Sublime

The great enemy of clear language is insincerity.

he speculates on the nature of personal integrity: Orwell clung with a kind of wry, grim pride to the old ways of the last class that had ruled the old order. He must sometimes have wondered how it came about that he should be praising sportsmanship and gentlemanliness and dutifulness and physical courage. He seems to have thought, and very likely

The essays in Facing Unpleasant Facts build meaning from telling a story; the essays in All Art Is Propaganda hold something up to critical scrutiny. The first is based on narrative, the second on analysis, and Orwell was equally brilliant at both.

The words democracy, socialism, freedom, patriotic, realistic, justice, have each of them several different meanings which cannot be reconciled with one another.

In (5) words and meaning have almost parted company.

“Who controls the past,” ran the Party slogan, “controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.”

It’s the surprise part that Orwell couldn’t predict. He was looking in the wrong direction. Total surveillance. The privatisation of the private.