This is something of a TROLL’S VERSION OF SADNESS, because for all his literary talents Orwell was an unpleasant person in many ways NOT THAT DOLAN CARED WHAT SORT OF UNPLEASANT PERSON ORWELL WAS, BUT RATHER WHAT A BIGOT ORWELL WAS AND WHAT A TROLL I AM, TROLL VON TROLLSON, and a COMMENT that approached ORWELL’S flaws in a less blatantly dishonest fashion would be interesting.

Orwell on Dali

Reading charming misspellings and rambling about random personnages would leave even the most dedicated debater dans le noir.

Making your incomprehensible response non-sensical. Do keep at it though.

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“After reading the mild civic homilies of the Norton, this raw hate entranced me.”

What “raw hate”? There’s no sign of it in the entire paragraph you quoted, as far as I can see.

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“Orwell went to Spain to fight for his most deeply held belief . . . anti-Catholicism.”

Evidence? (That that was the reason for his going, I mean.)

If you take the time to read Orwell’s works [with a clear mind, that is], it’s both clear and fascinating to see his progression as a writer and as a human being. The Orwell of age 24 was not the Orwell of 34, and most certainly not the Orwell of 44.

Orwell actually learned and grew from his experiences, reassessed his former prejudices, and wasn’t afraid to call a spade a spade, even if that meant alienating the British Communists and doctrinaire liberals.

Your essay screams “I haven’t read all (or even most) of Orwell’s works.” Absolutely screams it.

Have you read Homage to Catalonia, Road to Wigan Pier, any of the political essays ?

(as for Hitchens, he’s using his well-honed kiss-ass skills on St Peter, trying to delay his eventual immersion into the Lake of Fire …)

I do not think Orwell was an imperialist. I am one, but I do not think he was. He had remains of class identity (as can be seen in Wigan Pier, or in that subdued but very much /felt/ way in Down and Under), and he indeed did look down upon the Burmese, but I don’t really see a reason to doubt that he hated his role as a policeman or the imperialism of British Empire.

He was a typical conservative Brit, flawed and prejudiced, but I can’t see anywhere any argument made by him for preserving the empire. The entire article lists his prejudices as if they’re automatically constituting Orwell as an imperial apologist, but that’s simply not the case.

Maybe I missed something.

Five seconds on teh Google would show you that John Dolan is AKA Gary Brecher. Making your misdirected rant hilarious.

Inter-ethnic hatred is the rule, not the exception, and if those Burmese could’ve gotten on their boats and sailed off to Britain to subjubgate them first, they certainly would have. Ditto the Irish: It’s not a lack of desire, but a lack of ability, that had the English dominating the Irish for so many centuries instead of the other way round.

Finally, all the pearl-clutching at Imperial Britain’s atrocities while blissfully ignoring those of the Roman Catholic Church (in a head-to-head historical match-up, which of the two has caused more human misery would be hard to say) is reminiscent of….wait, I found it:

“Most of them [British books] don’t even mention Ireland, no matter how central it might be to the topic.”

What a pity.

In the time it took you to polish this piece (of tripe), you could’ve read “Burmese Days” as well. Basing Orwell’s world view on “Shooting an Elephant” seems rather presumptuous. He deserves better treatment, and you probably know it.

The fact that all you do is look at the style of arguments, rather than the results of their implementation, puts you more firmly in the dumbass liberal slave-driver camp than Orwell and Hitchens ever were.

Though a more ‘racist’ you might have gotten a more simple reason the British hated the Irish so much: It’s the same reason the Germans hated the Jews, the Japanese hate the Koreans, and the Tutsi hate the Hutu. The more physically and mentally alike you are, the more you’ll fixate on the small differences and ruthlessly crush each other at the earliest opportunity. For it ain’t until men realize they’re brothers until they instantly begin to fight.