enredo do jogo, afirmou que sua intenção era presentear os jogadores com "uma realidade em que as pessoas abriram mão de sua liberdade em troca de boas condições de vida". Se você já leu O admirável mundo novo, de Aldous Huxley, você se sentirá em casa, mas a proposta de mais de 70 anos, adaptada a um jogo, parece tentadora. Em contextos semelhantes como os do filme matrix Matrix e do livro 1984, de George Orwell, o desenrolar da história e seu desfecho não costumam ser felizes, o que sugere um possível final aberto e/ou trágico também para o jogo. Espero não ter dado spoilers.

Se não bastasse a história e ambientação do enredo o jogo promete fazer bonito na jogabilidade, dando ao jogador um campo de visão menos "claustrofóbico" em relação aos FPS convencionais, enfatizando a jogabilidade na corrida, saltos e desarmamentos, ao invés do combate, como costuma acontecer. Vendo as screenshots do jogo é possível notar alguns contadores de tempo e velocidade, que indicam que o jogo pretende ter um ritmo bem intenso. O produtor sênior do título, Owen O'Brien, disse que uma das inspirações da equipe foi o filme Corra Lola Corra, em que a protagonista passa a maior parte do tempo correndo contra o tempo.

O jogo ainda saiu da Games Convention, recentemente ocorrida em Leipzig, na Alemanha, com o prêmio de promessa mais original para o Xbox 360.

Se essa correria toda vai animar os jogadores, só saberemos no mês que vem.

Discuta esse artigo no Fórum Omega Geek

In a town like London there are always plenty of not quite certifiable lunatics walking the streets, and they tend to gravitate towards bookshops, because a bookshop is one of the few places where you can hang about for a long time without spending any money.

~ George Orwell, “Bookshop Memories” (1936)

In any American city of middling size there are plenty of more-than-certifiable lunatics walking the streets and making themselves at home in the neighborhood bookshop. That’s assuming, of course, the neighborhood still has a bookshop.  In Seattle, at least, it used to.  Seattle in the 1990s was near to bursting with local independent booksellers: colorful places like Elliot Bay, Beatty’s, Twice Sold, Magus, Horizon, Pistil, and Couth Buzzard, just to name a few.  It also had more than its fair share of certifiables.

Being decidedly unambitious and in no particular hurry to grapple with the duties of adult life, I took a job with a local Seattle bookseller as soon as I finished college, and stayed on for three years.  It’s astonishing to recall how little money I made.  I’m not at all clear how I managed to both eat and pay my rent.  But my coworkers were an entertaining cast and I was happy enough to spend my days surrounded by books.

The store was located near the north end of downtown and was open late.  It was set in a densely populated neighborhood, thick with bars and restaurants, plus a couple nightclubs.  The Opera House was just down the street, as was a convention center and sports arena.  We were a struggling but busy place, and our clientele ran the gamut.  I sold books and magazines to several famous rock musicians (yawn).  I chatted on more than one occasion with Ron Reagan Jr., who lived nearby.  And while he was in town for an extended performance at the city’s Repertory Theater down the street, the actor Ethan Hawke used to sit on the floor of our poetry section and finger through the stacks for thirty minutes each day.  I never saw him purchase anything.

Our location and late hours also made us a favorite with the local crazies.  These were the folks I couldn’t help thinking of when I read the Orwell quote above.  There was the tattered transient we referred to as ‘Redbeard’ who made a habit of leering and snorting at blondes and threatening the lives of random strangers, myself included.  There was the troubled young woman who was always showing off a ghastly open wound on her arm, which she wouldn’t let heal, and who kept a pet rat in her pocket.  There was a tall spindly fellow with sores around his mouth who never uttered more than a mousey squeak but would come into the store wearing a pink tutu, and who once defecated on the floor of the children’s section.  Then there was our favorite, the schizophrenic junkie we nicknamed ‘The Count,’ who was forever changing his clothes and decorating his face (his whole face) with lipstick.  He was harmless enough, really, but had a bad habit of cackling in a murderous sort of way that disturbed our elderly customers and those with small children.  The Count liked to give gifts (I still have a placard of some exotic wood with the name 'Fauzi Daud' carved into it, which he gave me) and he claimed to know Roger Waters and Jerry Garcia and the president of the United States, and to have once lived as a vampire among the Hebrew slaves of ancient Egypt.

Less insane but just as wonderfully odd was the fat-faced man with the tiny eyes who would hold the newspaper up to his nose in order to read it and who never went anywhere without his ill-tempered dwarf friend; or the walrus-like pensioner with a bristly white beard who twirled a cane and affected a British accent while attempting to seduce one of my coworkers, famously offering him, in a lascivious manner we parodied for months, a bite of his “spiced apple tart;” or the proprietress of a local coffee shop, an undereducated woman, who’d once taken a bullet in a domestic dispute and imagined it bought her a superior perspective on life and a homey kind of quasi-mystical wisdom.

It was easy to get onself into trouble working at the bookshop.  There was no shortage of illicit substances on hand in the back room.  Certain kinds of business exchanges were known to take place in the parking lot after dark.  One of my coworkers, a short blond fellow with an Irish temper, lived across the street and would invite us for drinks afterhours.  One Christmas Eve, as I recall, he led us in consuming a great quantity of beer before marching us around the neighborhood to find an open shop where he could buy cigarettes.  On a particular street corner we passed through a gauntlet of equally drunken panhandlers demanding holiday contributions.  Our fellow with the temper got into a shouting match with one of them and we only barely escaped all-out fisticuffs by dragging him, hollering and fuming, back to his apartment.

One of my most memorable evenings at the bookshop involved the death of a goose.  It was perhaps a couple hours after dark when a woman walked through the door holding a big Canada goose in her arms.  She was distraught.  The goose had just been hit by a car, she said, and we needed to do something about it.  She handed the goose, which was still alive but in shock, to my friend W.  Then the woman fled in tears.  Almost immediately, the goose’s neck drooped and it went into convulsions.  W set it down carefully and there before a crowd of astonished customers it agonizingly expired on the floor.  We quickly boxed it up and pranked a new employee (who’d been in the back room) by telling him the box was full of books that needed shelving in the nature and field guides section.  Then we called a non-emergency police number to inquire after the proper disposal of the body.  Two hours later a soft-spoken man named Bob came to collect the goose.  He was so touched by the way we’d boxed it up, laid a flower on its breast, and scribbled farewells on the cardboard coffin, that he wept a little as he left.

My bookshop days were a bit of a low-life period, I admit.  There was plenty of good conversation with customers and all that.  But in the end it was just a low-life sort of place, especially after dark.  I couldn’t keep on like that forever.  I made excuses by telling myself I was playing a Prince Hal role, that I would “awhile uphold / the unyoked humor of idleness” which I was presently enjoying, but that when the time was right I would likewise “imitate the Sun” and rise into some brighter glory, or at least a better job.  It wasn’t the need to impress any monarchical parent that finally spurred my departure, however.  It was the prospect of marriage.  That was in '98.  The bookshop itself locked doors for the last time two or three years later.

Which got me thinking. I wonder what George would think of being described as a "reformed leftist and author"?

• Hard to Breathe:

Spanish Anarchists shooting at Jesus

• Review: Durruti in the Spanish Revolution

Black Flag's review of the AK Press title.

On Iberian culture:

• Kyle: So Typically Spanish, Vol. 1:

[...]I'm going to start a new feature called "So Typically Spanish" after what George Orwell would always remark when a Spaniard, well, did something so typically Spanish in "Homage to Catalonia." The one example that sticks out in my mind right now (since I don't have the book to reference, it's on loan) is how when he got shot in the throat and ended up in the hospital, two Spanish acquaintances that he never spoke to on the front line, saw him in the hospital, talked to him briefly, then gave him a week worth of rations of tobacco.[...]

On democratic socialism in Britain:

• Don't let this be the end of Tribune! Orwell's old magazine in trouble.

