For starters, you should probably familiarize yourself with the original work, first published in 1945 by George Orwell. Among other things, this article explores the dangers of self-hypnotic national loyalty and the concept of doublethink, which Orwell would officially christen with the publication of his seminal book 1984 four years after this article’s publication. Namely, he illustrates the difference between a healthy level of patriotism and the kind of fanatical fervor that comes with believing in an ideal to the point that one must necessarily overlook reality itself in order to maintain their most deeply-held beliefs. While this could arguably be interpreted in modern times as a polemic against religions and political credos of all shades, I instead would like to look at it in the spirit in which Orwell intended it, as a comment on the dangerous levels of nationalism which he observed in his own society, and the equally dangerous tendency it produced in the British people to not question some of the actions of their government.
Orwell was a politically complicated man, to say the least. Although he espoused communist ideals more or less continuously throughout his life, he also left the ILP (Independent Labour Party – a British pro-communist movement) at the outbreak of WW2 due to their refusal to support rearmament against Germany. Additionally in his work, such as the above essay and his famous novels, he does virtually nothing to spare the communists of his day from his uniquely incisive and brutally honest scrutiny. It seems to me that he was a man far more concerned with intellectual truthfulness and honest self-assessment than he ever was with any particular religious or political platform. In that regard, I would classify myself as a kindred spirit.
Orwell makes too many good points in the above essay for me to belabor any one of them in great detail, (I know how notoriously difficult it is to stay engaged with any given blog post all the way through as it is), so instead I’ll just bring what I believe to be his two best points about the defining qualities of nationalism to the forefront. Again, this concept of nationalism as defined by Orwell should be taken to mean a very negative, self-hypnotic and militantly-proselytizing attitude about not just one’s own country, but about any particular cause about which one is passionate.
Orwell was a politically complicated man, to say the least. Although he espoused communist ideals more or less continuously throughout his life, he also left the ILP (Independent Labour Party – a British pro-communist movement) at the outbreak of WW2 due to their refusal to support rearmament against Germany. Additionally in his work, such as the above essay and his famous novels, he does virtually nothing to spare the communists of his day from his uniquely incisive and brutally honest scrutiny. It seems to me that he was a man far more concerned with intellectual truthfulness and honest self-assessment than he ever was with any particular religious or political platform. In that regard, I would classify myself as a kindred spirit.
Orwell makes too many good points in the above essay for me to belabor any one of them in great detail, (I know how notoriously difficult it is to stay engaged with any given blog post all the way through as it is), so instead I’ll just bring what I believe to be his two best points about the defining qualities of nationalism to the forefront. Again, this concept of nationalism as defined by Orwell should be taken to mean a very negative, self-hypnotic and militantly-proselytizing attitude about not just one’s own country, but about any particular cause about which one is passionate.
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