Animal Farm 2

The book was written during World War II and published in 1945, although it was not widely successful until the late 1950s. Animal Farm is a satirical allegory of Soviet totalitarianism. Totalitarianism is a term employed to describe modern regimes in which the state regulates nearly every aspect of public and private behavior. Totalitarian regimes maintain themselves in political power by means of single-party state, secret police, propaganda disseminated through the state-controlled mass media, personality cult, regulation and restriction of free discussion and criticism, the use of mass surveillance, and widespread use of terror tactics (political purges and persecution of specific groups of people).
Does this book, Animal Farm, and current U.S. government has similar traits? Robbers of the poor and the protectors of the rich, illegally boring into the private affairs of its citizens and scandalously destroying their personal freedoms. And at the same time, a kind of corporate triumphalism, in which the corporations, the oligarchs, the plutocrats, running this country want to hold onto absolute power absolutely. So George Orwell anticipated a state as big brother, hovering over us, watching us, keeping us under surveillance, taking care of our needs as long as we repaid them with utter loyalty. Aldous Huxley anticipated a Brave New World in which we were amusing ourselves to death. Who's proving the most successful prophet? Huxley or Orwell? Well, I think Huxley is probably right.
Ted Rudow III, MA