George Orwell, my favorite writer and intellectual hero, died in 1950. But he had much to say that seems awfully relevant this morning.
The energy that actually shapes the world springs from emotions—racial pride, leader-worship, religious belief, love of war—which liberal intellectuals mechanically write off as anachronisms, and which they have usually destroyed so completely in themselves as to have lost all power of action … nationalism, religious bigotry and feudal loyalty are far more powerful forces than … sanity.
George Orwell, Wells, Hitler and the World State (1941)
More of Orwell's observations on the 2014 elections after the steaming orange pile of reality.
Much of Orwell's work is available free online. So there's still hope for humanity. A sampling:
In our age there is no such thing as “keeping out of politics.” All issues are political issues, and politics itself is a mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred and schizophrenia.
George Orwell, Politics and the English Language (1946)
The brief essay "Politics and the English Language" is perhaps the most famous thing Orwell ever wrote, after the novel
1984. If you haven't read "Politics and the English Language"—you should.
Myths which are believed in tend to become true.
George Orwell, The English People (1944), quoted in David Miller, On Nationality
What can you do against the lunatic who is more intelligent than yourself, who gives your arguments a fair hearing and then simply persists in his lunacy?
George Orwell, 1984, chapter 3