From the Workers' Group in the Bolshevik party:

• Manifesto, at The Commune

"Each generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it" - George Orwell, -quoted in the Associated Press

Dateline: Febuaray 20th, 2009

riiggword weblog was ordered to cease and desist operations. riggword the blogger continued to blog on his laptop while being taken away for one world citizen sensitivity-diversity-tofu-vinaigrette-latte re-eduction . The Obama regime charged riggword and 257 other Anti-Obama blogs with crimes against the State and subversive acts of treason and inciting anarchy in the republic. Obama's Attorney General Bill Ayers moved in swiftly using the new Obama "Subversive Peoples Reduction Act" to place riggword and other bloggers into custody immediately under the "Eminent Danger" portion of the SPRA act.

riggwords last blog post reflected on the first month of the Obama take over.

riggwords last post as he was being taken away by the "Obama Youth",

This Obama phenomenon has me saddened for America and Americans. I remember driving home just before the election every face coming the other way seemed to be saying, "Oh well I guess Obama will be a change and he isn't so bad, what is the worst thing that could happen? Many of the nicer cars, BMWs, Mercedes and Acuras in the parking lots around my house and work had Obama bumper stickers. They were all oblivious to the "Weather Underground" lexicon, mantra, legacy and Obama connection.

I was in high school during the Weather Underground days. I was a radical revolutionist anarchist wanna be. My friends and I were cheering them on. I was around Inglewood when the Symbionese Liberation Army hit Mel's Sporting Goods Store; we cheered them and Patty Hearst. My brother-in-law worked there but was off at the time. The Weather Underground and the Symbionese Liberation Army seemed kinda kinky kool, like Bonnie and Clyde against America.

What a time it was. But I have grown since then and It is unimaginable to think that those same people with those thoughts, ideas, legend and lexicon taken over the United States of America from the inside, with the electorate duped into voting them in.

This headline from Southern Appeal let me know as well that we were all in trouble if Obama took his throne,

In 1996 Barack Obama supported same-sex marriage, though Obama supporter, Kmiec, says his present views would likely establish it nationwide.

I really thought the Acorn Voter fraud thing would wake people up. Everybody warned me about being so oppenly opposed to Obama. When that Saturday Night Live shut down thing happened I knew that things could get worse if "The One" got elected. And perhaps the wackiest thing I ever heard from the Obama campaign were these words just before the election, “Palin is wearing white again, inciting the racist crowds. She should just drop all pretense and put on her white hood and light up a cross. She is a despicable human being.” (Democrat Underground)

We're all in trouble now, Rezko Watch, Without Politics and Hugh Hewitt better be careful.

I guess that makes me a racist as well, due to my plaid boxers....oops! I hope Barbra dosn't read this post. Well I am being taken away....soon my computer will be impounded and my last words will be sent out to the blogisphere.....yes.....I .....have a.....few ........seconds..............left.....one more..........word or...two...then hit.........publish.............ok......now:

FREEDOM!!!!

A small group of riggword supporters surrounding his compound

could be heard singing this song as he was hauled off to jail:

"oh don't tase me bro!"

The McCain tried to tell America about Obama's radical connections and Beliefs:

Hot Air did all it could to warn the American Electorate.

McCain goes full frontal on Obama-Ayers connection

posted at 7:09 am on October 9, 2008 by Ed Morrissey

Team McCain has a new ad out this morning called “Ayers”, a comprehensive attack on Obama on his relationship with former Weather Underground terrorist William Ayers. This isn’t just a suggestive 30-second spot. It’s one minute and forty seconds that detail the kind of work the two did together, Ayers’ early political partnership, and Obama’s obfuscation of the nature of their political partnership in Chicago:

(Hot AIr)

***

Michelle Malkin tried to warn Americans back in October of 08'.

Liberal math: Unrepentant Weather Underground terrorist equals…

“…a rehabilitated former domestic radical from the ’60s.”

Who’s shoveling that crap?

You guessed it.

***

Rehabilitation? Flag desecration of the day: Bill Ayers stomps on Old Glory

(Malkin)

*** *** ***

More Malkin:

ACORN Watch: When it rains, it pours

Photoshop: Blind Mule

I’ll be discussing my ACORN columns tomorrow on Fox and Friends at around 8:15am Eastern-ish. New voter fraud developments are breaking fast and furiously:

*MISSOURI:

]]> http://ministroverde.wordpress.com/?p=33 Thu, 09 Oct 2008 02:11:54 +0000 ministroverde http://ministroverde.es.wordpress.com/2008/10/08/george-orwell-e-o-ibama/ Em seu livro A revolução dos bichos (1945), o escritor George Orwell conta a história dos animais de uma fazenda que decidem expulsar o fazendeiro e governar as suas vidas por eles próprios. A revolução deu-se quando o proprietário da fazenda, o Sr. Jones, se descuidou na alimentação dos animais, mal sabendo que este seria o estopim para a Revolução dos bichos.

A grande idéia da Revolução vem de Major, um porco velho, que morre 3 dias após a tomada da fazenda. Ele havia ensinado a dois jovens porcos, Bola-de-Neve e Napoleão, a filosofia do Animalismo, que exaltava a igualdade entre os animais e os tempos prósperos que estavam por vir, deixando todos os animais extasiados com as futuras possibilidades.

No princípio, um dos mandamentos dos animais dizia que Todos os animais são iguais.

Após a primeira tentativa de invasão dos humanos, da expulsão de Bola-de-Neve, da ascenção de Napoleão como líder e da ditadura criada por ele, os animais experimentam na fazenda uma degradação total das condições de trabalho e da divisão dos bens.

Agora, aquele mandamento já não é mais verdade. Estava escrito na parede do galpão: Todos os animais são iguais, mas alguns são mais iguais do que outros.

Presenciamos hoje no IBAMA uma situação de diferenciação de trabalho nunca antes vista desde a criação da carreira de Especialista em Meio Ambiente. O descaso por parte do governo federal com o meio-ambiente fez com que muitas distorções interferissem na Política Ambiental do País, causando divisões não só em uma autarquia federal, mas em todos os postos de trabalho.

No último mês, enquanto todos nós esperávamos a tão demorada assinatura da medida provisória que nos daria 45% de reajuste, diluídos em três longos anos, alguns analistas ambientais já estavam pensando em como ganhar mais com a situação.

Conversas de corredores disseminaram a nova estratégia: cada um por si!

Os analistas ambientais investidos como fiscais, há muito tempo, querem direitos diferentes da classe, nada mais justo pra quem tem que enfrentar as piores condições de trabalho, mas não pararam por ai. Agora eles querem cargos diferentes, com salários diferentes. Querem que seus ‘desejos’ não sejam confundidos com os ‘desejos’ dos outros.

O que já era uma péssima idéia, agora ficou pior ainda. Cada analista quer ganhar mais que o outro analista, por julgar que seu trabalho desenvolvido em uma diretoria tal é mais importante que o trabalho do outro analista que está em uma diretoria diferente. Esquecem-se de que não é só no IBAMA que estão os nossos iguais, mas também no MMA, SFB, ANA e CHICO MENDES.

Já vislumbro na parede, a seguinte frase: Todos os analistas ambientais são iguais, mas alguns são mais iguais do que os outros.

Desculpem, mas eu já ouvi essa história, e já sei como ela vai terminar.

Monday was not so exciting. I did get to sleep in, which was nice. I woke up on my own time and got dressed on my own time. Then, noting that the only food I had was a jar of mustard and some butter, decided that it was high time I made a major grocery run. I went to ASDA, because even though it takes a beastly long time, the prices are better if you have to get a lot of stuff, and I did. I spent like 30 pounds on food, so hopefully it will last for a little while anyway. Ok, really it was only 25 because I bought a DVD, but I really wanted to watch Harry Potter. So I came back, unpacked all the groceries, made some lunch and settled down and read Goodbye to Berlin which was the basis for the play I Am A Camera which was the basis for the hit film Cabaret. I actually really enjoyed it. I also worked on one of my midterms off and on. More off than on really, though.

