You can't expect a precise one-on-one correspondence between reality and fiction in a fable.
At 4:06 PM -0500 11/26/02, Todd Archer wrote:
>>The destruction of the natural environment was not a conscious
>>motive of Islamic fundamentalists (at least they have yet to make
>>it the center of their grievances), but if you think of the
>>environment in a broader sense of the word, including social,
>>political, economic, and cultural, the analogy makes sense.
>
>Ehnn, I think that's reaching again. It's tossing ObL and his
>fascist pals too big a bone. Makes them out as representatives of
>the entire ME in its grievances against the US. I have little doubt
>there are ME states who wouldn't have minded having ObL and his
>coterie either wiped out or imprisoned as a bunch of fanatics or
>threats to stability.
Most of the heads of Middle East states are now subordinate members of the supporters of the Empire. The growth of Islamism, both moderate and suicidal, is rooted in this phenomenon.
At 4:06 PM -0500 11/26/02, Todd Archer wrote:
>>What's most interesting to me in the parable is the responses of
>>farm animals to the beavers: "The book ends with the farm animals
>>crying out for revenge against the fundamentalists: `Kill the
>>beavers! Kill the beavers! Kill! Kill!'..." (@
>><http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/25/books/25ANIM.html>). Cries for
>>revenge were not the only responses in the USA, but certainly they
>>were the dominant strain in public discourse.
>
>Oh yes, no doubt about that part, but it's hardly subtle.
Nor is Orwell's _Animal Farm_. After all, both books are for young adults.
Here's more about _Snowball's Chance_:
***** In Snowball's Chance, Snowball returns to Animal Farm as a convert to 21st-century-style corporate capitalism, and quickly sets out to bring Napoleon's proto-Soviet farm in line with his own vision of a New Farm Order. On Orwell's farm the saying was that all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others; in Snowball's Chance it becomes the very Republican-sounding "All animals are born equal -- what they become is their own affair." Or, as the animals put it later, "The scope of what we can have is only limited by the scope of what we can want!"
Instead of the one windmill Orwell had the animals build, Reed has them build two -- the, um, Twin Mills. They also install air conditioning, they all take to wearing clothes and walking on two legs, and they even learn how to launch lawsuits at the neighbors. They acclimatize themselves to working with humans as well. ("And as the days wore on, it was generally accepted that the best way to deal with a human was to treat it like a pig. They too appreciated a little toadyism.") Animal Farm expands its borders, taking over neighboring farms from their human owners. The bustle and bright lights of all this busy-ness attract numerous new species of animals from all over the place -- creating the equivalent of racial tensions between the haughty pigs and newcomers like the ostriches.
Snowball convinces everyone to participate in a bold project to transform Animal Farm into a giant carnival called "Animal Fair" -- a theme-parking scheme painfully reminiscent of the transformation of Manhattan and every other major American city into a Disney spinoff. This requires a restructured -- and politically correct -- bureaucracy on the farm. "A sheep was given the 'Innovative Design' position. A bat and a mole, jointly, were appointed to the 'Scenic Vistas' position. And, rather startlingly, a woodpecker was appointed to the 'Structural Engineering' position." The farm's economy booms. There's liquor and meat and hot showers for everyone, and the carnival's always there to distract them from the accompanying bills and hangovers.
Meanwhile, out in the neighboring woods, the beavers are becoming...well, religious fundamentalists. They despise what Animal Farm has become. From the trees, they stare balefully at the Twin Mills. And you know the rest.
<http://www.nypress.com/15/40/news&columns/publishing.cfm> ***** -- Yoshie
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