My next video...

Hi all!

Now that I've got a good chunk of the reading done and have begun to get some words on paper for the script, I thought I'd give you all an insight into what I'm working on for my next video...

We're going to be looking at the work of George Orwell and, in particular, conservative uses of Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm as rhetorical ammunition in popular debate.

I'm going to use as a starting point the manner in which Orwell is used by Jordan Peterson in his writing and talks. Partly, it's nice to have a solid case study to hold on to (rather than just talking vaguely about "the right" or "conservatives") and partly there's something which interests me about the deep cultural association between Orwell and the Cold War and the manner in which Peterson often seems to labour under the illusion that the Cold War never ended.

After that, it's still a bit messy but I'm planning on including a bit of an overview of Orwell's life because I think it's tricky to get a proper sense of what he was trying to do with his work without taking into account the times in which he lived and several episodes in his life.

I'm also interested in drawing out Orwell's criticisms of "Western" society that are contained within Nineteen Eighty-Four as well as some of his earlier work which we'll touch upon. Popular understandings of Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm often seem to assume that, because the work rightly criticises Stalinism, it is an implicit celebration of "the West" when that's not entirely the case.

I'm also interested in the manner in which conservatives often latch onto the pessimism of Nineteen Eighty-Four—the "boot stamping on a human face forever"—due to the manner in which it suggests conflict is inevitable and whether we might actually find some hope among both the dystopian landscape of Oceania and elsewhere in Orwell's work.

Whilst it's starting to take shape, there's still a lot that's up in the air. Despite having spent the past three months reading in preparation for this one, I think I'm also likely going to have to read a little more too.

Anyway, I always love giving you an insight into what I'm working on and would love to hear your thoughts!

Thanks as ever for your generous support,

Tom

(The picture is of the back of the books as I wanted to post it to Twitter without giving away what I was working on to anyone else!)