Tuesday, which of course I always dread, didn't turn out as badly as I had expected. I think a lot of that had to do with the fact that I arrived to my first class, The Bloomsbury Era, and our tutor Mary announced that we were going for a walk. Since the Bloomsbury Group was famously described as "a circle of triangles living in squares" she wanted to take us to some of the squares where they lived. All of the squares are within about a 10 minute walk of the IES centre. How cool is that?

Anyway we started out and went over to see the old offices of Faber and Faber where T.S. Eliot worked for many years. Then it was over to the Senate House Library where such greats as George Orwell, Dylan Thomas, Graham Greene and Evelyn Waugh worked writing propoganda for the British Government during the War. The building looks horribly facist and awful. Supposedly Hitler liked it so much that he made sure it wasn't bombed as he wanted it for his headquarters when he took over London. The building was the model for the Ministry of Truth in Orwell's 1984, a novel that I love.  From there we went to Gower Street to see the home of Lady Ottoline Morrell, who was a great literary hostess of the age. We also saw the house where the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (you know William Morris, Dante Gabriel Rosetti and their cronies) was founded as well as the site where Darwin once lived. In an ironic twist of fate it is now directly across from a major Catholic something or other, I've forgotten exactly what. We passed RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art) which counts among its alumni, patrons, or members many of the biggest names in British theatre and cinema. We then went to see the mummified body of Jeremy Bentham, the great utlitiarian, at University College. That bit was creepy.

Finally we got to some of the Bloomsbury Group. We saw houses where Virgnia and Leonard Woolf, Vanessa Bell, Lytton Strachey, and John Maynard Keynes, among others lived. I also finally got to see a blue plaque for Charles Dickens! I've been looking for ages. Mary also gave us a lot of information so we could go on a Dickens walk by ourselves, which I am absolutely going to do when I get a chance.

The other two classes Tuesday weren't so bad. Lit into Film was blah, but that was because I did not care for the book or movie that we watched this week. I found both a bit rediculous. Oh well. It is over now.

Today was most excellent. We went to the British Library, which is HUGE. As a bibliophile, I am naturally drawn to libraries, and this one did not dissappoint. It is a hideous modern building, Prince Charles famously declared that it was like a "secret police building", but I'll forgive its ugliness because of the treasures inside. It contains some 186 miles, not feet, not metres, but miles, of shelves. The nucleus of the library is the King's Library, which is the 65,000 volume library collected by the mad King George III (best known to Americans as the king we rebelled against during the Revolutionary War) and donated to the nation by his son, George IV. It is neat, but personally it can't hold a candle to the Sir John Ritblat Gallery, which houses a permanent gallery of the Treasures of the British Library. When they say treasures, they mean treasures, I don't know how many millions of pounds the collection in that room is worth, but it is surely up there.

I was absolutely in heaven. On the risk of sounding slightly blasphemous, it was the holy of holies for an English major. I was so excited to be in that room that I was jittery. There was so much awesome in that room that I don't even have the words to describe it. The sheer number of incredible artifacts in that room is mind blowing. Here is just a quick list of the things that I was most impressed with, and it is by no means comprehensive:

• a First Folio of Shakespeare's works
• the handwritten manuscript of Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, opened to the page with "Reader, I married him" on it
• the manuscript of Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles
• handwritten pages of Jane Austen's Persuasion
• Jane Austen's writing desk and spectacles
• the Beowulf manuscript
• Thomas More's last letter to Henry VIII in 1535 shortly before he was executed declaring to Henry that "I am your trew bedeman and have ever bene and will be till I dye."
• diaries or notebooks from Leonardo DaVinci, Issac Newton, and Galileo
• a letter written by Charles Darwin
• an edition of Aesop's Fables dated 26 March 1484
• a Gutenberg Bible
• a copy of Dante's Divine Comedy circa 1444-58
• the Moutier-Grandvae Bible dating from the 2nd quarter of the 9th century
• the Lindisfarne Gospels from between 696-721
• the York Psalter from the 3rd quarter of the 13th century
• a copy of the Magna Carter from 1215 when it was signed as well as a later one from 1225
• a map of Britain circa 1250
• a handwritten page of The Booke of Sir Thomas More that is widely accepted to be written by none other than William Shakespeare
• a 1616 copy of Marlowe's Doctor Faustus
• a 1557 copy of Tottel's Miscellany
• a 1633 copy of John Donne's poems
• the original handwritten lyrics to the great Beatle's songs I Want to Hold Your Hand, Help, Yesterday, Ticket to Ride, and A Hard Day's Night
• Mozarts marriage contract
• Beethovens tuning fork
• Handwritten scores by Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven and Schubert
• the Codex Sinaiticus, which is the earliest complete manuscript of the New Testament dating from the 4th Century.

It was awesome. Truly a magnificent sight to behold. I loved it. I think that it was my favourite thing of all the things I've done. More than the castles, more than the crown jewels, more than the atmosphere of being here. I was just in awe in that room. It was magnificent.

Then our tutor Julie, who is a most wonderful British woman with perhaps the best Greek last name ever, Charalambides (if I ever actually write a novel, I will use that surname for some character in it) took us on a walk to see more literary sites. We did a lot of repeat from my Bloomsbury class walk, but there were a few exciting additions. We saw a house where W.B. Yeats lived. We also saw the church, St George the Martyr, where Ted Hughes married Sylvia Plath. Another really cool thing that we saw was the Great Ormond Street Hospital, connected to the literary world because Sir James Barrie, author of Peter Pan granted the hospital all the royalties from Peter Pan. He did it while he was alive and his will confirmed it. When the copyright expired 50 years after Barrie's death Parliament made an exception and extended it in perpituity so that they will always continue to recieve royalties from it. I think it is rather wonderful that the boy who wouldn'g grow up is directly responsible for helping children who might not be able to grow up live to see adulthood.

So all in all, it has been a great past couple of days. Tomorrow is theatre night, and we are seeing Ivanov. I am really excited because it stars Kenneth Branagh. I'm pumped! I'll be sure to let you know how it is!

Yes Lebedoff, they were born in the same year, of the upper middle class, Orwell went to Eton and Waugh went to Oxford, but come on! Orwell was an ingenious political visionary and fab writer, who lived barely above the poverty line for most of his adult life. He volunteered as a foreign soldier among the Anarchist-Syndicalists during the Spanish Civil War. Waugh was a self-made aristocrat, Catholic, heavy drinking womanizer, who once dined with Mussolini- a talented writer nonetheless.

Anyway, this brings me to the GIVEAWAY!! I have stated these opinions boldly and will no doubt reiterate some in my review of this book for Bookslut (be on the lookout), yet to be really fair, I have read almost every book that Orwell ever published and can not say the same for Waugh. In order to judge him fairly, I invite you my reader to read his classic novel Brideshead Revisited alongside of me and then to comment widely about your impressions. In fact I have 2 copies to give away to the 2 readers who correctly answer my trivia question. Then after you read it, I will happily post your reactions on the BS!

The question is: What is Goeorge Orwell's real name? What did he do for 5 years after finishing high School and what incident involving a cane, did he learn something important from?

Tip: a key to finding the answer is included in this post!

Email answers and your mailing address to: carpetbaggerk@gmail.com

As I continue reading George Orwell's 1984, I observe more startling revelations.

WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

The above mantra is scattered thoughout the book and the statements are the "three slogans of the Party." Let's break it down, shall we?

War is Peace: The only way to achieve peace is through war. Which seems to be the consensus of most world leaders.

Freedom is Slavery: Look no further than the Patriot Act, and the belief that in order to be "safe and free" we must give up our fundamental rights as outlined in the Constitution and become slaves to the government. A pretty socialistic view.

Ignorance is Strength: The ignorance of the public is strength to the government. The less the people know what is going on, the more the government can do to further gain control. Through mass distractions in entertainment (televised Rock, Paper, Scissors?) and disinformation in the mainstream media, the public is kept unaware of what is happening. It eventually reaches the point where society is completely ignorant of the past and present with no hope of a future.

