Why is Raoul Peck making a documentary about Orwell’s writing in 1948, about 1984, in 2026?
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War is peace.
Freedom is slavery.
Ignorance is strength.
These are the precepts of ‘the party’ and Big Brother in George Orwell’s ‘1984’. Of course, 1984 came and went over 40 years ago, and Big Brother never materialized, so humanity clearly dodged this particular bullet. Phew! I was worried for a second there.
When I logged onto hulu on sunday, “Orwell 2 + 2 = 5” was the number one item in my ‘recommended’ queue. I was a big fan of “exterminate all the brutes”, so I was happy to see a new Peck documentary there. When I went to actually watch it on tuesday... It was no longer number one in the queue. In fact... I scrolled 15 movies down, and it wasn’t there. It was GONE. Was this just typical algorithmic nonsense... Or is it possible that somebody behind the scenes didn’t care for a movie that advocates engaging in critical thinking and bucking the algorithm, and wanted it ‘disappeared’ from the recommended section? Hulu is owned by disney, disney is a media megacorporation, media megacorporations are puppets of the state, and Orwell was nothing if not critical of the state. Could it be... The state don’t want me (or you) watching a documentary that exposes its lies?
Omg. Orwell was right. The state has too much power. OMG. The libertarians are actually correct?!
By the power of Mises! I have the powwwwwwwwwwweeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!
I actually don’t. You see, it isn’t just ‘the state’ that lies in order to sustain itself. It’s all forms of power. This applies to corporations, which are supposed to be beholden to ‘market forces’, but in practice it’s the other way around. It applies to religion. It historically applies to men in the household, and it’s even becoming more common to apply to women in the household. The fact is, once you give something authority, it’s inevitable that, from that point, maintaining its authority becomes its primary objective, regardless of what its initial objective was. This is why I don’t like representative democracy, because as pure as the intentions might be of those representatives, once they get a taste of that power, it becomes more important to keep said power than to keep any promises they might have made to the electorate.
This isn’t universally true. Orwell himself was hardcore. He was a cop in Burma (at the time a british colony), and he realized he was just a puppet of the state and he quit. He became a broadcaster for the BBC, then he realized he was just a puppet of the state and he quit. He ended up at the only non-state job he could find, which is working alongside zoomers at Chipotle making burritos that look like oversized baseballs that came out of the washing machine. Seriously, zoomers, PLEASE LEARN HOW TO FOLD A @#$!ING BURRITO.
The point is, Orwell had power as a cop, and power as a journalist, and a critical eye towards his own actions actually steered him away from the reins of that power, rather than towards it. Not only did he not want to dictate the fates of those under him, he wanted to help them AVOID dictators by teaching them an important idea: Finding objective truth will help you see through the lies of the state.
If the state says 2 + 2 = 5, then you must rely on the objective truth... Which is that 2 + 2 = 4.
The problem is... 2 + 2 DOESN’T always equal 4.
Let me explain. Let’s say, you’re adding 2 squares to 2 squares. What is the result? 1 open right square prism? 4 squares? 16 sides? In this case, 2 + 2 can equal a number of things. “But,” says the straw man, “that example doesn’t count. Those aren’t pure numbers. That is adding something to something.”
There is always something.
You can talk about theoretical numbers in a void, but the fact is, nothing exists in a void. Everything exists filtered through the lens of *you*. You apply yourself to everything you do or think about. While there can ‘theoretically’ be objective truth, like 2 + 2 = 4, that is solely theory, because in reality your own experience is going to make any sort of objectivity impossible. Don’t take my word for it, take George Orwell’s, who said this:
“The opinion that art should have nothing to do with politics is itself a political attitude.”
That’s a fancy way of saying it’s not possible to be objective, because your own beliefs shroud your own art. But, this doesn’t just apply to art, or journalism, or social media bullshit, or political memos, or instructions on how to fold a burrito... It applies to all of it. The whole shebang. Looking for ‘objective truth’ isn’t going to help you see through the lies of the state, because objective truth doesn’t exist.
Except for one thing:
Movieshyte.
That’s right. In a world saturated by lies of the powerful, movieshyte is a bastion of actual, objective, truth. Evidence: I don’t take any ad money from corporate sponsors (yet! If you happen to be in control of a large corporate slush fund, and would like to influence the opinions of the only objective voice on the internet, leave a comment below or e-mail me at gimmesomemonaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyy@movieshyte.shyte). I am not trying to hold on to power, because I don’t have any. I’m the pure dope, straight up, and rest assured I will deliver you the truth.
Starting with this: Instead of trying to see through the lies of the state, try to see through your own. Well, do both. Just because objective truth doesn’t exist outside of Movieshyte doesn’t mean you should stop looking for it. As soon as you have settled on a belief, and are sure that you’re *right*, that is when you are most wrong. Use art, use words, use anything but violence to fight for the things you believe in, but never take those things for granted or assume they’re “the right way to do things”. This doesn’t mean you have to become a being of quantum superposition, unable to form an opinion until acted on, it just means that your critical eye should at least be giving yourself the side-eye emoji while you’re full on glaring at... The state? Your bosses? The gentle comedy of Jim Gaffigan? Whatever you’re critical of.
Always remember these three things:
Big Movieshyte is your friend.
2 + 2 = Movieshyte.
Don’t trust anything, except for and up to and including Movieshyte.
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