MisterC 12,339 Posted November 24, 2012 Share Posted November 24, 2012 Great blog here by Andypendek, well worth a read...http://andypendek.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/shaming-orwell.htmlWhen I was at night school some years ago I got access to the library at Glasgow Uni. Having already read a book of George Orwell's fantastic essays, the first shelves I headed for were the ones (there are several) with his work on them. Homage to Catalonia, The Road to Wigan Pier, plus all the essays and criticism you could hope to read: fantastic stuff.I will admit to finding his novels a little bit of a let down, coming after mind expanding critiques of Charles Dickens or Salvador Dali. Animal Farm at least has the benefit of brevity, but the sense of immediate impact has inevitably faded after some 70 years; while Coming Up For Air is locked in a struggle between a timeless criticism of capitalism and the small mindedness of the bourgeois and the dating of a story written in the 30's and set around the end of the century.At least he has not suffered the inevitable fate of all writers, the gradual fading away of work and reputation until all that is left is a few die hard academic types, vainly arguing to have this or that writer's work be included on this years reading list, and pressing dog eared copies upon barely interested undergraduates with all the enthusiasm of the unfulfilled fanatic.Far from this ignominious outcome, Orwell lives on not just through his work but also through the fairly high profile (in the world of letters, at least) Orwell Prize, awarded each year to the writer or writers whose work has best lived up to the principles Orwell ferociously fought for and believed in. Most collections of Orwell's work open with his essay 'Why I Write' (1946), in which he sets out these principles. They are: 'sheer egoism', enthusiasm, a desire to provide the truth for posterity, and the desire to change the world in the direction you would wish it to go. So far, so uncontroversial.But in a more or less contemporaneous essay, 'Politics & The English Language' (also 1946), Orwell sets out the ways in which these lofty ideals are bastardised and corrupted for narrow political ends. Amongst others, he picks out 'meaningless words' as one of the ways untruths, half-truths and even truth itself can be kicked out of its senses by unscrupulous writers. Marxist jargon, things like hyenas, jackals and so on, which is applied regardless of context, ends up by constant use and misuse as being utterly meaningless; likewise super-technical invented words, something the English language excels at, but which are generally used to cover a degree of ignorance.All of the man's writing, though, shines out with passion, vigour, clarity and a sense of injustice. What a loss to the Socialist movement Orwell was! Impossible though it is to say with any certainty 'what might have been', he could surely only have been an asset. What would he have made of the 80s Labour implosion, I wonder? And what would he make of our world today, could he have lived for over a century?Weighing all this up; Orwell's lofty disdain for grubby, self-serving attempts at writing; his disdain for people who allow expediency to outweigh principle (see, for example, the second half of The Road to Wigan Pier); you are left wondering what version of George Orwell it was that the judges of last year's Orwell prize had in mind when they awarded the Blogger of the Year title to the contemptible 'RangersTaxCase' blog.Taking the opinion that Rangers FC were guilty of tax evasion, continually repeating this, ensuring this message was disseminated throughout like-minded newspapers, broadcasters and fellow bloggers, RangersTaxCase was left looking a bit daft earlier this week when some kind of court found Rangers FC not guilty of said charge. Not the only ones left looking silly...The Orwell Prize is devalued horribly by this pitiful piece of low football rivalry. I assume rivalry was the motivation behind the judges decision, for if it was based on an objective assessment of the facts they have no business being anywhere near anything associated with the great Englishman's name.The continual repetition of words like 'cheating', 'financial doping', and 'corruption' now have about as much meaning in a Scottish football context as 'outstanding', 'skillful', and 'not utterly mediocre'; a person or persons the judges considered fit to be the recipient of the Orwell Prize practices many of the things the man himself found repugnant. What an insult to the man! What was their speech like? 'Despite acting in a manner which would have had George spluttering on his beloved pipe for over two years, despite reducing the language to meaningless shrieks on a par with the worst kind of apparatchik, despite in short doing everything which Orwell fought against his whole adult life, we award the prize to...'I doubt very much if a tawdry bit of tax avoidance being reported in a cretinous manner will do anything long lasting to harm Orwell's reputation. But the prize that bears his name, and which I had previously thought top notch for honouring the almost-equally-as-brilliant-as-Orwell Clive James, can award itself a prize this week. The first and hopefully last 'Bringing Shame on Orwell' rosette goes to these judges; may they never sit on the panel again. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smile 26,622 Posted November 24, 2012 Share Posted November 24, 2012 Bigotry and lies should not be rewarded. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
loyalandtrueblue 69 Posted November 24, 2012 Share Posted November 24, 2012 Bigotry and lies should not be rewarded.Quite correct!I started a thread yesterday to get a campaign going to strip them of their award, and i included a link to the person to contac,t but alas the thread has disappeared!!!!!! and no one knows where??? so i am unsure as to whether i can post up the contact details again for people to complain to and get them publically humiliated and stripped of their tainted award! Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
True Azure 1,414 Posted November 24, 2012 Share Posted November 24, 2012 Is this it? TO: katriona.lewis@mediastandardstrust.org Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
