Fear of the mob

wendell borton

I'm curently reading orwells down and out in paris and london and in chapter 22 he makes a realy astute comments on power. These could easily apply to the current state of things, this sounds like how those in power must think :

'We know that poverty is unpleasant; in fact, since it is so remote, we rather enjoy harrowing ourselves with the thought of its unpleasantness.
But don't expect us to do anything about it. We are sorry for you lower
classes, just as we are sorry for a cat with the mange, but we will fight
like devils against any improvement of your condition. We feel that you are much safer as you are. The present state of affairs suits us, and we are not going to take the risk of setting you free, even by an extra hour a
day. So, dear brothers, since evidently you must sweat to pay for our trips
to Italy, sweat and be damned to you.'

and how people are so blinkered to make FF top of the polls is it any wonder nothing realy ever changes with the same old gombeens geting back in time after time.

... naturally they side with the rich, because they imagine that any liberty conceded to the poor is a threat to their own liberty. .... but he supposes
that even the vulgarest of them are less inimical to his pleasures, more
his kind of people, than the poor, and that he had better stand by them. It is this fear of a supposedly dangerous mob that makes nearly all
intelligent people conservative in their opinions.

From this ignorance a superstitious fear of the mob results quite
naturally. The educated man pictures a horde of submen, wanting only a
day's liberty to loot his house, burn his books, and set him to work
minding a machine or sweeping out a lavatory. 'Anything,' he thinks, 'any
injustice, sooner than let that mob loose.' He does not see that since
there is no difference between the mass of rich and poor, there is no
question of setting the mob loose. The mob is in fact loose now, and--in
the shape of rich men--is using its power to set up enormous treadmills
of boredom, such as 'smart' hotels.

http://www.george-orwell.org/Down_and_Out_in_Paris_and_London/21.html

HondaSami

What? FF are the most popular party at the moment, people's choice. It's the final count at the end of an election that matters.

starlings

This is the most important part, I think:

"He does not see that since
there is no difference between the mass of rich and poor, there is no
question of setting the mob loose. The mob is in fact loose now, and--in
the shape of rich men--is using its power to set up enormous treadmills
of boredom, such as 'smart' hotels."

Any group can become a mob, once their fellowship is set against that of another group.

Orwell is a slippery writer to quote -drives me mad when political types toss his name around as though groupthink and propaganda are entirely the work of the other side -while remaining utterly blind to their own manipulations. Almost all of his fictional works, incidentally, end with a pessimistic or forced acceptance of the establishment.

Dj Grimreefer

The pirate party gets my vote

DEFTLEFTHAND

Don't worry they'll have you sleeping with the fishes soon.

Banjo String

Anthill mob ftw.

mfceiling

Loved that book.

Read animal farm about 20 times.....trying to get through 1984 as well.

Got told by a lad who worked with my wife, not to try being a big shot by reading "down and out in paris and london":rolleyes:

Don't even think he knew what he was talking about!!