Also in the book, protaganist Winston Smith was employed in the Minsitry of Truth. His job was to re-write newspaper articles to make them relevant to the current time. If someone was "vaporized", all previous information of them was erased, making it to where they don't exist. All knowledge of the past, before the Revoloution, was forgotten and rewritten by the Party.

We have a system similar to that in the world today. As the saying goes, "History is written by the winners." Our schools and government continue to perpetuate the lie the Christopher Colombus discovered America. History textbooks are filled with half-truths and misinformation.

The world of 1984 is a totallitarian socialist regime. "Ingsoc," which is referenced many times, means English socialism in Newspeak. Are we heading toward Amsoc?

Orwell s'est trompé en partie : oui, la société a une tendance "paranoïaque ?" à imaginer des systèmes de contrôle de ses membres. C'est parfois nécessaire dans le cadre du terrorisme ou autres malversations de la vie en communauté. Ce qu'Orwell n'avait pas pensé, c'était l'arrivée d'Internet et encore moins celle des réseaux sociaux. Facebook, MySpace et autres affidés sont une mine de renseignements, du moins je le suppose, pour les services de police du monde entier. Un paradis de l'indiscrétion basé sur le volontariat. Si le projet  de fichiers Edvige n'a pas fait florès, le principe de récupérer des informations sur nous est facilité par toutes ces informations que nous laissons de notre plein gré. Nous sommes Big Brother. Les réseaux sociaux comme Facebook, MySpace sont les télécrans imaginés par G.O. Nous y allons sans broncher. Go !

La sphère de la vie privée et de l'intime a tendance à se réduire à peau de chagrin. Je réalise actuellement une petite enquête sur Facebook. Je publierai prochainement un billet  sur les avantages et les inconvénients de ces réseaux. Je suis étonné par une chose en postant des demandes d'amis en quantités énormes. Sur mes "350" amis actuels, seuls une dizaine d'inconnu(e)s m'ont demandé qui j'étais. Cela en dit beaucoup sur la confiance que nous accordons à ce type de réseaux.

Un confessionnal public, en quelque sorte !

Le Forum des droits sur l’internet et la CNIL ouvrent une large consultation publique : « Votre vie privée vous intéresse et vous n’êtes pas les seuls ! » du 16 septembre 2008 au 15 janvier 2009

Allez y jetez un oeil, voire les deux...

Silence... is watching you...

]]> http://riggword.wordpress.com/?p=1798 Tue, 07 Oct 2008 11:23:39 +0000 riggword http://riggword.es.wordpress.com/2008/10/07/the-mark-of-soros/

George Soros is the "Man behind the Curtin"

His Mark is everywhere, especially in the Obama campaign!

So far the Obama campaign with help from the Liberal Media has been able to keep Soros somewhat hidden throughout this election. Many of us election junkies and lovers of American freedom and believers in American Excellence have know about this guy since the last election when he tried to throw that one for the leftists. He does not have America's best interests in mind.

From Atlas Shrugs we can read,"

"In the last Presidential election, George Soros called defeating President Bush "the central focus of my life" and a "matter of life and death. More here And so it begins again.

Described by the New York Times as "The world's single largest donor" (Dec. 17,1996), Soros uses his philanthropy to change - or more accurately deconstruct - the moral values and attitudes of the Western world, and particularly of the American people. While others give to the arts and higher education or to better the quality of the lives of their fellow men, Soros funds campaigns for euthanasia and to legalize illegal drugs.

Rachel Ehrenfeld, Author, New York, USA

"I am sort of deus ex machina- I am something unnatural," George Soros says of himself." (Atlas Shrugs)

*** *** ***

George Soros uses his extreme amount of wealth to derail America,

Hopefully with the new articles coming out and McCain's new strong stance Soros will be revealed and his connection with the Obama campaign will finally become knowledge to the American voters. Soros has spent years trying to turn America into a second rate country. He would like nothing more than to see his candidate Obama running America into the ground.

Soros combines his wealth with other billionaires to form "The Democracy Alliance"

From MIchelle Malkin's post,

I urge you to read the whole post!

The missing SNL bailout skit — and the Soros connection

"Soros, Lewis, and the Sandlers form a core group of billionaire activists and Democrat partisans who have formed a group called The Democracy Alliance. They realized that they could magnify their power by working in unison and tapping other wealthy donors to further their agenda (the superb Boston Globe article “Follow the money” is a good primer on how money and 527 groups have come together to have a huge impact on politics in America).

The Democracy Alliance is a major avenue to help them achieve their goals. The roster of its growing membership consists of a list of billionaires and mere multi-millionaires who collectively hope to give upwards of 500 million dollars each year to further promote a left-wing agenda. A partial roster of the Democracy Alliance membership can be found here." (Malkin)

Soros Must be Revealed

Before the "Axis of Evil Politics"

Runs America into the ground!

The state of our country and the state of freedom throughout the world is in jeopardy. George Soros and his friends have a master plan to take down America. Obama is their figure head, their Manchurian Candidate. "Soren Dayton of RedState notices that Barack Obama's choice of Jim Johnson (a friend of Soros) to vet vice presidential choices is worse than previously understood:" (from American Thinker). If learn nothing more before this election learn that George Soros is an evil manipulative Anti-American diabolical activist that is using Obama to get his work done. George Soros' money combined with Howard Dean's web savvy, and David Axlerod's political prowess has created an "Axis of Evil Politics".

Atlas Shrugs has more to say about Soros and his plans,

"His treachery looms darkly over the great American landscape. His black hand is in all things big and small. The graft, corruption inescapable.

It is not lost on me that much of his influence in the American political landscape was made possible by McCain's- Finance Reform. He runs the Democratic party party like his own personal brothel and bankrolls it as well. He means to defeat John McCain and install his manchurian candidate, America hater Barack Hussein Obama."

Soros Shadow party means to take America. (Atlas Shrugs)

More from Malkin:

The forbidden skit: Full transcript and screenshots of SNL’s Soros/Sandler bailout satire

NBC is furiously erasing its tracks. Any attempts to upload the forbidden SNL bailout skit skewering George Soros and his left-wing subprime schemer friends Herbert and Marion Sandler will likely be squashed. So, I transcribed the whole comedy sketch for you and provided screenshots for the 7-minute video that has disappeared from NBC and Hulu. (You can see it as of 1:08am Eastern here on YouTube, though I doubt it will last long. Pat Dollard’s blog has posted the full clip on its server. Thanks to Ms. Underestimated for the .wmv file.)

The hits on the Sandlers ( “People who should be shot”) and Soros ( “Owner, Democratic Party”) occur near the end of the skit. (Michelle Malkin)

*** *** ***

From "Notes from a Reired Precher":

George Soros (Moveon.org) Backs Obama

January 7, 2008 · 10 Comments

Christians need to know who supports various Presidential candidates. Candidates don’t get financial support from those with whom they disagree!

Barack Hussein Obama professes to be a “Christian.” [See my Blog on Obama plus the comments from liberal attackers- HERE]] Obama has the personal and financial backing of many ultra-liberal big-wigs.

One of the richest of the Ultra-Liberal cabal is financier George Soros, one of the founders of Moveon.org. You remember them, don’t you? That’s the group who financed “General Betray-us” ad in the New York Times.

Here are some quotes from the New York Times about Soros and his support of Obama.

As for the U.S. 2008 presidential race, Mr. Soros [the main money founder behind ultra-liberal Moveon.org], who gave $18 million to Democratic [sic] advocacy groups seeking to defeat President Bush in 2004, said he supported Barack Obama.

New York Times - Soros Backs Obama

*** *** ***

Another Unholy Alliance

Soros funds, Obama charms, Ayers plots and Rashid Khalidi schemes.

