Then: “Google does not censor the results for any
search term”
Now: “It is Google’s policy not to censor search
results. However, in response to local laws, regulations
or policies, we may do so.”
For those among us who have not read G. Orwell’s,
Animal Farm, the major themes comprise:
1) The nature of tyranny and the insatiable lust for power
that tyranny incurs.
2) The roles and attitudes of various groups of people who
enable tyrants to rise to power, among the most common: the
apolitical; the devoted; the cynic’s dismissal of facts;
and the lobbyist’s particularism which prevents the
linking of a series of events into a whole reality.
The story is set on a farm where Jones, the cruel farmer,
is ousted by the farm yard animals in a revolution to establish
a utopian society based on 7 commandments. The respected
boar, Old Major, introduces the rebellion by wisely counselling
the animals to share their indignation and rebel against
their human master. As the revolution plays out, the pigs,
being much cleverer, become the “natural” leaders
and ensconce themselves in power, affording themselves luxuries
which they do not give the other animals.
As events progressively deteriorate under the increasingly
corrupt and isolated rule of the pigs, the animals are sold
the dream of “sugarcandy mountain,” the utopian
farm beyond this present life. The massed (and yet again)
downtrodden farm animals buy into this dream to explain away
and soothe their suspicions of the evident failings of the
ruling group.
As false allegiances demonstrate, the rulers of the rebellion
betray the ideals for which the populace fought. As the story
progresses, one by one the commandments are eradicated to
the expediency of the moment. Among the many disturbing incidents
is the elimination of the commandment that no animal is to
ever walk on two legs or trade with man.
In the final pages Napoleon, the ruler of Animal Farm, toasts
a glass of beer with Pilkington, the farmer whom the pigs
are trading with. In this toast, the two form an allegiance
and solidarity between humans and pigs. Yet not long after
this pact, a dispute breaks out between the two about an
issue of the both holding the ace of spades in a card game.
Clearly, neither can trust each other, for they cannot bridge
the self interest motivating each.
Animal Farm ends with the pigs dropping any pretexts they
may have had about sticking to the ideals of the revolution.
In the end, the pigs and all of their progeny walk out of
the farmhouse, blatantly standing on their hind legs in front
of the other animals. The sheep, long since trained by the
pigs to bleat: “Four legs good, two legs bad,” at
this moment are cued to sing the new rendition: “Four
legs good, two legs better.” Napoleon, in uniform and
with a whip at his belt, strides out and overwrites the last
utopian commandment remaining:
“All animals are created equal” … with …
“All animals are created equal, except some are more equal than others.”
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