5.8 KiB
Huxleyed Into the Full Orwell --Cory Doctorow
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Author: u/PeridexisErrant put aside fear for courage, and death for life*
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URL: http://motherboard.vice.com/read/huxleyed-into-the-full-cory-orwell-cory-doctorow
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Score: 8
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Created: 2014-11-18T11:11:33
Post:
Comments:
u/noggin-scratcher [+8] I am a happy tree (16 minutes later)
I'm having some trouble distinguishing whether this is fiction or current events.
u/alexanderwales [+3] Time flies like an arrow (4 hours later)
In case you didn't know, Dmitry Sklyarov was a real person. The whole case was pretty crazy for a variety of reasons.
u/eaglejarl [+4] (5 hours later)
I'm a bit confused about the message here. I think what just happened is that Kitty was arrested, so Shandra protested, so Shandra was arrested, so the narrator protests, so....
Is the implication that the narrator will actually take action there at the end? Or is it just a never ending loop of didn't-make-a-difference?
u/alexanderwales [+2] Time flies like an arrow (5 hours later)
The cynical (and in my opinion, probably realistic) view is that no one is really making that much of a difference. But given that it's Doctorow, I think the intended message is more along the lines of "together we're strong, and the message is unstoppable even though they'll try their best to stop it". They can put us in Free Speech Zones, and throw on riot gear, but that won't put a dent in our ability to be heard.
u/eaglejarl [+5] (5 hours later)
"together we're strong
But...they're not. Political strength (or power in general) is the ability to actually cause change. If they aren't causing change, how can they be said to be strong?
u/alexanderwales [+3] Time flies like an arrow (6 hours later)
To someone with Doctorow's mindset, it goes like this:
- People violate the DMCA.
- People get arrested for that.
- People protest in creative ways and engage in a media assault.
- The protest gets widespread attention.
- The masses widely agree that it's bullshit.
- The politicians, now under pressure, change the policies in order to get re-elected.
This requires optimism at pretty much every stage - optimism that the media would give a shit about a protest, optimism that the masses would give a shit about the media, optimism that the political pressure could last long enough to impact policy, etc. I imagine that Doctorow is hampered a bit by the short story format (about 2,000 words here), but to "get" this story you have to buy into some of his worldview re: political activism and its results.
u/None [+3] (a day later)
While what you just said sounds incredibly dark, noticing its basic truth is also the first step towards being able to take effective political action.
You should have a cookie, to be honest.
u/eaglejarl [+2] (a day later)
You should have a cookie, to be honest.
Double chocolate chip?
u/None [+2] (a day later)
Duuuude.
u/rtkwe [+1] (2 days later)
A lot of Doctorow's fiction (though they feel more like sermons in their repetition sometimes) has an underlying theme of they-can't-shut-us-up/if-one-falls-two-more-shall-rise (Hail Democracy) to it.
u/None [+1] (4 hours later)
Oh wow, this is good. I need to read more Doctorow. Any recommendations?
u/alexanderwales [+2] Time flies like an arrow (5 hours later)
(All these links should go to Creative Commons released online versions of these stories - Doctorow releases everything for free.)
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom is one of his best - it's post-scarcity transhumanism through a (fairly) optimistic lens. Rapture of the Nerds is also pretty good, and was co-written with Charles Stross (most well-known for Accelerando and The Laundry Files).
For the Win, Little Brother, and Homeland (sequel to Little Brother) are all YA, and I wasn't terribly impressed with them, though Little Brother felt like the best of the bunch.
My favorite short story of his is I, Robot, which is his take on Asimov's Three Laws. I generally consider Doctorow to be a better short story writer than a novelist, but I'd have to track down which ones in specific I thought were the best.
u/None [+1] (a day later)
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom is one of his best - it's post-scarcity transhumanism through a (fairly) optimistic lens.
One of the few occasions on which I can say: the worldbuilding was awesome, pity about the character being such a douchebag.
Rapture of the Nerds[2] is also pretty good, and was co-written with Charles Stross (most well-known for Accelerando and The Laundry Files).
It was pretty hysterically funny, actually, even though they'd never heard of CEV or anything of the sort, so their psychological analysis techniques came across as somewhat primitive.
u/eaglejarl [+1] (5 hours later)
I quite liked Little Brother.
u/poliphilo [+1] (7 days later)
Down and Out... and Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town are both quite interesting & memorable.