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BNW has proven to be far more prescient, and insidiously so, than 1984

Yeah, that and Atlas Shrugged, but mentioning that book is a magnet for dissention.

Edit: I was correct, and I don't understand why. Was AS somehow twisted for political reasons? It's a great book.


Atlas Shrugged (and the fountainhead) is like a superhero comic book where the almighty good guys fight the flat, faceless "bad guys" with pure and fully justified moral righteousness. The "bad guys" are a slobbering caricature of a boogeyman that everyone can easily despise - wanting to do nothing except take from others like a bridge troll or a grey goo disaster scenario.

Nothing wrong with that I suppose but the second someone implies it has something to say about real life capitalists or social welfare or anything else then it gets weird; that makes as much sense as any of the marvel movies helping you decide how to vote for exactly the same reason.

I expect it's for this reason you're being downvoted - these books are often used as a motte and baily to imply something about real life (or often to ironically excuse their own selfish/bad behavior) and they just don't hold up for that in my opinion.


Probably because the author was an insufferable person and that that very book was part of the basis for (not "twisted") her inhumane and pretentious pseudo-philosophical spin on libertarianism?

I don't like that this is reminding me that I'm not in my mid 20s anymore

The aesthetic hasn't aged well, but the nostalgia hits great


This might be the single most 2026 headline i've seen yet


Probably worth flagging that Silver sold FiveThirtyEight to, and then worked at, WaPo's biggest competitor

Same. If I had a dollar for everytime I've said "hey siri where are my keys/airpods/phone" they'd have paid for themselves several times over.

Headlines like this are inversely proportional to how cheap flights into the US are right now, it's almost as if no-one wants to travel there.

My country has already cut complete routes into the US due to a lack of demand.

Yes, but it's optional

Love this! All I've ever wanted is a modern version of Chuck Yeager's Air Combat


The sooner this "communication as entertainment" era of humanity passes the better


People were listening to the radio a hundred years ago and it was filled with entertainment and politics, often mixed together. I doubt human tastes will change any time soon.


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