The cold continues, my daughter bravely faces her train journey each day in the face of delayed trains and missing train drivers. But the tree ents have not fallen dead on the tracks of late so that is one blessing.
In one of the articles I put on recently, George Orwell was mentioned as some sort of instigator for the far right in America. Well I never knew his outspokenness in a particular time of history would reach down to the American way of life, or that he would be read there even.
Well perhaps people should read or listen to Rebecca Solnit's - Orwell Roses and learn a little more about the man. I find Solnit a very good writer, though a little sweary on F/b when it comes to the two protagonists ready to take over the world. I find this rather funny, am I frightened? No is the answer.
But to get back to Orwell, he was a man of principle............... 2+2=4 principle and as Laura Beers in her book Orwell's Ghosts, here I am quoting,
his core belief was not in free speech, but true speech. That is not the freedom to insist that “two plus two equals five” – no matter how many followers you have. And this subtle but profound difference jars against a more fundamentalist American conception of a sacred right to free speech, consecrated in the first amendment.
Back to that old word 'truth' and how we use it. The truth of the matter is? we have lost our way of thinking. I am always going to believe in the world of science and that we are in the process of climate change and that we should do something about it. But I am not going to read every for and against argument that litters the way. I can see it happening in other parts of the world, the climate is definitely getting worse, it is up to us humans to protect the Earth, not just for ourselves but for every creature that occupies this land we all live upon. If I see another poor stranded polar bear on an iceberg or a grief stricken Orca carrying her dead calf on her back I shall litter my blog with the awfulness of what other people and animals go through. But I don't.
"I still think the revolution is to make the world safe for poetry, meandering, for the frail and vulnerable, the rare and obscure, the impractical and local and small." ~ Rebecca Solnit
It is hard to deny what is in front of your eyes and ears. I like 2+2=4. Scientists don't always get it right, but they do much more often than politicians.
ReplyDelete2+2=4 simplifies it beautifully Andrew. But we have lost the black and white of truth and now the grey areas are being adopted.
DeleteSo true. It annoys me no end when people decide they know better than experts. They have zero training/learning/qualifications in the area but know better. 99.9999% of scientists who have studied climate change are of the view that man has caused the current problem but no they know better.
DeleteFor a period of years I was a world expert in a subject (sounds grand but it was a pretty specialized subject).I know how much work and analysis it took to get me to that level of expertise.
My pet peeve as well. Then deride anyone who questions their thinking as poorly informed or sheep.
DeleteGood book suggestion. I loved Orwell’s Down and out in Paris and London, he well earned his roses.
ReplyDeleteYes he was quite the gardener and self sufficiency soul. Even went to the remote island of Jura to write 1984.
DeleteI think the thing that is hardest to swallow is that the 2 + 2 = 5 folks are in charge. The people standing there saying, "Yeah...but 2 + 2 doesn't = 5 are cries to the winds.
ReplyDeleteWhere did the evil come from I wonder? Greed and selfishness by those who managed to accumulate a lot of money. There is a terrible, at the moment, popular saying in this country, ' it is as it is'. I suppose you could call it a feeling of hopelessness. But it could well change in the balance of things.
DeleteI watched the eulogies from President Jimmy Carter's funeral yesterday and all spoke of his honesty and dedication to helping others and his caring for our earth. What a fine man he was and I could see Frump in the pew who is so opposite the fine man Jimmy Carter was. It's so sad, Thelma.
ReplyDelete
DeleteI can't give any comfort Ellen, something is rotten in the state.... and until it is dug out we are just going to have to live with it.
I am so sorry to self-advertise, but my latest post is called "Migrants welcome to Australia - Bonegilla". My bloody blog is still showing my last post :( In the early years, the UK was the biggest source of migrants.
ReplyDeleteIt is a fascinating read Hels and of course a very welcoming place of refuge for all those migrants. My grandfather came over from Belgium during WW2, I'm not sure as an immigrant because he always said he was born within the sound of Bow bells in London But either way he made a success of his life as an engineer in a big factory in Wolverhampton.
DeleteIt does draw up the way we are treating immigrants today in the UK and I am not sure what to say on that. At Bonegilla a special camp was laid out for those dispossessed people. Today immigrants wander around the world because of wars in their own countries - what do we do. I shall put this comment on your blog and thank you for bringing it to my attention. Thelma