Animal Farm : Slogans and Gaslighting

[GollyGoshGreat]

Until yesterday I’d never read any of Orwell’s Animal Farm. When I got to the ‘Four legs good, two legs bad’ sheep chant, I immediately recognised the parallel with ‘TWAW’ slogan. Moving on to the gaslighting of the animals when the pigs move into the house and alter the seven commandments, I shuddered.

Wondering if anyone else had thought about this, I searched online and I came across this Jo Bartosh article .

I know the parallels with 1984 are there with 2+2=5 etc. but I wonder what Orwell would have made of the TRA movement.

‘Woman/ ˈwʊmən noun an adult human female’...This definition has been derided as exclusionary and transphobic, and reported to the Advertising Standards Authority.

I wonder what the ASA will make of facts being declared exclusionary and transphobic.

Yes I had written on a previous thread that twaw made me think of 2 legs good 4 legs bad.

I think a lot of the TRA methods of pushing trans ideology can be taken from Orwell's books which is unsurprising since they are a critique of methods of far left politics in his day - so propaganda, slogans and washing of history (Stalinism etc. ) It wasn't a critique of Socialism - Orwell was left leaning but of totalitarianism (and Communism which took that route) and methods used to push politics in that direction. So both Animal Farm and 1984 resonate particularly right now with identity politics as they advocate an almost totalitarian imposition of a belief system and enforcement of that.

Apologies for my punctuation above. I'm tired.

When the pigs learned to walk on two legs the chant became “four legs good two legs better.”

Orwell has never been more relevant.

As well as 1984 and Animal Farm he also gave us the line ''Some ideas are so stupid that only intellectuals believe them.''

I wonder what the ASA will make of facts being declared exclusionary and transphobic.

I have been wondering for some time what the Fact Checking organisations responsible for fact checking news stories will do when faced with the need to deny facts or they have to 'modify' them to report them.

“The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which. Except some were wearing frocks.”

I have been wondering for some time what the Fact Checking organisations responsible for fact checking news stories will do when faced with the need to deny facts or they have to 'modify' them to report them.

Presumably consult Orwell again and take tips from Winston's job in the Ministry of Truth.

OP, I have also been struck by the parallels with Four legs good, two legs bad. It's a mindless, thought-limiting mantra designed to be repeated over and over again regardless of context or applicability or relevance. The other thing "Trans women are women" reminds me of, funnily enough, is the way that the Nazis would always end any communication with "Heil Hitler" - almost any statement you care to read by TRAs or their supporters ends with "Trans women are women".

So much of what Orwell wrote is pertinent to trans activism. The slogans used in Nineteen Eighty-Four - "War is Peace," "Freedom is Slavery" and "Ignorance is Strength” - all embody an outrageous, flagrant lie. This is exactly the case with "Trans women are women".

Sorry redexpat I missed your earlier comparison.

Aspie spoiler alert next time please I’m planning to finish it today.

I have been wondering for some time what the Fact Checking organisations responsible for fact checking news stories will do when faced with the need to deny facts or they have to 'modify' them to report them

Firstly, avoid them. This is the most important tactic.

Secondly, absorb the 'huge' lie and examine small lie. So for example analyse the prisons issue by questioning numbers of XX trans people rather than addressing the huge, overwhelming lie that TWAW.

Thirdly, include comment from transactivists: unheard of in fact-checking normally. Comment enables fudge, it fills out a paragraph that enables the journalist to say an issue has been analysed, look at all the words here, when it hasn't.

All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others

Charliethefeminist - I literally meant the Fact Checking organisations like BBC's Reality Check (they messed up over FPFW's numbers); the C4 version; Full Fact, and all of the international fact checking organisations.

They fact check assertions/numbers in the news. I wonder what will happen when crime figures for women are boosted in particular categories because they include transwomen? Will they accept these as women's figures or will they mention the influence of these additional numbers and their contribution?

SPOILERS!

''Two gin-scented tears trickled down the sides of his nose. But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Trans Sister''

Orwell gave us the term 'Doublethink' from his book 1984. The ability to hold two opposing beliefs at the same time.

Animal Farm & Nineteen Eighty Four are definitely worth reading / re-reading.

Also, Lord of the Flies!

I may have missed something here, I often do, but what have dictionary definitions got to do with the Advertising Standards Authority? They are about, umm, advertising. It's not their job to re-write dictionaries according to the gospels of Saints Monroe, Jane, Shon et al.

I've been meaning to re-read Orwell. Now seems the perfect time.

I'd quite like to suggest that people using Orwell as 'how to' manuals should take a long walk on Wigan Pier.

I read Animal Farm far too young, without knowing the political context at all, and it really upset me. Because of the poor animals

It actually gives me the cold terror chills now I know the context.

And to see it unrolling like this in real life.

TWAW

Some women have penises

We're going to need more stickers.

what have dictionary definitions got to do with the Advertising Standards Authority?

AncientLights - sorry if you're being tongue in cheek, but if you're not - it's a reference to the Billboard with that definition that was in Liverpool - the Standing Up for Women initiative. It might be interesting if ASA has to rule on that and if the need to address the context. Even so, I can't see how they can find a case to answer...

The billboard speaks directly to power differentials. It's a truth, but is it unreasonable to shove it in people's faces? It's all about power.

Compare two billboards: an image of a group of Caucasians, declaring 'we are white and we are here', and an image of a group of black people, saying 'we are black and we are here'.

Both are true, so should be allowed if truth is the only criteria. But one is unnerving and feels aggressive, the other feels like a statement of affirmation. It's because of the power differential between white and black people. There's still a need for black communities to make that sort of statement in the face of discrimination.

So if the ASA sees trans as most oppressed evah, they could find that this billboard breaks rules. But if it sees women as more oppressed, it won't.

Interesting point, Charlie, though I'd argue that the billboard isn't actually advertising something, so possibly doesn't fall within the remit of the ASA.

Oh yes you are completely right! Bang on and my analysis completely unnecessary lol. But in my defence I often see people saying 'fine it might be true but why rub faces in it' and that is why, it's because the truth informs the power differential.

Until yesterday I’d never read any of Orwell’s Animal Farm. When I got to the ‘Four legs good, two legs bad’ sheep chant, I immediately recognised the parallel with ‘TWAW’ slogan. Moving on to the gaslighting of the animals when the pigs move into the house and alter the seven commandments, I shuddered.

I have read Orwell's Animal Farm to my kid when he was six. Wasn't sure how much he would get, but I wanted to try to teach him how totalitarianism works as soon as possible (mostly because I am staunchly antiwar, and do not want him to take so long as me to see through the repetitive, inflationary 'this is the new Hitler' propaganda, that accompanies pretty much every Western march to war these days). I think kiddo got it and he has ever since asked me every couple of months to reread with him the parts with the shifting commandments. He loves it.

Yes, TWAW and moving the goalposts and all the abuse if you disagree is very similar. Heck TERF is basically Snowball, to blame for all the ills TRAs may face. And in the end, TRAs are more equal than anyone else and dish out the same crap (male abuse) as the farmers (patriarchy) whom they once rebelled against, during the historic rainbow rebellion...