From Hugh Hewitt:

Read the whole interview to learn what is really going on with Obama

George Orwell kommt 1911 im Alter von acht Jahren auf ein Internat in der Nähe von Eastbourne, knapp 100 Kilometer südlich von London, das auf den klangvollen Namen "St. Cyprian's" hört. Shelden schreibt dazu:

"Gemäß Orwells Porträt in "Such, Such Were the Joys" ["Die Freuden der Kindheit"] scheint St. Cyprian's ein Gefängnis gewesen zu sein, das man raffiniert als exklusive, teure Preparatory School verkleidet hatte. Er reißt den Schleier der Ehrbarkeit herunter, und es kommt eine kalte, freudlose Welt zum Vorschein, in der Angst und Demütigungen herrschten. Er spricht von grundsätzlich mangelhafter Ernährung, harten Strafen, überfüllten Schlafsälen und allgegenwärtigem Schmutz. Er führt den Schuldirektor und dessen dominierende Frau als sadistische, habgierige Snobs vor (...) Er behauptet, sie hätten jede Gelegenheit genutzt, sich an der Schule materiell zu bereichern, und gnadenlos jeden schikaniert, der ihre Autorität in Frage stellte. So umfassend übten sie laut Orwell ihre Herrschaft aus, daß sie fähig zu sein schienen, die Gedanken ihrer Zöglinge zu lesen und zu erkennen, wer wirklich gehorsam war und wer Gehorsam bloß heuchelte." (S. 39)

Big Brother is watching you!

"Am meisten verübelte er ihnen, daß er sich besonders dankbar dafür erweisen mußte, daß sie seinen Eltern das Schulgeld teilweise erlassen hatten." (S. 39)

Genau genommen müßten sich für diese Großzügigkeit die Eltern als dankbar erweisen und nicht der Sohn, da es sich bei diesem Sohn um ein achtjähriges Kind handelt. Nicht dem Kind mangelt es an Finanzkraft, sondern den Eltern des Kindes. Mit seinem Mars-Neptun ist Orwell ein Bereiniger, dem solche Ungereimtheiten sofort auffallen.

"Wenn er hart arbeitete und ein Stipendium für eine renommierte Schule errang, dann konnten sie mit seinem Erfolg werben. Wenn er keine guten Leistungen zeigte, würde er nicht nur sich selbst und seine Familie betrügen, sondern auch seine Wohltäter." (S. 40)

Hier hat Orwell den achtjährigen Jungen, der er einst war, selbst als "Betrüger" bezeichnet. Shelden erhebt keinen Einspruch. Auf wessen Seite steht er? Haben Sie ein wenig Geduld - er wird sich noch deutlicher outen. Einstweilen lassen wir ihn weiter erzählen:

"'Such, Such Were the Joys', entstanden in Orwells letzten Lebensjahren und posthum veröffentlicht, ist von einigen Lesern als Produkt des perversen Bedürfnisses eines sterbenden Mannes betrachtet worden, alte Wunden aufzureißen und seine Mißerfolge alten Feinden anzulasten." (S. 40)

Wenn Sie schon das eine oder andere Buch von Alice Miller gelesen haben, wissen Sie sicher, weshalb die meisten Menschen ihr Leben lang ihre Eltern und andere Erzieher als unfehlbar heiligen und einen Menschen, der nichts anderes tut als die Wahrheit zu erzählen, als "pervers" bezeichnen.

Zahlreiche ehemalige Mitschüler Orwells haben später die Mißhandlungen, die sie durch die Schulleiter Mr. und Mrs. Wilkes, erdulden mußten, geleugnet und sie in "Wohltaten" umdefiniert. Einer von ihnen ist Walter Christie, der später eine Zeitlang Privatsekretär des Vize-Königs war. Weil das Unbewußte sich nicht unterdrücken läßt, verwickelt er sich hier - ebenso wie auch Michael Shelden - in Widersprüche.

Walter Christie stellt fest, daß "Blair 'einen Komplex' hatte und daß St. Cyprian's 'eine ausgezeichnete Schule war ... Die Jungen waren dort meistens glücklich.' Genau wie Blair waren ihm die Gebüren teilweise erlassen worden, weil seine Eltern, die der Mittelschicht entstammten, sich den vollen Betrag nicht leisten konnten. Er betont aber, daß ihm dadurch keine Probleme entstanden:
'Ich wußte nichts davon, bis mir meine Mutter, Jahre später, von diesem Akt der Großzügigkeit erzählte. Während ich in St. Cyprian's war, ist nie davon gesprochen worden, obgleich ich ungefähr acht Jahre alt gewesen sein muß, als das passierte und lange, bevor jemand auf den Einfall kommen konnte, mit mir Reklame zu machen. Damals und später hatte ich oft Ärger in der Schule und Probleme mit den Vorgesetzten. Es gab keinen einleuchtenden Grund, warum man mich hätte anders behandeln sollen als Blair'" (S. 44)

So ist es. Man hat ihn ganz sicher ebenso grausam mißhandelt wie Orwell, nur hat Christie die Wahrheit - im Gegensatz zu Orwell - aus seinem Bewußtsein vollständig verdrängt.

"Orwell zufolge standen die Stipendiaten unter einem enormen Druck. Mr. Wilkes soll sie regelmäßig verprügelt haben, um sie zu besseren Leistungen anzutreiben. Orwell sagt, er sei gezüchtigt worden, wenn er beispielsweise einen lateinischen Satz falsch übersetzt hatte. Er hörte Mr. Wilkes ihn oft mit den Worten kritisieren 'Du lebst von meiner Mildtätigkeit', und mindestens einmal soll dieser Satz 'zwischen zwei Stockhieben' gefallen sein. Der Direktor hatte auch die unangenehme Gewohnheit, die Köpfe von weniger aufgeweckten Schülern mit einem langen silbernen Bleistift zu bearbeiten. Christie wendet sich aber vor allem gegen die Behauptung, Mr. Wilkes sei brutal gewesen. Er bezeichnet ihn als 'schüchtern und im Grunde unaggressiv. Wenn er einen Schüler züchtigen mußte, dann war das gewöhnlich eine symbolische Handlung.' Den Einsatz des Silberstifts leugnet er aber keineswegs." (S. 45)

Ein sadistischer Direktor verprügelt kleine Kinder mit dem Stock, aber eines seiner Opfer bezeichnet diesen Verbrecher als "unaggressiv" und das Verbrechen der Kindesmißhandlung selbst als "symbolische Handlung". Der Biograph freut sich, daß die Waffe "keineswegs" geleugnet wird und fährt fort:

"Abschließend wird festgestellt, daß Orwells Angriff auf die Schule 'unbewußt in eine falsche Richtung gelenkt wurde, daß mit St. Cyprian's im Grunde ein anderes, tief verborgenes Objekt seines Hasses getroffen werden sollte.'" (S. 45)

Man fragt sich, um welches Objekt es sich dabei handeln sollte. Zumindest taucht in Sheldens Buch keine Person auf, die den beiden Wilkes auch nur annähernd das Wasser hätte reichen können, wenn es um brutale Kindesmißhandlung geht. Orwell hat tatsächlich genau das richtige Objekt getroffen.

"Mrs. Wilkes, die eigentliche Machthaberin an der Schule, war eine vielschichtige Persönlichkeit." (S. 45)

Mr. Shelden ist ein überaus höflicher Biograph.

"Sie förderte die Ergebenheit bestimmter Jungen und belohnte ihre Lieblinge reich. Sie pflegte drei oder vier Jungen auszuwählen, die ihr in der einen oder anderen Weise zu Gefallen gewesen waren, und mit ihnen einen Ausflug zu unternehmen." (S. 46)

Abrichtung nennt man das. Und eine Gemeinheit allen anderen Jungen gegenüber, die dieser Frau nicht in welcher "einen oder anderen Weise" auch immer "zu Gefallen gewesen waren".

