I listened to part I. Good discussion of the Flexner report.
I do have to take issue with what was said about Aldous Huxley. He was entirely evaluated on the basis of what his brother Julian went on to do, and deemed to be virtually the PR man for that project, the forerunner of the UN's SDG program. "Brave New World" was declared to be simply the elite telling you what life will be like. Does NOT fly. My brother and i did not agree on very much past 1970, when i was 23 (he died in 1997). In fact, our world views drastically differed. Yeah, we talked to each other, but this does not remotely infer agreement, let alone cooperation.
"Brave New World" was a warning, that's how i took it when i read it in the 1960s (even before i got critical of the status quo, which happened in late '70), same way i took Nineteen Eighty Four. Unlike Orwell, Aldous H was not socially/politically radical, but was still quite concerned about the development of totalitarian social systems. His subsequent books demonstrated a growing disenchantment with the dominant culture, culminating with his last one, "Island," in 1960.
BTW. the g in Carnegie is pronounced like the g in guide, not a "j" sound. Scottish name.
Thanks for the lesson in phonetic pronunciation! This doesn't apply simply to Huxley or Orwell... I would say the same about Atwood's book The Handmaids Tale, and also Glenn Beck's Agenda 21 books, and similar other dystopian novels that are meant to shift the Overton Window just a tad further. It is ok to disagree with one another on this one, no worries.
Orwell actually struggled against the elites' plans for the world. He took part in the fighting in the Spanish Civil War, in Catalonia, as part of a small Troskyist militia, POUM, which cooperated with the larger Anarchist militia. He was very impressed with the way the Anarchist groupings re-organized society, in the face of challenging circumstances. He was eyewitness when the Spanish "Republican" army controlled by the Soviet-dominated Madrid-based "coalition" government proceeded to bloodily repress the federated collectives of Catalonia and Aragon in May '37, had to flee the country (sneak out)because Soviet agents were trying to hunt him down. He wrote about this in "Homage to Catalonia." I have his complete writings. Between WWII and his 1949 death he wrote quite a few short pieces about the debasement of the English language to impose totalitarian aims, and to advocate for what he believed to be a democratic socialist perspective against all elites. He even got very angry about what he felt were efforts to misuse Nineteen Eighty Four as pro-Western propaganda and cast him as some sort of rabid anti-socialist.
I listened to part I. Good discussion of the Flexner report.
I do have to take issue with what was said about Aldous Huxley. He was entirely evaluated on the basis of what his brother Julian went on to do, and deemed to be virtually the PR man for that project, the forerunner of the UN's SDG program. "Brave New World" was declared to be simply the elite telling you what life will be like. Does NOT fly. My brother and i did not agree on very much past 1970, when i was 23 (he died in 1997). In fact, our world views drastically differed. Yeah, we talked to each other, but this does not remotely infer agreement, let alone cooperation.
"Brave New World" was a warning, that's how i took it when i read it in the 1960s (even before i got critical of the status quo, which happened in late '70), same way i took Nineteen Eighty Four. Unlike Orwell, Aldous H was not socially/politically radical, but was still quite concerned about the development of totalitarian social systems. His subsequent books demonstrated a growing disenchantment with the dominant culture, culminating with his last one, "Island," in 1960.
BTW. the g in Carnegie is pronounced like the g in guide, not a "j" sound. Scottish name.
Thanks for the lesson in phonetic pronunciation! This doesn't apply simply to Huxley or Orwell... I would say the same about Atwood's book The Handmaids Tale, and also Glenn Beck's Agenda 21 books, and similar other dystopian novels that are meant to shift the Overton Window just a tad further. It is ok to disagree with one another on this one, no worries.
Orwell actually struggled against the elites' plans for the world. He took part in the fighting in the Spanish Civil War, in Catalonia, as part of a small Troskyist militia, POUM, which cooperated with the larger Anarchist militia. He was very impressed with the way the Anarchist groupings re-organized society, in the face of challenging circumstances. He was eyewitness when the Spanish "Republican" army controlled by the Soviet-dominated Madrid-based "coalition" government proceeded to bloodily repress the federated collectives of Catalonia and Aragon in May '37, had to flee the country (sneak out)because Soviet agents were trying to hunt him down. He wrote about this in "Homage to Catalonia." I have his complete writings. Between WWII and his 1949 death he wrote quite a few short pieces about the debasement of the English language to impose totalitarian aims, and to advocate for what he believed to be a democratic socialist perspective against all elites. He even got very angry about what he felt were efforts to misuse Nineteen Eighty Four as pro-Western propaganda and cast him as some sort of rabid anti-socialist.