#capitalist miracles

[starcrossed-sky]

So I just saw someone say "1984 is not a blueprint" on another post, and I don't want to be that guy who responds to someone not-the-OP with a tangent on an already long post, but:

1984 absolutely is a blueprint, for the people in power. 1984 is a horror for the regular person, the person who experiences things such as "self-worth," "the value of culture," and "privacy." It is written to make you aware, as a reader, what it looks like when those things are denied to you.

But 1984 is also a tragedy. It's not a happy ending YA dystopia where the awful power structure is overthrown and we all walk out into the sunlight of the new world with an orchestral soundtrack score to figure out what the hell we're supposed to do from here. 1984 ends with the protagonist being tortured and reprogrammed into being a good little Party Member who exclusively has sex in the missionary position for the sole purpose of procreation and doesn't even enjoy it.

(Yes, kids, that's in there, too. 1984 is explicitly about how sexual pleasure and variance is inherently subversive to power.)

So like... To the people who see themselves as people who would end up in charge in such a world, to the people who want control over not only our actions but our thoughts? Yeah, that absolutely is a blueprint. In 1984, the Party wins.

Because the point of 1984 is that: If we let it get that far, it's too late. And also that if we don't stick together and fight back together, then it's too late. And that if we let fear of our neighbors prevent us from reaching out to each other - if every man truly becomes an island - then it is already, absolutely, too late.

Anyway, so just as a reminder, "unalive" is actually literally Newspeak unlike most of the things the press calls Newspeak, Alexa is Big Brother's eyes but they convinced you to pay for it, and we've got no protection but what we fight for. Viva la thoughtcrime, everybody.

[starcrossed-sky]

possibly unnecessary corollary to the "what if my couch was nice?" post:

it's amazing how much poverty, and especially escaping it, shapes one's mindset about material things.

i used to earn less and live in a shitty apartment that flooded frequently during typhoon season, and i lived there for the first 4 years of my post-university life. before then, i hopped from dorm to dorm to boarding house. this was the first space that was my own where i wouldn't be transferred after a few months or a year.

but anyway, the shitty condition and location of this apartment shaped my purchases almost as much as my relative poverty did. i wouldn't buy anything i considered "too nice to lose to a flood" and i was actively afraid of buying too much stuff because "what if i needed to evacuate for a couple nights and i had to leave this nice thing to the flood?"

there was no sense of permanence to anything i owned. i bought the cheapest of anything not only because it was all i could afford, but also because i could see myself easily replacing it if it was lost. everything seemed temporary for 4 years of my young adult life, which feels a lot longer than it is when you're living it.

however, i have since moved away from that place! the amount i earn has increased over the years enough to allow for it, and personal circumstances finally gave me the urgency to look for a new place. and let me just say the feeling of living in a place where i did not feel the need to have to leave it periodically while carrying my possessions due to flood has been revolutionary.

i used to take solace in the blank wall and empty spot of floor because that's less to carry during a flood, but now for the first time i am thinking of buying unnecessary things to make the place look nice or give myself more comfort. my mindset has completely changed from being in post apocalyptic survival mode to "what if my life was nicer?" mode.

and it's not age that changed me, but money and a nicer apartment.

Presented without comment beyond "fucking mood, anon."