1984 - Dystopias and Apocalypses - Extra Sci Fi
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- čas přidán 13. 05. 2019
- What makes 1984 still relevant to modern readers is that it serves as a warning against fascism in all its possible forms. George Orwell's service fighting in the Spanish Civil War led him to see that the heart of totalitarianism is about xenophobia and nationalism no matter which kind of government it came from.
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The idea that Orwell presents us in 1984 is that people subtle enough and brutal enough can take the undirected dissatisfaction and anger of a society and point it at whatever they will, using us to damn ourselves.
Tell me hi
Extra Sci Fi idea: Command and Conquer Red Alert kind of scenario.
That twitter joke was absolute trash.
@@Joshua.Z7 they just did ^^^^^^
@@felixschrider9037 Look at the political landscape at the moment. If you think that this is just happening in other places then you are wrong.
You should also have talked about the manipulation of language. It’s an important part of the ideas Orwell tries to express.
I see you there Stalingrad
Not remembering to talk about that would be ungood.
Definitely part that they missed, and rather important given the way things are going today.
Human Resources
Hello Comrade Stalin
*Big Brother would like to know your location*
And access to your speaker, camera, microphone... Microwave.. Micropenis
Yusuf Seedat
I’m getting fucked with by big brother :(
You’ve taken my freedom, my happiness, my everything. Don’t take away my pride.
Ethan Tian Big brother does not care what you want and don’t want. Now get to the Two Minute Hate. We will talk later.
*Big Brother already had your location.*
Big Brother just wants to know what Ads to throw at you.
"One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power." - my favorite quote from 1984
Back when I read the book I didn't know Orwell was defending anarchism (the real one, a.k.a. libertarian socialism).
Too bad I didn't know what anarchism really is until pretty recently. I was taught something that was technically true but was devoid of meaning.
That quote is scary relevant to today's political climate. Especially in Seattle.
Sounds like the Democratic Party.
Most people are either sceptical or just don't know the author was ancom or anarcho-socialist because people in politics, mostly rightists and anticommunist centrists, since the release of the book had a tendency to misuse or flat out lie about both the book 1984 and Blair (aka Orwell) himself.
@@TopsideCrisis346 why Seattle particularly?
Something I didn't know until recently is that George Orwell is a pen name. In reality his name was Eric Arthur Blair.
Supposedly an MI6 Agent was keeping an eye on Orwell when he was writing the book. The agents code name was O'brien. Can't remember where i read this but that one creepy coincidence.
Harbinger of Sarcasm I didn’t even know he was a socialist, so I have much to learn.
@@Feroce He was still a Socialist to his death. He was just frustrated with how most British Communists/Socialists fell in with Stalin's line of thought, particularly after WW2.
@@lukedufaur5368 he expressed this in "thoughts on nationalism"
@@lukedufaur5368 He was a 'pox on all your houses' type. Just like me!
I just finished reading a 1984 chapter like 10 seconds ago. Did you install telescreens in my room?
Same thing happened to me when they release the Brave New Word episode
Remember Big Brother... er Extra Credits is watching you.
like they said, big brother is watching
Big Credits is watching you!
We read that at the beginning of the school year.
Subtle detail in 1984 a lot of people overlook: the appendix keeps referring to Ingsoc in the past tense, implying the people did eventually overthrow them.
Stormy Dragon what I’m reading this book and didn't notice omg
Hey, this makes the whole book seem a lot less depressing.
I mean, also the whole book constantly demonstrates unambiguously that they definitely will with no chance of failure.
The party can torture its citizens into obedience but can't eliminate their humanity and independent thinking, basically the ultimate weapons against authoritarianism.
@@theeternalslayer You do realize the entire 3rd part of the book is just dedicated how they destroy the human will, one's thinking, and brainwash people to get to love Big Brother, even if they were the staunchest rebel?
"War is peace
Freedom is slavery
Ignorance is strength.”
"Truth is lies
Hate is love
Fear is hope"
Strength through unity!
unity through faith!
Peace through power!