Ein anderer Schüler, der später Chef der Royal Canadian Mounted Police wurde, rühmte Mrs. Wilkes dafür, "ihm ein ausgeprägtes Gefühl für Selbstdisziplin vermittelt zu haben." (S. 46f)

Es ist bedauerlich, daß sie weder ihm noch anderen Kindern ein ausgeprägtes Gefühl für die Liebe zum Leben und zu allem Lebendigen vermittelt hat. Ein Panzerkommandant, der für seinen Einsatz im Zweiten Weltkrieg mit dem Victoria-Kreuz ausgezeichnet wurde, war schon als Vierjähriger in St. Cyprian's eingetreten. Früh übt sich...

"Seine Mutter lebte nicht mehr und sein Vater war in Indien, woraufhin Mrs. Wilkes sich bereit erklärte, ihn an der Schule aufzunehmen. (...) 'Ich verdanke ihr sehr viel', sagte er [der Panzerkommandant]. 'Für mich war sie eine Mutter.'" (S. 47)

Über Mrs. Wilkes schreibt Shelden weiter:

"Ihre Stimmungen waren unvorhersehbar und unterlagen urplötzlichen Schwankungen. (...) Christie schrieb, daß ihr Gesicht fröhlich strahlen und plötzlich 'sich verdüstern und vor Zorn beben' konnte. Er verwendet ein bemerkenswertes Bild, das geradezu Orwellsche Qualitäten hat: 'Kein primitiver Bauer hat die Zeichen am Himmel so ängstlich beobachtet, um die Stimmung von Mutter Erde zu ergünden, wie wir nach Veränderungen im Klima von Flips Wohlwollen und Freundlichkeit suchten.' (...) Mindestens ein Ex-Schüler fällte über Mrs. Wilkes ein noch härteres Urteil als Orwell. David Ogilvy, der bekannte Werbemanager, haßte sie so sehr, daß er sie in seiner Autobiographie als 'teuflisch' bezeichnete. Nach seinen Worten 'entwickelte sie die Kunst der Entmannung zu beispielloser Perfektion [Orwell hat Pluto-Uranus in seinem Horoskop]. Wie ein Schachmeister, der simultan gegen mehrere Gegner spielt, so trieb Mrs. Wilkes mit jedem Jungen an der Schule ihre emotionalen Katz-und-Maus-Spiele.' Sie soll im Laufe der Jahre durch bewußt kärgliche Ernährung der Schüler ein kleines Vermögen zusammengespart haben und einmal, schreibt er, habe sie ihn an der Backe gepackt und ihn zu Boden geworfen, weil er bei einer Theaterprobe ein Wort falsch ausgesprochen habe." (S. 47f)

Es fällt auf, daß diese lebensfeindliche und über alle Maßen sadistische Erziehung ungeheure Aggressionen in den Schülern verursachte, die sie ihr ganzes Leben lang nicht mehr loswurden. Anstatt diese Aggressionen gegen die Wilkes als Verursacher zu richten, wurden Unschuldige geopfert. Einer dieser Schüler landet bei der burmesischen Polizei (Orwell), ein anderer bei der kanadischen, ein dritter wird Panzerkommandant, der nächste Sportreporter und wieder ein anderer Werbemanager - allesamt lebensfeindliche und/oder aggressive Berufe.

"Genügend herausgefordert, zögerte sie nicht, einem Jungen ins Gesicht zu schlagen oder ihn an den Haaren zu ziehen. (...) Vor allem benutzte sie ihre Augen und ihre feste Stimme, um diejenigen zu tadeln, die ihr unangenehm aufgefallen waren. Orwell konnte den 'unruhigen, vorwurfsvollen' Blick nicht vergessen, mit dem sie ihn bedachte. Es war schwer, ihr ins Gesicht zu sehen, ohne sich schuldig zu fühlen, selbst dann, wenn man sich keines bestimmten Vergehens schuldig gemacht hatte." (S. 48)

Big Brother is watching you!

"Sie war vielleicht auch ein besserer Mensch als in seiner [Orwells] Einschätzung, aber er behauptet auch gar nicht, in seinem Essay ein objektives Bild von ihr zu zeichnen. Er will sie mit den Augen eines Kindes porträtieren, dem Leser zeigen, was er damals gesehen und gehört hat. Immer wieder spricht er in 'Such, Such Were the Joys' von seinem Wunsch, zu der Perspektive zurückzufinden, die er als Kind entwickelt hatte - 'meine eigene kindliche Sichtweise' -, und diese Sicht so getreu wie möglich zu präsentieren. Er räumt ein, daß dieser Ansatz zu Verzeichnungen führen kann, da aus der Sicht eines Erwachsenen das kindliche Weltbild verzerrt erscheinen muß. Als Erwachsener gibt er bereitwillig zu, daß Mr. und Mrs. Wilkes wahrscheinlich nicht so schlechte Menschen waren." (S. 49f; Hervorhebung von mir.)

Leider hat diese "Bereitwilligkeit", sein kindliches Leid zu verleugnen und den kleinen Jungen, der er selbst war, ein weiteres Mal zu verraten, ihn sehr früh das Leben gekostet.

Es spielt keine Rolle, ob das kindliche Weltbild aus der Sicht eines Erwachsenen verzerrt oder sonstwie erscheint. Entscheidend ist es, sich des Leids, das man in der Kindheit erdulden mußte, bewußt zu werden und die Täter beim Namen zu nennen. Auch Döbereiner hat mehrfach auf die Geschichte vom Rumpelstilzchen hingewiesen und betont, daß man es beim Namen nennen müsse, damit es seine Macht verliert. Und wenn das Rumpelstilzchen nun einmal Mama oder Papa heißt, dann muß man diese traurige Wahrheit eben so aussprechen. Es hilft alles nichts. Das erlebte Leid zu leugnen, macht es nicht ungeschehen. Die Verleugnung sorgt nur dafür, daß es weiterhin unbewußt bleibt, man selbst im Wiederholungszwang steckenbleibt und Unschuldige fühlen läßt, was man als Kind fühlen mußte, aber niemals ein weiteres Mal fühlen will.

„In allen seinen Werken benutzt er seine sprachliche Meisterschaft, um all jenen seine Stimme zu leihen, die zum Schweigen gebracht oder ignoriert wurden - politischen Gefangenen in Spanien, Obdachlosen in London, Grubenarbeitern in Wigan. In 'Such, Such Were the Joys' tritt er als leidenschaftlicher Anwalt für sich selbst auf, für den Jungen, der er einmal war.“ (S. 50)

Leider tut Orwell genau das nicht. Er sammelt unzählige Beweise für das Teuflische zweier Menschen und sagt dann: "Ach was, vergessen wir das alles wieder. So übel waren sie ja gar nicht." Damit verrät er den kleinen Jungen, der er selbst einst war, ein weiteres Mal. Und was ist das für ein Anwalt, der auf der Seite der Gegenpartei steht?

