It's not the authoritarian and cruel part that makes 1984 so memorable. After all, like you said, Colin, there's a long list of autocratic, authoritarian and cruel empires/societies/governments throughout history. It's the absurdity of it, particularly how language is used as a tool of repression. That's how the English language got the terms Big Brother, doublethink, Newspeak, thoughtcrime, etc (as part of the "Orwellian" adjective).
Irony is, the same people who think that American airports are the best in the world are the same people who refuse to travel anywhere else in the world!
Hm ... The full story is on the Las Vegas Review-Journal, not your Amaze and Amuse blog - that should be the via link.
I think this is a big part of why your submissions haven't gotten much traction, Pat. The topics have all been very interesting (so you've definitely got talent for finding interesting stuff).
I think this is a big part of why your submissions haven't gotten much traction, Pat. The topics have all been very interesting (so you've definitely got talent for finding interesting stuff).