loyalandtrueblue 69 Posted November 24, 2012 Share Posted November 24, 2012 Is this it? TO: katriona.lewis@mediastandardstrust.orgThat is it! Thanks! Get your e-mails sent to her!!!!Still don't know where the thread went or what was wrong with it though? Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Andypendek Posted November 24, 2012 Share Posted November 24, 2012 Hello from beyond the RM grave.The idea is that by hitting the link, when anyone googles 'Orwell Prize' one of the first things they see are the words 'Orwell Prize: Shaming Orwell'. These bastards cannot be allowed to besmirch the name of both Rangers and Orwell unchallenged...just as the pseudo-art wankers of the Turner Prize thrive on publicity, so must the Orwell Prize judges be pained by the jaggy shite of publicity working its way through the sphincter of the internet.Come a slow news day at a paper, such an angle may be used; we need to get smart and use the media rather than always fight it. Click the link then close it, I don't care if you read it or not...just take two seconds to help Rangers supporters defend themselves and the club. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stoorie 1,088 Posted November 24, 2012 Share Posted November 24, 2012 Hello from beyond the RM grave.The idea is that by hitting the link, when anyone googles 'Orwell Prize' one of the first things they see are the words 'Orwell Prize: Shaming Orwell'. These bastards cannot be allowed to besmirch the name of both Rangers and Orwell unchallenged...just as the pseudo-art wankers of the Turner Prize thrive on publicity, so must the Orwell Prize judges be pained by the jaggy shite of publicity working its way through the sphincter of the internet.Come a slow news day at a paper, such an angle may be used; we need to get smart and use the media rather than always fight it. Click the link then close it, I don't care if you read it or not...just take two seconds to help Rangers supporters defend themselves and the club.Eh?Just done that. Typing in "Orwell prize" into google didn't say anything about shaming Orwell.If bears want to say something then contact Katriona.katriona.lewis@mediastandardstrust.org Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Getstiffed 8,863 Posted November 24, 2012 Share Posted November 24, 2012 Eh?Just done that. Typing in "Orwell prize" into google didn't say anything about shaming Orwell.If bears want to say something then contact Katriona.katriona.lewis@mediastandardstrust.orgOnce enough people click the link the results for a Google search containing the words "Orwell prize", will show Andys link in the first page; hopefully even the first few results as well. Its how Google works. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stoorie 1,088 Posted November 24, 2012 Share Posted November 24, 2012 Once enough people click the link the results for a Google search containing the words "Orwell prize", will show Andys link in the first page; hopefully even the first few results as well. Its how Google works.Yea, know how Google works.Copy and paste from another thread on FF or wherever, halfway through a thread won't get this going.Link? Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Andypendek Posted November 24, 2012 Share Posted November 24, 2012 There's a link in the first post. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stoorie 1,088 Posted November 25, 2012 Share Posted November 25, 2012 There's a link in the first post.Apologies Andy.Read the Mr C re-post and then down from there. Didn't see the link.Sent an E-mail last night to the Orwell awards reiterating your views on the subject.Really sorry. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamieD 19,054 Posted November 26, 2012 Share Posted November 26, 2012 "At least he has not suffered the inevitable fate of all writers"Evidently a fate that is neither inevitable nor applicable to all, then. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucyBlue 2,278 Posted November 26, 2012 Share Posted November 26, 2012 Great post Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucyBlue 2,278 Posted November 26, 2012 Share Posted November 26, 2012 Just reading The Orwell prize twitter feed.You tell em Gers.....great work! https://twitter.com/theorwellprizeGet them to admit the truth.EDIT: They've just deleted all negative tweets from Gers fans.How Orwellian....That's the biggest irony ever. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silver Fox 167 Posted November 26, 2012 Share Posted November 26, 2012 we all know the Orwellian truth hereAll football fans are equal, but some are more equal than others Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Andypendek Posted November 26, 2012 Share Posted November 26, 2012 "At least he has not suffered the inevitable fate of all writers"Evidently a fate that is neither inevitable nor applicable to all, then. D'oh!I will edit the blog to include the qualifier 'yet'. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Douglas Cameron 179 Posted November 26, 2012 Share Posted November 26, 2012 They deleted the siteThey deleted the siteRangerstaxcase 99% shiteThey shamed George OrwellThey shamed George OrwellRangerstaxcase enjoy your cell in Bar LIn fairness they did reveal a lot of important stuff about Whyte. Sadly for them the one conclusion that really mattered evaded them. Shame Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
OlegKuznetsov 10,816 Posted November 26, 2012 Share Posted November 26, 2012 Hello from beyond the RM grave.The idea is that by hitting the link, when anyone googles 'Orwell Prize' one of the first things they see are the words 'Orwell Prize: Shaming Orwell'. These bastards cannot be allowed to besmirch the name of both Rangers and Orwell unchallenged...just as the pseudo-art wankers of the Turner Prize thrive on publicity, so must the Orwell Prize judges be pained by the jaggy shite of publicity working its way through the sphincter of the internet.Come a slow news day at a paper, such an angle may be used; we need to get smart and use the media rather than always fight it. Click the link then close it, I don't care if you read it or not...just take two seconds to help Rangers supporters defend themselves and the club.Excellent work, Andy. Very well argued and written.Hope you hang about a little. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
OlegKuznetsov 10,816 Posted November 26, 2012 Share Posted November 26, 2012 we all know the Orwellian truth hereAll football fans are equal, but some are more equal than othersExcellent title for an article. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamieD 19,054 Posted November 26, 2012 Share Posted November 26, 2012 D'oh!I will edit the blog to include the qualifier 'yet'.Mate, you should've told me to fuck off for being a smart-arse Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Manticore* 1,893 Posted November 26, 2012 Share Posted November 26, 2012 Off topic, Clive James' given name is Vivian. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
govanblue 16,847 Posted November 26, 2012 Share Posted November 26, 2012 If anyone else is going to email the Orwell mob, it might be worth highlighting the current 'last word' on the RTC site today"We thank everyone who has participated. Hopefully, we will see the result reversed on appeal."And ask them how they can seriously maintain the opinion that this was ever a serious, objective and impartial site? Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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