Aber es kommt noch schlimmer:

"Eric Blair fügt sich dem 'hochstaplerischen' Unterricht in St. Cyprian's und lernte das Spiel so gut wie jeder andere, aber mit jedem Jahr wuchs seine Abscheu davor. Was seine schulischen Leistungen angeht, so war sein erstes Jahr ein Erfolg. Er bekam gute Noten, besonders in Latein. Aber außerhalb des Klassenzimmers gab es schon zwei Wochen nach Schulbeginn Schwierigkeiten. Eines Morgens stellte er fest, daß er ins Bett gemacht hatte. Es war keine einmalige Sache, sondern ein Malheur, das immer wieder passierte. Es ließ sich natürlich nicht verbergen, und niemand zeigte Verständnis für sein Problem. Man unterstellte ihm, es mit Absicht zu tun, und warnte ihn, daß er bestraft würde, falls er nicht damit aufhöre.
Eines Tages rief Mrs. Wilkes ihn in den Speisesaal an ihren Tisch, an dem sie mit einer Besucherin saß. 'Dieser kleine Junge hier', sagte sie zu der Dame, 'macht jede Nacht ins Bett.' Den Blick auf Eric gerichtet, fuhr sie fort: 'Weißt du, was ich tun werde, wenn das noch einmal passiert? Ich werde die Sechste Klasse bitten, dich zu bestrafen.'
Die Besucherin gab sich schockiert und rief: 'Das will ich meinen!' Sie trug eine Art Reitanzug und erschien Eric als 'eine einschüchternde, männlich wirkende Person'. Ihr mißbilligender Gesichtsausdruck ließ ihn 'vor Scham fast in Ohnmacht fallen'. (...)
Als er erneut ins Bett machte, wurde er tatsächlich gezüchtigt (...) Nachdem er gezüchtigt worden war, ließ der körperliche Schmerz zwar rasch nach, aber 'es blieb ein tieferer Schmerz, ein Gefühl von trauriger Einsamkeit und Hilflosigkeit'." (S. 54f)

Was hier passiert, hat Casper Schmidt sehr ausführlich in seinem Artikel über Gruppenfantasien beschrieben. Es handelt sich dabei um ein Phänomen, das er als "harangue" bezeichnet, also um eine öffentliche Strafpredigt, um ein An-den-Pranger-stellen, das zu sofortigen Störungen im Immunsystem des Opfers führt - im schlimmsten Fall bis hin zum Tod. Man braucht dafür kein Virus, man muß lediglich das Opfer öffentlich beschämen.

"Er hatte eine drastische Lektion gelernt, auch wenn sie nichts mit seinem Bettnässen zu tun hatte: 'Ich befand mich in einer Welt, in der gut zu sein mir unmöglich war ... Das Leben war noch schrecklicher und ich noch schlimmer, als ich gedacht hatte.'
Noch einmal machte er ins Bett, noch einmal wurde er gezüchtigt, und dann gab sich das Problem unvermittelt. Rückblickend stellte Orwell kühl fest: 'Vielleicht funktioniert diese barbarische Methode ja, aber zweifellos um einen hohen Preis.'" (S. 55)

Über die Parallelen zwischen "Such, Such Were the Joys" und "1984" schreibt Shelden:

"Beide beschäftigen sich mit der Frage, wie Menschen so weit manipuliert werden können, daß sie in ihren Unterdrückern höhere Wesen erblicken, die respektiert, ja geliebt werden müssen, statt in ihnen Objekte begründeten Hasses zu sehen." (S. 589)

Die Antwort auf diese Frage findet sich in allen Büchern von Alice Miller. Man begreift während der Lektüre ihrer Bücher auch, weshalb Biographen so häufig an dieser eigenartigen Berufskrankheit leiden, die Michael Shelden uns jetzt im Vollbild präsentiert.

Mit neunzehn Jahren schloß Orwell seine Schulausbildung an der Eliteschule Eton ab und stand vor der Wahl, entweder ein Studium zu beginnen oder berufstätig zu werden. Mr. Richard Blair jedoch war "unerbittlich" in seinem Widerstand gegen ein Studium, da der Sohn in seine Fußstapfen treten und dem Empire dienen sollte. (S. 113)

Der Sohn entschied sich dann für den Polizeidienst in Burma. Und jetzt, liebe Reisende, schnallen Sie sich an und stellen Sie das Rauchen ein. Es geht los:

"Fest steht jedenfalls, daß der junge Blair ein Abenteurer war..." schreibt Shelden auf S. 114. Höchstwahrscheinlich hat die Druckerei geschlampt oder es sind andere mysteriöse Dinge passiert - auf den ersten 113 Seiten dieser Biographie ist "der junge Blair" jedenfalls alles andere als ein Abenteurer. Weshalb sich Shelden zu dieser Behauptung versteigt, bleibt ein Rätsel.

"... und der Kolonialdienst in Burma bot sich als Betätigungsfeld geradezu an. In seinem Alter dürften ihm die Konsequenzen dieser Entscheidung aber nicht völlig klar gewesen sein." (S. 114)

Der "junge Blair" ist hier neunzehn Jahre alt.

"Sein Vater wußte, was es hieß, endlose Jahre in abgelegenen Regionen des Empires zu arbeiten, unter beschwerlichen klimatischen Verhältnissen und fern von Familienangehörigen und Freunden. Obgleich Mr. Blair gelegentlich davon gesprochen haben muß, war sein Sohn zu jung und unerfahren, um die Schwierigkeiten eines solchen Lebens zu begreifen." (S. 114)

Erinnern Sie sich noch, was Shelden auf S. 24 seines Buches schrieb? Ich bat Sie, sich diesen Satz zu merken.

"Mit achtzehn mußte Richard seinen eigenen Weg gehen, und er beschloß, in den Kolonialdienst einzutreten."

Und auf Seite 114 desselben Buches ist der Sohn dieses Richards mit neunzehn Jahren "zu jung und unerfahren, um die Schwierigkeiten eines solchen Lebens zu begreifen".

Aquired Biographer's Syndrome im Endstadium.

Psychoanalytiker bezeichnen dieses Phänomen auch etwas martialisch als "Identifikation mit dem Aggressor".

"Ein junger Mann konnte sich nur vage vorstellen", schreibt Shelden weiter, "wie unendlich lang fünfundzwanzig oder dreißig Jahre Kolonialdienst dauerten." (S. 114)

Ich glaube, daß ein intelligenter Eton-Absolvent wie Orwell sich im Alter von neunzehn Jahren sehr gut vorstellen konnte, daß fünfundzwanzig oder dreißig Jahre Kolonialdienst ziemlich genau fünfundzwanzig oder dreißig Jahre lang dauern würden. Sein Vater besaß diese Vorstellungskraft sogar schon ein Jahr früher, war nie in Eton und hatte, wie Shelden uns im ersten Teil dieses Artikels mitteilte, "keine besonderen Fähigkeiten".

Shelden setzt seine Verdrehungen fort:

"Als er angeben mußte, in welcher der indischen Provinzen er bevorzugt eingesetzt werden wollte, nannte er Bengalen, seine Geburtsprovinz, ganz zuletzt, Burma an erster Stelle ('hatte Verwandte dort') und die Vereinigten Provinzen an zweiter Stelle ('Mein Vater war dort einige Jahre'). Diese Entscheidung läßt deutlich den väterlichen Einfluß erkennen..." (S. 116)

Tatsächlich läßt diese Entscheidung deutlich den mütterlichen Einfluß erkennen, denn Orwells Mutter hat die ersten zwanzig Jahre ihres Lebens in Burma verbracht und seine Großmutter mütterlicherseits lebte immer noch dort. Seine Entscheidung war also ein Widerstand gegen den väterlichen Einfluß.

* * *

Orwell ist an Tuberkulose gestorben, was einen Aszendenten auf einem Saturn-Uranus-Gruppenschicksalspunkt nahelegt. 1996 ist die dritte Auflage von Alice Millers Buch "Abbruch der Schweigemauer" mit dem Untertitel "Die Wahrheit der Fakten" erschienen. Die Schweigemauern abzubrechen ist nun genau das, was Menschen mit dieser Konstellation tun sollten, wenn sie gesund bleiben wollen.

In seinem Buch mit dem unsäglich falschen Titel "Die Freuden der Kindheit" macht uns Orwell mit den qualvollen Fakten seiner Kindheit bekannt, bricht also die Schweigemauer ab. Leider baut er sie in demselben Buch auch gleich wieder auf. Wie er sich tatsächlich als Kind gefühlt haben muß, spürt jeder Leser bei der Lektüre von Orwells Roman "1984", den Michael Shelden als "düster" bezeichnet. Am Beispiel von Franz Kafka hat Alice Miller uns in ihrem Buch "Du sollst nicht merken" gezeigt, wie man Romane auch lesen könnte. Viele Rätsel lösen sich auf diese Weise von selbst.

* * *

Freiheit ist die Freiheit zu sagen,
daß zwei und zwei gleich vier ist.
Sobald das gewährleistet ist,
ergibt sich alles andere von selbst.

