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About this quote

What does it mean?
Orwell warns against dismissing totalitarianism as impossible because the present often seems unimaginable until it happens.
In plain terms
What seems impossible today might be reality tomorrow.
What can you take from it?
Be skeptical of dismissing extreme political futures as fantasy.

Where it applies

  • political forecasting
  • societal warnings
  • policy making

Putting it to work

  • stay vigilant
  • study history
  • challenge assumptions

Questions to consider

  • What nightmares are we ignoring today?
  • How do we distinguish fantasy from risk?

Another view

The comparison assumes linear progression rather than unique historical contexts.

More from George Orwell

  1. I know it is the fashion to say that most of recorded history is lies anyway. I am willing to believe that history is for the most part inaccurate and biased, …

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  2. We in England underrate the danger of this kind of thing, because our traditions and our past security have given us a sentimental belief that it all comes rig…

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  3. This kind of thing is frightening to me, because it often gives me the feeling that the very concept of objective truth is fading out of the world.

    Permalink to quote #83

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