I recently read Animal Farm by George Orwell, a satirical book in which animals take over a farm and attempt to run it themselves.

The book is often said to be an allegory for the Russian revolution and the Stalinist era and it is but more than that I think it is a cynical look at human nature. Another thing that was clearly evident in the book was the cycle that plagues the vast majority of so called revolutions. The Utopian ideal is preached and the enemy is defined. True believers lead the people to rebellion; then they are usurped by or become themselves power mongers. The original utopian message is distorted and abused for the benefit of the rulers. The people (or in the case of Animal Farm sheep) believe what they are told and tolerate the new tyrants for a time. Then perhaps in a month or perhaps in a hundred years a new preacher with a new Utopian message (or the same old one dusted off) stirs the people to rebellion one again.

Who can be blamed for this vicious cycle? The sage for giving hope to the hopeless and preaching what he truly believes? It is true that all must be held to account for their actions, if he preaches death and destruction then he must be held partly responsible when it comes to pass, but only partly and only if his message is an evil one. Then surely the tyrants and their spin-doctors are responsible. They cannot escape justice but if history is our guide then we can surmise that if they hadn’t acted some other opportunist would have taken their place so they cannot be the whole responsible. So who is left? The people. The people must allow themselves to be deceived, either willfully or through their own naivete. In the book when Napoleon the pig (tyrant) seizes power and blatantly disregards the laws, the other animals that were there when the laws were written stand by in fear. Then they allow themselves to believe that the law doesn’t say quite what they thought it said. Sadly when a tyrant comes to power it is often the people who are both his victims and his enablers. Far too often the people are uninterested and blissfully ignorant and allow themselves to be fed lies, and laws get changed, constitutions ignored, and liberties once thought to be guaranteed become distant dreamlike memories. Study history or at the very least read Animal Farm and live by the lessons found therein.

“How fortunate…that the people do not think.” Adolph Hitler

Underagethinker 9 November 2006