EPISODE · Jan 24, 2022 · 19 MIN
1984 Triggers
from Plausibly Live - The Dave Bowman Show · host Dave Bowman
The University of Northampton in England, has informed the world that it has decided that the George Orwell book, 1984, a dystopian novel of tyrannical dictatorship, censorship and thought control, needs a "Trigger Warning" because, as the school says, "students may find some "explicit material offensive and upsetting." The irony of that move seems to have escaped the faculty of the University of Northampton (go Saints!). Meanwhile, more and more of the book seems to be predictive in nature rather than reflective. There is a reason for that. Orwell was not a great visionary genius looking forward into the possibilities of human behavior. He was actually looking back, noticing the pattern of action and thought, and setting it in a future with more modern technology and concepts. Which is why the University putting a Trigger Warning is literally the most 1984 thing that they could have done.
What this episode covers
The University of Northampton in England, has informed the world that it has decided that the George Orwell book, 1984, a dystopian novel of tyrannical dictatorship, censorship and thought control, needs a "Trigger Warning" because, as the school says, "students may find some "explicit material offensive and upsetting." The irony of that move seems to have escaped the faculty of the University of Northampton (go Saints!). Meanwhile, more and more of the book seems to be predictive in nature rather than reflective. There is a reason for that. Orwell was not a great visionary genius looking forward into the possibilities of human behavior. He was actually looking back, noticing the pattern of action and thought, and setting it in a future with more modern technology and concepts. Which is why the University putting a Trigger Warning is literally the most 1984 thing that they could have done.
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1984 Triggers
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