Could also be a speech from WH40K
Truth isn't truth
“2 + 2 = 5”
I think twitter should be called the two minutes of hate
Or 280 characters of hate.
More like two terms hate
More like the two eons of hate
discordingStichery it’s why I no longer use Twitter.
So, the inverse of 15 minutes of fame?
Thank you for focusing on the *really* scary stuff in 1984--the mental gymnastics we can inflict on one another (and on ourselves). The surveillance tech is of course very frightening but nothing is scarier than what happens in the very last line of 1984. Being mindful--even just putting yourself in check for a moment--was a great note to end the vid on. Critical thinking is something that *many* people simply do not experience. So take a breath! Be mindful! Be empathetic!
The sad truth is we are closer and closer to that as we speak. Just look at the Don't Kick Vic movement
yeah, the part where is said "twitter's terms of service" was waaaaay to accurate.
To be honest I thought the scariest part was vocabulary changes...
>Critical thinking is domething most people don't experience
But you do big boy, am I right? You smartypants would never be swayed by a dystopian government. Sure thing.
Saying this tells me you don't understand shit about 1984 or society and humanity at all.
@@BigKnecht Don't get your panties in a bunch now
5:00 Always important to remember in the appendix
"Newspeak **was** the national language of Oceania"
Ingsoc fails.
Well, that wasn't real IngSoc then. Real IngSoc has never been tried.
Of course, after the traitor Goldstein twisted the language to his nefarious ends, Big Brother's infinite wisdom lead to the creation of a new language: English.
@@vikramvalame9990 Indeed; oldspeak is plus ungood and doubleplus ungoodthinkful. Mans who duckquack blackwhite oldthinkful oldspeak unbellyfeel ingsoc, and must be unpersoned. [Edit: this is actually a grammatically correct and understandable sentence in Newspeak.]
@@harbl99 you what?
No that's just how the English language works.
One of my favorite things about 1984 is that I have watched dozens of videos, each detailing, in great detail, what Orwell’s central thesis (on what we should avoid) truly is.
All of them are different, yet somehow, all of them are correct.
I have seen analyses from Overly Sarcastic Productions, and Crash Course Literature, but I have a feeling that I will still learn something new from this channel
Did you? I did... huh so my philosophy of IDGAF what others think is helping to fight tyranny?
I was curious to see who else I watched covered this and you answered my question so thanks kind stranger!
I think TED-ED has also looked at 1984
Alexander S. Oh didn’t know they did that. I’ll look into that. Thanks for my next vid.
Alternate History Hub also has a video explaining 1984 from a lore and worldbuilding perspective.
That book messed with my head for months after I'd finished reading it.
My brother once, for reasons that are not important, decided that he was going to write a paper finding the humor in 1984. He decided that it was, in part, a really bad British boys' school.
I was gonna say, if you think taking 2 minutes out of your day to yell at out-of-context clips of someone you're told you should be mad at is absurd, you clearly have never used the internet. Or, for that matter, watched cable news.
Or even read certain newspapers. It's like they know what makes us angry and pushes those buttons. Just like anybody with a paint program. THEY'LL DRAW PENISES! Why? Because it's shocking and gets an immature giggle.
that is true. however, we live in a world where we have the right to not take anything at face value, you can laugh at a comedian talking about politics, but you don't need to believe in everything he says. and that is the important distinction here, the line is only crossed when a power starts to decide for you what is true and what is not. 1984 only takes that to the extreme, where the government not only controls what is the truth, but also controls how you should feel. and if you don't believe or you don't feel what you are supposed to, then you are a enemy of the state and the people.
Only today it's 200 minutes hate.
@@danilooliveira6580Indeed, in our current world, we still have a choice. We still have our own conscious minds.
1949: In 1984 there will be dictatorship
1984: TAKEEEEE ONNN MEEEEEEEEEEE!
2002: Ok, they think that darn book was an overreaction. Time to get to work.
(Just realized someone will probably think this is a typo for 2020. 2002 was when a lot of the "big brother" style laws enabling government overreach and undermining civil liberties in the name of security began to take root with the fervor of the "War on Terror".)
