Side question: is any 20th-century writer as equally cited by both the right and left as Orwell is?

[Recursion]

I would love thoughts on this question. Orwell seems to have captured the imagination of both sides of the political spectrum. Is there any other writer who has done this?

[zipplewrath]

1. Mark Twain

I'd guess Mark Twain.
But let's be honest, other than Ann Rand and probably Tom Clancy, most talented writers also tend to be too left wing for the current GOP. (Which currently means left of John Birch).

[Recursion]

2. Ah, very good point.

I'll look into that, thank you.

[JI7]

19. by the right also ?

[zipplewrath]

20. Yeah he joked about democrats

One of his more famous quotes was the one about:

"I'm not a member of an organized party, I'm a democrat".

[bemildred]

3. Orwell has the virtue of being very relevant to our current political situation.

That has much to do with his popularity, although nobody ever applies him to themselves.
And you should probably include Huxley's "Brave New World" along with Orwells two: "Animal Farm" and "1984".
I like Arthur Koestler's "Darkness at Noon" a lot too.

[Recursion]

5. Good point about Huxley

Maybe I should say in his case, more people should quote him, and think about it, than do.

[bemildred]

6. Well, you are asking about domestic political PR, where Orwell is the Man these days,

so I thought I was reaching a little, but I wanted to mention those two other guys who took a stirring run at the problem too, in their different ways.

[greatauntoftriplets]

4. Ayn Rand?

[Bluenorthwest]

7. I have definitely noticed that Orwell quotes are often not authentic or are misrepresented...

He is one author that, when cited, I always search for the quote. More often than with other authors, the quote is not authentic. Not sure why that is, maybe because George has gravitas....

[Recursion]

14. He shares that with Twain (nt)

[JonLP24]

8. I don't even know that he was a writer (novels)

I always see his name referenced with the 1984 movie, in fact it seems like his name included every time they mention the 1984 movie. (In hindsight, they were probably referring to the book) So I had an idea he was behind it creatively as either screen writer, director, producer. Vast majority of movies created were based on a book but didn't know it was a book prior to becoming a movie.

I hear or read references to it all-the-time but I never seen it, I've seen the Apple commercial but never a scene or anything that indicated it was airing on any of the TV channels watching.

Most recent reference I came across is from Enemy of the State screenwriter

Do you think we now view the privacy-security trade-off differently than we did in 1998?
Something that Orwell never figured out in 1984 is that people would embrace the idea of Big Brother if there’s a game attached to it, or if it’s convenient. You buy a monitor at Best Buy that has a little camera inside that allows you to make Skype calls, and you don’t realize what else is behind that camera. As long as you can present that kind of technology with a fun app, it’s no longer the omnipotent HAL with a red glowing eye—it’s a little black dot at the top of your computer that allows you to talk to your friends all over the world. But that comes at a price. You as an individual have to make a choice: Do you want to use this technology and what comes with it, or do you want to move out to a cabin in the woods and start growing vegetables?

http://nymag.com/news/frank-rich/enemy-of-the-state-2013-7/

I think that is an interesting take but doesn't have to be a game, the reality is it seems people don't care, indifferent or forget it by next week living under Big Brother. Its like the same thing in his movie Enemy of the State is people care and they didn't need that congressman in the beginning.

[bettyellen]

11. He is a well know writer, Animal Farm used to be in most every HS curriculum.... and his 1984

was quoted widely before the film was made of it. As well as after.

Perhaps it is generational, but what did you think- that Orwell was a director, like Spielberg?

[JonLP24]

15. Just behind it creatively in some way

I probably should have also figured it was probably a book too but often times when a movie is mentioned or playing I don't ask myself, "Is it also or from a book?" but since a lot of movies come from a book it wouldn't surprise me either. I'm surprised people don't read more since often the book version is miles better than the movie and for some reason the changes they make in the movie are terrible since what was in the book is what made it so entertaining. Runaway Jury was the worst I'm aware of where I read and watched the movie too.

Animal Farm I have heard of that or seem to have relocation that I knew that it was a book. I think it is also a movie too? Animal Farm I kept the titles mixed up with Animal House in which one was the frat movie. I know it is House but that is my knowledge of Animal Farm.

One of those 2 titles I should probably check out, there are other books I intend on reading some day (usually Dickens) but other books catch my attention first so I keep kicking bucket list type of books down the road.

[bettyellen]

17. Animal Farm is a very quick little read- a fable, really. I guess us older folks knew 1984 as

an infamous book for years, banned by communists and oft quoted. I think there was an old cartoon version of Animal Farm made in Britain, and yes- the characters are animals.
I guess the film 1984 is remembered because it was so visually stunning, and many have lifted that imagery.

[JonLP24]

18. Probably chance more than anything else

I've read and heard these words a lot George Orwell, 1984, big brother or behavior or action described as "Orwellian". I probably should have knew it since there are many other well known books that I am aware of, even I knew Gone With the Wind was a book. Catcher and the Rye I heard a lot about, Edgar Allen Poe, Mark Twain, etc. I even know Leonardo DiVinci's A Treatise on Painting Euclid's Elements though I was very interested and still am in Ancient Greece's contributions to mathematics as well as civilazation in general. There's a lot out there just going off the top of my head. The list would be too long to go through and say I heard of this or haven't.

I never even watched the film but I did see the Apple commercial which routinely ranks #1 on best Super Bowl ads from a long time ago so that is probably why I had the associating with the movie and the commercial was made in 1984 the computer was from 1984 so they really sold the 1984 Mac as an answer to Big Brother from the movie.

In school (the list is much smaller than after school, the point is explain why I may not have came across 1984 book) , can't remember all the books that were reading. There was Mark Twain, Willy Wonka and the author's other books. My favorite and by most memorable because she put us there or did a great job of describing the settings was The Diary of Anne Frank. Number the Stars was a good one too which was read at or near the time we read Anne Franks. My next favorites were Gary Paulsen - The Hatchet & The Winter. I think he wrote other ones such as The River but don't remember or didn't like as much. I remember Tuck Everlasting so well because I thought it would be cool but the book shows how it would also suck as well.

After school, I read a lot of non-fiction because its easier to guess if I'll like the book, nonfiction it is more of a crap-shoot. One of my favorites just happen to be free reading material on a table that seemed more interesting than the others and glad I did but can't imagine I'd ever read it if it didn't just happen to be there when I just happen to be there. A lot of luck involved.

[closeupready]

9. The philosopher George Santayana's "Those who forget history..." quote

is deep-sounding yet generic enough that everyone quotes it when trying to argue 'we tried your way before, and it failed last time so it will fail this time!'

[Donald Ian Rankin]

10. Voltaire's line on freedom of speech? The founding fathers of the USA? N.T.

[shaayecanaan]

12. Yeah, probably Voltaire

Nietzsche, maybe. Kafka, probably for the same reason as Orwell. Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson tend to get trotted out a lot by both sides in American politics.

[whatchamacallit]

13. Few are as eerily prescient

as the Prophet Orwell.

[Ykcutnek]

16. Orwell is cited way too much for way too many dumb reasons.

I would argue that his work is used by some in ways that could be considered Orwellian.

The founding fathers are equally misused in this manner.