Rawi's bookworm ... Animal Farm ... but probably not the way you expect
Yes, you’re reading right. It’s a rather timely addition to my posting regarding the clusterfuck of a world we’re experiencing now. And yet I won’t be shooting at the present parodies for leaders that have happened to somehow fail up to their posts they didn’t earn. Yes, I’m being cheeky there :p
That said, it’s mildly worrying being in online spaces and having the book referenced quite a bit (although the 1984 takes more prominence) and wonder how many people actually read it. Because I can’t help but think that a lot of people missed the message completely or relate to the parts that they probably shouldn’t. Confused? Well, let me try and shed some light on my thought process.
To start, I’ll retell an extremely abridged version of the story. Seriously, read the book because it’s super short on its own. A farm in Victorian England is maintained by a despotic farmer. He’s cruel to the animals there, using them as just resources to enrich himself and his family. The animals, led by pigs, trigger an unexpected revolution, establishing their own form of leadership and ideology to build up. Over the course of time however, that ideology is slowly twisted for the pigs’ benefit, ultimately resulting in oppression and slow return to the ways of before the revolution. So much so that the other animals can’t distinguish between the humans and the pigs.
The books primary inspiration for the setting and how it plays out is in fact Soviet Union, mainly its beginnings and the eventual descent into the totalitarian hell. The revolution mimicking the Great October Revolution (October by Julian calendar used by Imperial Russia back then, in Gregorian calendar it was already November) initiated by V. I. Lenin (Who by the way was NOT in there for the people. He was sent by the Central Powers to destabilise the already barely stable Russia.), the civil war in the fledgeling Union before the Reds cemented their power, the rise of Napoleon (Stalin) to power etc. There are also other analogies such as the reference to the famine of Ukraine, the “alliance” with Nazi Germany (Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact) and other key events in history of the Eastern European “superpower“ (somehow powered by megalomania, cynicism and utter incompetence).
Now, why am I worried and wondering whether people understand the message of the book? Well, let’s take the Seven Commandments of Animalism from the book:
Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.
Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.
No animal shall wear clothes.
No animal shall sleep in a bed.
No animal shall drink alcohol.
No animal shall kill any other animal.
All animals are equal.
Read them carefully. See any problems? The first is obvious and it’s why the second one needed the amendment with the explicit mention of wings. And I can already find a loophole. What about a human being with wings? Do the wings need to be natural? Do they need to be usable?
See how easy it was for me to fit into the commandments while having a potential malicious intent? And the pigs knew that very well. Hence why we end up with these commandments at the end of the story:
REMOVED
REMOVED
REMOVED
No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets.
No animal shall drink alcohol to excess.
No animal shall kill any other animal without cause.
And the most horrifying one:
- All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.
See what happened? Three of the laws were downright ignored and erased to revise the history and the rest was amended to justify the blatant disregard for them. Now you might want to ask: “Why didn’t anyone do something?” Before you do so, my dear reader, ask this yourself first: “Who is enforcing the laws?” Is that silence I hear? Good, because you probably realised what has been happening.
“But how?” you ask, “How could they change these laws so easily? Wasn’t there a democratic process described in the book?” My dear reader, read the book again. Who were the candidates picked from? Was there any form of functioning plurality or were you just choosing the particular people from the ruling party? Tell me again, who was putting together the laws and who was enforcing them. You have the answer to all your questions right in front of you. Yet for some reason many people disregard them. And what worse, these more often than not come from circles that claim to protect the very people suffering from the oppression. Tell me, after you read the book, who do you relate to? Because if you relate to pigs, then I’m afraid you have a serious problem, no matter what ideology you believe in. How so, you ask? Read the commandments again and what happened to them later. That, my dear reader, is your fate. You DO NOT care about the values instilled in the ideology, you’re merely using it to further your personal goals. And when it becomes convenient, you’ll pull the proverbial rug from underneath your followers because you don’t need them anymore. And it doesn’t matter whether your excuse will be some demented and delusional vision of purity or utopian promises of the “good for everyone”. Feeling attacked? I hope so because it is an attack. An attack at your personal morality and integrity and how quickly you’re willing to abandon them to further your goals. And “end justifies the means” is one piss-poor excuse for trying to establish any moral high ground.
So yeah, I really strongly urge people, especially those who’d sympathise with the ideology the Animal Farm was built upon to read the book again and read it very carefully. Then, evaluate your actions, both in online and real life spaces, and take note any moment you related to pigs. Because you might realise that you’re not the leftist that you claim to be (I’ll have to use this terminology despite utterly hating it but it provides the punchiest delivery). You may just be yet another right-winger, except with a leftist excuse. Keep in mind that even Nazi Germany had some left-wing policies. They were just behind the impossible-to-clear entry bar of “racial purity”. And before you accuse me of being the “centrist” … yeah, no; horseshoe theory, while applicable here, pushes centrism onto the “top” which in itself is bullshit so no, I’m not falling into that category. This also further explains why I detest such oversimplifying theories in general.
“So you relate to Benjamin? That cynical bastard who did barely anything?” Yes, my dear reader, you’re very much right. But not for his cynicism, no. I relate to him exactly for the reasons stated above. I relate to him because he understood very well what was happening. Remember, donkeys are not stupid. Stubborn, but not stupid. He saw rather clearly that no substantial change will happen. “So why didn’t he say or do anything?” And what would you want him to do? Counter-revolution? By himself? He’d either be shutdown before he could even start or he’d earn a one-way trip behind the bars. Nobody would believe him anyway before it was too late already. Because here’s the thing. If the only solution to fix a nation in decline is a revolution, violent or non-violent one (yes, the latter IS possible), the work doesn’t stop there. Keep in mind that you have a population that’s been manipulated for years or decades. These same people that are now free have no idea what to do with their freedom. So they’ll naturally seek some guidance. And guess what happens once they find a “guide” and who is the guide probably going to be. Possibly someone smart enough to sell the correct points. And thus the cycle begins anew.
In conclusion, if you want to relate to someone in Animal Farm, make sure you’re not the pig.
R.R.A.