@@Merennulli *2020
edit: OOOOOOOOOOH nvm im so stupid.
biggest and longest rick roll
George Orwell: please don't do these things
Every major nation in 2019: oops we did the things!
Thanks for the neat manual, George!
May I have some examples? because nothing i know fits 1984
@@lvd8122 Webcams, fake news, political euphemisms, calling a Jew a Nazi, the War on Terror. These are notable examples.
Have you paid attention to anything happening in the US for the past 20 years?
@@artofthepossible7329 but non of those are universal attempts by a unified elite class to keep in power, they are instead the actions of a few powerfull and power-hungry individuals. There is a huge difference between true state oppression and humans beeing humans and therfore doing awful shit.
No just major nations, I must say. Third world countries too.
H.P Lovecraft: "My stories are the scariest in the history of the english language literature! No one can make something terrorizing like me!"
George Orwell: "Hold my tea. Now you gonna see what is really scary and horrifying..."
Lovecraft made that which we don't know and can't know horrifying, Orwell made that which we know vary well horrifying.
Jumpscares or disgusting gore can be scary but the even scarier stuff is psychological horror. Stuff that is a scary idea instead of a scary visual thing.
Humanity is an eldrich monster of it's own sometimes, after all which is more frightening that which can't be understood, or the mind capable of wrestling with, and spreading, such a concept?
"You want to hear a scary bedtime story do you? Okay. Here goes. 'People can justify any atrocity their own side commit as a good and necessary thing. The end.' Nighty-night."
Eh, bad portrayal of Lovecraft who is famous now because only he got other authors to collaborate and expand on his universe and often praised them for their stories.
As someone raised on (and having fled from) a Communist Totalitarian Dictatorship, reading Orwell's books (which, btw, were banned on my country) always felt terrifyingly close to home; how I could draw parallels between things I knew, experienced myself, and even participated on, and how a lot of events in real life took place just as he said they would take. A lot of what Orwell pictured happens for real (although on a much more low-key level) back there....
Are you talking about DPRK？
I was born in the USSR, 1984 was like a Tuesday in my homeland.
Blake 81, which country do you come from anyway?
@@joffreybaratheon4904 yeah, sure. 1984 is the present-day capitalism.
Georgian Laborer
Why capitalism?
Honestly kinda surprised you didn't go into doublethink further. Still really like this though
Riley Knapp there is so much to talk about in 1984. It’s one of my favourite dystopian novels and my favourite from Orwell. This should have been at least an hour long!
I still remember way back when I read 1984 that the final words of the book were some of the most chilling I have ever experienced.
"He had won the war over himself. He loved Big Brother"
1984, the year Los Angeles hosted the Summer Olympics for the second time, the Soviet bloc boycotted, and the US won a lot of medals which led to an awful promotion by McDonald's
Notoriously lampooned in the Simpsons.
Free Krustyburger anyone?
True horror of the Cold War right there.
I'm gonna spit in the 1,000,000th free burger.
@truthful Sin Are Khalistani separatists true Sikhs? Indian Sikhs don't think so.
Or are you talking about the Congress-Sikh riots in the aftermath of Indira Gandhi's assassination?
????????????????
Dafuq dis do with india?????????
Only two minutes of hate?
Sovereign citizens can do better than that.
They're quite an amusing bunch. Not the brightest, but still amusing.
Antifa puts sovereign citizens to shame.
Ahh, there we go. There's always someone who calls the group who is literally anti fascist the fascists.
Twitter: those are rockie numbers
"I DO NOT CONSENT TO BEING ARRESTED"
Opening with one of the most terrifying quotes in literature ever.
That's the video essay version of T-posing to establish dominance
BattleBurrito the clock struck 13
Hello, I am watching you
Hey! I'm in the shower!
Big Brother does this mean I need to put on pants?
Big Brother STRANGER DANGER. STRANGER DANGER!!!
I had a feeling you were watching me. And I have no privacy.
Oh shit, turns out big brother does exist after all!
This video was double plus good.
1984 and Animal farm is one of the "higher reading" novels that I actually finished. It was very interesting.
