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by wam 4763 days ago
I think this campaign largely misses the more interesting problem, which is that we got to this point despite the fact that 1984 is a bestselling cornerstone of literature. It's been required reading in high schools for years and years.

Are the representatives on the receiving end of this campaign going to slap their heads and go "Oh golly, I never thought of that"?

There's no easy way to get through to people who think the benefits of ubiquitous surveillance outweigh the costs. They know 1984, and they don't see themselves in the role of big brother. Throwing this book at them isn't going to change that.

Edit: "There's no easy way" suggests that this is meant as a solution, which obviously isn't the campaigner's intention. What I mean is that I don't think this will have an impact other than to make the recipients think their constituents are oversimplifying the issue, a la Godwin's law.

1 comments

If you want to make a piece of literature irrelevant, make it a mandatory reading for school.
That's a good soundbite (honestly), but it doesn't jibe with my experience.