Donald J Trump Institute of Peace

@SunshineGirl
Do you know what George meant, Sunshine?
Everything in life has two sides. It's a matter of contrast.

For example, without you, there is no me.
You are the perceiver, and that is how perception works.
While this explains war and freedom, ignorance is not the opposite of strength.
So, did George screw up on that last line?

@sree251 Orwell created those phrases to illustrate the manipulative nature of totalitarian regimes and show how language can be used to control thought and entrench power.

The climax of the novel.comes when Winston finally accepts the party's false reality that 2+2=5.

@SunshineGirl
You are talking like a teacher in class cultivating fertile minds. I too am talking like a teacher. We both need to be spanked.


I have not read this book. I did try to read but could never get past those lengthy forewords and tiresome introductions. As a matter of fact, I am as well-read as Donald Trump. How many pages is 1984 anyway? I will get it from the library today and see if I can wade through it in order to do battle with you.

@sree251 It's not very long, as I remember. It's often taught in schools, so some editions may come with lots of commentary

@SunshineGirl
I took 1984 out of the library yesterday, sat down before the fireplace, and started reading it. As usual, I couldn't get far into the Introduction but managed to find out that Orwell was not his real name, he was Eric, a Brit in India, and he wrote Animal Farm. I leafed thru the bibliography and dove into the book. Couldn't get past four pages, and went to bed. In my entire life, I managed to read only two books cover to cover: Animal Farm, and Grapes of Wrath. How do you people do it? What do you get out of reading other people's writing? My mom was matchless in devotion to reading. We lived in Manhattan, if that has anything to do with it. She encouraged me with my first book: The Little Prince. It was horrid and it killed it for me. Every week she would take me to the library when she returned books. She would take out another stack of books that I helped carry back to the car. How could anyone read that many books every week, week after week. Mom knew everything. She would talk and talk when her friends came to dinner. She knew everything about everything. Best of all, she has met everyone worth knowing. She has been to the White House more than once, she said. She met President Reagan and Nancy, Nixon twice - before and after his resignation, Princess Diana, Duchess of Windsor and Jackie Kennedy in a restaurant, John Kennedy on his bicycle at the traffic light, Joseph Campbell (Hero of A Thousand Faces) on a street in the Village, etc, etc. All that from the power of reading.

@sree251 For me, reading the writings of others is the best way of absorbing complex ideas and understanding problems from different perspectives.

There are good film adaptations of 1984 if you would prefer that medium.

What did you think of Animal Farm?

@SunshineGirl
Those problems have to be shared by you; otherwise, the ideas have no place in your existence as SunshineGirl. Would you pay attention to the perspective of issues in a bug's life?


Good suggestion. I am watching a 1984 film starring John Hurt and Richard Burton.


I liked it obviously. It's the kind of book that captures the attention of 5 year olds. I don't think I ever grew up.