Orwell was a socialist, who ended up hating other socialists.
He explores this in the road to Wigan Pier.
I find 1984 to be a warning against extreme political leanings in any direction. It's hard to tell if Oceania was once a fascist country or was socialist, before becoming totalitarian.
Exactly!
He was an anarchist
@@Anarcho_Insurrection not really, he’s pretty clearly against meaningless war and violent chaos
"hard to tell?" I think "ingsoc" makes it pretty fuckin clear.
@@TheRealNintendoKid yeah, believe what the party calls itself to be what it was in reality, very analytic
2:36
Oh shit the totalitarian leadership is headed by Walpole? My god his craftyness spreads throughout time and space!
The crux of 1984 I think is social pressure. To be the only one not frothing with anger at the things you're told to be angry about is to be an outcast, in a society where outcasts are ripped to pieces. You say things you don't believe, do things you don't want to do, just to assure everyone else that you're the same as them and to avoid unnecessary trouble. It's when we turn on each other and stop allowing for the reasonable understanding of other thoughts and opinions that we truly fall down the rabbit hole.
Thankfully, nothing like that is happening today. We totally understand and respect viewpoints different from our own, and never go along with a group just to avoid being targets of that group. Right? ...Right?
Left
@@PuppetMasteronVHS Missing the entire fucking point
@@KZ-xt4hl nope. One of the few getting the point.
@@thomasduplessis3568 ahh so you're not just completely discounting another group, representing them as an other, an enemy right? I really think we need to remember that we are just alive, on this planet. Helping each other until we eventually die Haha. We all want the same things really
@@will1603 No I haven't discounted anyone as an enemy. I'm saying that the left (to a greater degree in frequency and intensity than the right), is trying to work people up. Outrage culture, and cancel culture, for example, has been denounced by a fair majority of the right, while a significant majority of the left embrace these things as necessary. There obviously are exceptions, but generally speaking this is true.
Social Justice, by definition, vilifies individuals who do not adhere to social norms and ideas. That is what 1984 is all about. Vilifying people, not for breaking actual laws, but for committing "wrongthink".
"Beware the alien, the heretic, and the mutant."
Blessed is the mind too small for doubt.
BURN THE HERETIC, SUFFER NOT THE ALIEN TO LIVE.
Burn the heretic! Kill the mutant! Purge the unclean!
"An open mind is like a fortress with it's gates unbarred and unguarded"
"Listen with your EMPEROR given ears to listen with any thing else is HERASY" -vox speaker
The really scary part in regards to modern politics is whatever your political viewpoint, you thought of the other side of the political spectrum while you were listening to this.
I was about to say exactly this.
Or both sides...
isn't authoritarianism it's own side of the spectrum? or am i misremembering.
@@latlatko That is one axis of political ideology, yes.
@@Antidragon-nl7by here's the thing about radical tolerance: must we tolerate intolerance? Doesn't that just give the unacceptable a home in our own tolerant discourse?
I was there for Charlottesville when the Fascists descended. AMA.
1984 was a book I was recommended by a teacher and one of the best I’ve read so far
One thing to remember is that when at the end of the book the narrator describes the newspeak of ingsoc he uses the past tense.
It's terrifying how relevant this book is today!
it barely is
@@cnm7558 Cap
@@cnm7558 fr
Respect to EC for calling out the hatemobs by the blue checkmarks on Twitter
1984 needs to be put in every school curriculum.
Needs to be but wont be because academia pushes this kind of indoctrination
With Betsy's DeVos as secretary of education? Not going to happen.
I actually read it in 11th grade
2:40 -- "Britain a totalitarian state with cameras in every home and neighbour primed to turn on neighbour."
This is just fodder for my 'Orwell was a time traveller' thesis. (and, yes officer, I have a loicense for that opinion.)
OI!!!
harbl99 but do you have a license for the opinion license
The most dystopian thing is that I haven't seen ANY OF your uploads in the last 3-5 MONTHS in my subbox
click on the noti bell wtf
Good thing our world is nothing like thst - nervous laughter -
NSA Agent: Haha, yeah
*Meanwhile in China*
@@YAH2121 China: "thank god we have 1984 as guide book. Nothing happened in Tiananmen Square 1989. Now, keep kissing my ass to access my market."