George Orwell, "1984".

* * *

Quellen / Literatur:

Alice Miller, Abbruch der Schweigemauer, 3. Auflage, Hamburg 1996.
dies., Am Anfang war Erziehung, Frankfurt 1980.
dies., Du sollst nicht merken, Frankfurt 1981
George Orwell, 1984, Übersetzung Kurt Wagenseil, Ullstein Taschenbuch, München 2000.
Michael Shelden, George Orwell, Diogenes Taschenbuch, Zürich 2000.

Daniel Hannan has suggested that it's easy to divorce a civilisation from its history and religious- or folk-imagery. I maintain that this matters for libertarians (let's leave the pastoral imagery of the two great monotheistic religions out of it just now.) This is because a sense of historical continuity is I think a necessary _AND_ insufficient condition for liberalism to evolve or survive.

How else could, for example, the title of a Wireless Tele Vision pornography show have failed to be properly conflated with the all-seeing wickedness of George Orwell's panopticon, and how could the producers have got away with it?

Also he has grasped the falsity of the hedonistic attitude to life. Nearly all western thought since the last war, certainly all 'progressive' thought, has assumed tacitly that human beings desire nothing beyond ease, security and avoidance of pain. In such a view of life there is no room, for instance, for patriotism and the military virtues. The Socialist who finds his children playing with soldiers is usually upset, but he is never able to think of a substitute for the tin soldiers; tin pacifists somehow won't do. Hitler, because in his own joyless mind he feels it with exceptional strength, knows that human beings don't only want comfort, safety, short working-hours, hygiene, birth-control and, in general, common sense; they also, at least intermittently, want struggle and self-sacrifice, not to mention drums, flags and loyalty-parades. However they may be as economic theories, Fascism and Nazism are psychologically far sounder than any hedonistic conception of life. The same is probably true of Stalin's militarized version of Socialism. All three of the great dictators have enhanced their power by imposing intolerable burdens on their peoples. Whereas Socialism, and even capitalism in a more grudging way, have said to people 'I offer you a good time', Hitler has said to them 'I offer you struggle, danger and death', and as a result a whole nation flings itself at his feet.

Quando conheci a internet e comecei a estudar sobre seu potencial isto me pareceu muito forte, temi que computadores tornassem teletelas e dai começasse a vigilância.

Boa parte desta vigilância já existe nos cartões de crédito, contas de celulares, google, itunes e por ai vai. Mas existe, por lado, algo que não existia no romance de George: um teclado e a possibilidade de você próprio passar sua visão sobre os fatos, na tentativa frustada do personagem Winston em escrever um diario como registro de sua atividade nos "suburbios", está um dos pontos chaves deste romance. 

Aos amantes do poder, cuidado com as crianças, elas sempre falam a verdade. São nelas que conhecemos a família, nelas se reflete o que você quer para o mundo.

Termos, filmes, HQ's, e programas de TV têm até hoje se inspirado neste livro, a citar: V de Vingança, Big Broder, Equilibrium entre outros.

Na web 2.0, hoje todos tem sua voz virtual, mesmo nem todos tendo acesso a estes ouvidos, as barreiras hoje são mais físicas que lógicas, então faça bom proveito, escrevam sua biográfia hoje. Aproveite bem seu espaço, colabore e cresça junto com a informação, o poder estar em compartilhar e não em registrar o pensa que só você tem, afinal, desta vida não se leva nada mesmo.

Fica ai uma dica de literatura, fica ai minha inspiração de ódio a qualquer tipo de propotas tatalitárias, fica ai minha vontade para que meus irmãos possam entender um pouco sobre os tentacúlos do estado, fica ai o colírio para os olhos dos que acham que todos estão cegos.

Você pode encontrar 1984 em qualquer biblioteca ou livraria, mais segue ai mais alguns links para você se informar antes de decidir ter ou não este livro em casa.

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Gostei. Foi bem interessante.

Conta a história do mundo no "futuro" (Orwell escreveu o livro em 1948, inverteu os últimos dígitos e tcharam!), de uma sociedade totalitária. É bem ruim! A gente fica com aquela idéia de Comunismo e talz, mas, tem sempre dois lados. Sim, eu sei que no Comunismo não há líder, mas a fase anterior é o Socialismo, em que há o líder proletário, que pode se "empolgar" e se transformar num "Grande Irmão".

Descobri que o nome do programa de TV que todo mundo ama (eca!) foi "inspirado" no livro.

Próximo livro distópico a ler: Laranja Mecânica !

Never being fully sure if I am pronouncing certain words aside, I'm very pleased so far with this book, it details a dark future based completely on rigid caste systems that are decided at birth and forced upon helpless fetuses by controlling the substances and oxygen levels granted to developing test tube babies.  Hatcheries are responsible for making babies smarter or dumber to fit certain caste requirements.  Most of these genetic offspring come from a single egg in a process called the "Bokanovsky's Process" in which a single egg is divided up to 96 times creating a large set of identical twins who are then all forced into the same job.  

"Brave New World" is just another anti-utopian totalitarian book that I am to soon am to have under my belt.  The past month allowed me time (time I have regrettably spent away from writing, though I feel much more refreshed and alert mentally after drowning myself in so many books) to read some very good classic negative utopian books, such as "1984" and "Animal Farm" and once I finish this current book I shall be moving right on to "Fahrenheit 451" which I haven't read since high school.  

I'm not sure what has captivated me with the obsession to read about such dysfunctional societies, though my personal view that the United States is slowly starting to mimic Oceania in terms of telling us what to think and what to care about instead of allowing us to come to our own conclusions.  They make it a point to force a two party system on us, and televise debates between the two candidates to aid us in making our choice as to who is going to be the next president.  Of course the debates never include candidates from any other party aside from Republican or Democrat, thusly elimanating virtually all chance of the presidential nominee of the Libertarian, Green, or Constitution party from ever being elected.  

Why are these parties barred from such debates?  If we truly lived in a democratic society then no single person should be barred from an event, people like Ron Paul shouldn't be censored from Fox news because the party might now agree with the message he is pushing.  The election is presented as an event where the people shall decide who shall lead them.  Unfortunately Ron Paul stood no chance against McCain since there was a concerted effort to keep him off television until recent times.  He has been on quite a high profile talk shows now that he stands no chance of being voted the presidential candidate of the Republican party.    

I work in a highly political real estate office, where people love to spend hours debating about liberal or conservative views, Republican or Democrat everywhere I look.  Hell most of these people are ignorant to the fact that more then two people even run for president thanks to our media blackout on every third party candidate and local states refusal to place them on Ballots.  I'm looking at you New Jersey.  For anger's sake I'm going to list the three major third parties presidential candidates for everyone.

Libertarian Party - Bob Barr

Green Party - Cynthia McKinney

Constitution Party - Chuck Baldwin

I don't claim to know the policies of any other these people aside from Bob Barr, (since I'm Libertarian I better know what he is about or else make a nice ass myself) but I have the decency to know that they exist and take issue that these candidates are treated more then unfairly with ballot access.  How can a state simply decide that someone isn't allowed to run for president from a legitimate political party?  While I am sure that there is some red tape reason that prohibits them from being on the ballot, what is the harm?  Every single person running for president deserves his or her best chance at being elected.  As far as I am concerned it should be illegal to withhold any person from a legitimate political party who has other elected officials working for our government from running for president.  Anything aside from a truly open ballot allowing all candidates a chance to be voted for president, or at least allow people to know they exist while at the ballot booth simply isn't democracy.  Then again we live in a Republic, so I guess I shouldn't complain much right?  

Before I go I should define the word I used in the title of this entry, Hypnopædia means sleep learning, and in the novel "Brave New World" they use it to imprint certain morals on the various castes of society, such as the impulse to throw out something old and buy something new, spend money on leisure at every opportunity, and that every class below yours is simply horrible and you shouldn't speak to them.  I don't even have to stretch it to find a comparison to modern society.