ANIMAL FARM, 2

ANIMAL FARM
jorge orwell

first let me say that i wish all americans would read ANIMAL FARM given the situation in our country over the last 5 years or so. i will not say they Should read it because, after all, this IS america, the land of freedom. it is convenient that the "elected" officials of our political system benefit from this system in which an individual has to freedom to remain in ignorance or the freedom to choose not to read literature which may challenge their view of the moral purity of their nation's leadership.

enough with the vagueries. let me compare situations in this novel to situations in our country now.

on this communal farm, the pigs assume the leadership roles and can justify special privileges they receive with questionable assertions. for example, they alone out of all the animals can eat apples and drink the cows' milk because they need this food for mental nurishment since they are the ones that have to plan all the work for the animals to do.

if the other animals insist on questioning such privileges or such stances, fine, there is a justification. however, questioning these in the first place potentially can be disastrous since this would be seen as a weakness in the unity of the farm which could be exploited by outsiders or internal dissidents. it is better not to question.

why is "america" at war? or better put, why did the american politicians decide to send american military to invade and occupy another country? hmmmm.....

why were the pigs always trying to increase the productivity of the farm? in order to show that animals can run a farm better than corrupt humans. their motto was "four legs good, two legs bad." later, the motto becomes "four legs good, two legs better." at this point, the animals no longer remember the reason for increasing productivity and in fact, the reason has dissappeared. nevertheless, the animals are still worked.

why did america go to war? let's admit that the real reason is never discussed. the rhetoric says the reason was to disarm the WMD's. the war starts, no WMD's are found. yet the war continues and damage is done. why? the rhetoric says it is to install democracy in irak. so they had an election about a year ago, isn't that democracy? the war continues. why? the rhetoric says in order to win the war. this is an empty idea- no one defines what they mean by "war" and no one defines what they mean by "win." now the reason for the war is to win the war. great.

animal farm makes me appreciate the word games the politicians and the media use to try to describe the absurdities of this war. it makes me see that they can hand out cute slogans and many american people just swallow them up.

to tell the public that questioning the war will cause the american forces to lose is to enlist the public in the unquestioning ranks of the side that is not necessarily the good side.