@@VeryProPlayerYesSir1122 i think you mean north korea. North korea =Oceania
Who else was worried about the surveillance state back in 1984?
We were sweet summer children.
Oh look, it's just like my political opponent. Certainly not me, i'm the good one. I don't even remember when my group did anything wrong. And even if that did happen, they were traitors undermining us.
Yea, what he said.
Or the Party was different before, we are no longer like that ... there was a switch.
My favorite passage in the book, the love note in the hallway, my God i have never had such a thrill while reading
This is the only book I ever read that truly scared me.
The scary part to me is that people who support wannabe dictators often compare their opponents to big brother. Projection at its worst.
Blind hate and anger leads to the dark side
Hate leads to anger... anger leads to hate... hate leads to suffering... suffering leads to the dark side...
One of my projects in university was to choose a book, read it, write an introductory essay that could be pasted in the front, and it would be donated to the library. At first I was going to pick "Animal Farm", but it was 2016 and suddenly "1984" seemed much more relevant.
This series is why Tuesday is my favorite day of the week!
Spoiler: Big Brother is actually Walpole.
You misspelled Google, the owner of youtube. Bigger Brother is spelled with 3-letters...
Gabriel González C no it’s skillshare
Gabriel González C Walpole will lead the uprising against big brother you eastasian spy!
Under the spreading chestnut tree
I sold you and you sold me
There lie they and here lie we
Under the spreading chestnut tree
Oranges and Lemons.
The Blue Knight say the bells of St Clements
You owe Me three farthings
mihnea suditu say the bells of St Martins
@@awesomehpt8938 When will you pay me?
This is such a fantastic distillation of everything great about 1984. Well done.
I've just started reading the book! Thanks so much for posting this!
A person who is responsible for every single mistake in history and is the leader of tolitarian states.
Walpole: Oh, I know him, he’s me.
Damn you WALPOLE!
One of my favorite theories about this book is that Oceania, Eurasia, Eastasia and all that never actually happened, but that unfair only exists in Great Britain, with everyone none the wiser.
My favorite theory is that Oceania, Eurasia, and east Asia exist, but are ruled by all the same people and government, but they mock "fight" each other as to keep the people demoralized, yet believing that by obeying the government they are helping the "war" effort
Great episode guys. And very well put. Thank you.
Brilliant end to the video, we are so caught up in fitting in to groups that often we forget to think for ourselves
¿Why didn't mention the danger of the newspeak?
TED EF made a video about that.
There is only so much they can cover is video less than 8 minutes long.
authors then: go fight in war, see the brutality of man, lose sanity and inner peace, be called crazy for the rest of your life
authors now: Yay, i made new york times best seller list!
A wonderful highlight to some of 1984's best aspects.
What a coincidence! This video being uploaded the same day I finished reading the book, really good
So are we going to mention Orwell and his personal life and not reveal George Orwell was a pen name? His actual name was Eric Blair.
Spoilers.
Ackshually that was his government name. Not his _real_ name.
War is peace
Freedom is slavery
Ignorance is strength
Fun fact: The last time 1984 was a bestseller hot trending book was... 2017, after the rise of "alternative facts"
Also about the time Antifa started attacking everyone they were told were "fascists."
@Piglor attacking random people who show up to counter-protest you, smash windows, torch cars, and throw bottle bombs after getting beaten in a brawl you started, attacking police and media later on when no counter protesters show up for you to fight, and none of those being one-off events.
@@braith117 ANTIFA has stooped pretty low in their excessively self-righteous crusading, but they're still leagues above the neo-nazi groups they combat.
@@ganondorfdragmire7886 nah, theyre one im the same, just like the pigs at the end of animal farm.
You folks would be better at this if you hadn't happily let all ability to be subtle be drained out of you. But definitely keep barking.
ONII CHAN is watching you!!!!!
I didn't realize that last bit about redirecting hate was so close in modern society until now
As someone who regularly uses Twitter, that last Twitter TOS reference hits a lot more close to home than you'd think (especially in the anime community)
Learning about dystopia's in English this came out at the right time
Orwell, is honestly a great author, animal farm and 1984 are my favourite sci fi
You never touch on Winston lover or the entirety of Newspeak, those where pretty damn big parts
I didn’t know Orwell served in the Spanish civil war
_Homage to Catalonia_ in a nutshell: "I got dysentery, saw my friends die needlessly, and got shot in the neck. A++, would visit Spain again."
Also served in the British civil service in India its why he became a socialist after seeing the dire poverty there
@@evan448 He no longer saw himself as a socialist after he served in the spanish civil war as he saw the tyrannical actions done by the republicans to civilian and prisoners alike
@@ideclaredwaronyourfrenchas4123 Do you have a source for that? It's not uncommon for Socialists to hate other Socialists that are either too soft or to authoritarian.
@@ideclaredwaronyourfrenchas4123 That's just not rue, like a complete fabrication, Orwell was a Libertarian Socialist to the day he died
This episode is double-plus-good
I could've used this when I had my English Exam!
I showed the last video in my language arts class
funny how society can actually be seen to follow much of this without actually being directed to do so
This video is double-plus-good!
Excellent video!
The scary thing is how much of 1984 has actually come about in the real world very easily. All you really need is a society where critically thinking is not systematically taught, and demagoguery becomes the easiest (and eventually the go-to) way to convince people of anything. And once that happens, tyranny will inevitably follow.
4:52
I was about to say that. Oh well
"Abandon all hope ye who enter here"
Lol this is what is writen at the Gates of hell,so true
Finally somebody who understand that 1984 was not anti socialist but anti government.
*anti-Totalitarian
I fail to see what’s so libertarian about the book, Orwell and Ayn Rand would hate each other’s political opinions.
Watching this in July of 2020 makes me want to read this book.
Can you guys please cover "I have no mouth and I must scream?"
Got to be my favorite, or one of, authors out there.
And then you have Kaiserriech. In Oswald Mosely's Totalist faction you have a certain Eric Blair.
The former was the founder of the British Union of Fascists, the latter writer of this very book.
The what ifs involving that party are some very broad strokes. Although it would probably make Thatcher look as though she couldn't make her mind up.
my favorite guide book
I am waiting for fahrenheit 451 or Asimov´s novels.
They did cover Asimov himself. I don't know if you'll get much more than that before they've done overviews of all the greats.
I feel like this is happening today all over, especially in the mainstream media.
And social networks.
Joshua Bowman Fox News is the literal embodiment of Two Minutes Hate
@@samgarvey5669 Pretty much all of corporate media
In a perfect world, you guys would be the #1 content creators on youtube. Oh well. Y'all are #1 to me.
You could make Orwell into a generator with how he’s spinning in is grave
The video is superb as always but there is a slight error here. George Orwell mentioned that the Party workers of INGSOC wore blue overalls. That's hasn't been shown here. Though a superb video nonetheless.
Orwell: writes 1984
Western nations: Okay cheers for the step by step guidebook
Orwell: *am I a joke to you*
Is there a transcript that is publicly available of this video? I have never heard anyone else describe 1984 the way you have and it’s amazing to me. Just want to be able to share it with people in my life too and introduce them to this.
that image of "you are now leaving civil war Spain" just casually on a sign is hilarious.
Animal farm is one the most horrifying stories, I was forced to read.
Fear is always the weapon of any politician, and the downfall of any nation.
Orwell never set foot in the Soviet Union
I love this video!!!
Biggest lesson here: Blue triangles are the opposite of red squares. Who knew?
Orwell wasn't being a prophet. He was talking about the totalitarian horrors IN HIS day and age!
"Those who forget history..."
Tell that to the Telescreen in your pocket, friend. ;)
Okay, 1984's here! Now you need to upload its most necessary counterpart: Brave Newq World.
Ya lo vi. Fue hermoso.
I didn't get to read this book in high school, everyone should take the time to read it.