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George Orwell's '1984' Tops Amazon's Bestseller List (theguardian.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the alternative-facts dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Sales of George Orwell's dystopian drama 1984 have soared after Kellyanne Conway, adviser to the reality-TV-star-turned-president, Donald Trump, used the phrase "alternative facts" in an interview. As of Tuesday, the book was the sixth best-selling book on Amazon. Comparisons were made with the term "newspeak" used in the 1949 novel, which was used to signal a fictional language that aims at eliminating personal thought and also "doublethink." In the book Orwell writes that it "means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them." The connection was initially made on CNN's Reliable Sources. "Alternative facts is a George Orwell phrase," said Washington Post reporter Karen Tumulty. Conway's use of the term was in reference to White House press secretary Sean Spicer's comments about last week's inauguration attracting "the largest audience ever". Her interview was widely criticized and she was sub-tweeted by Merriam-Webster dictionary with a definition of the word fact. In 1984, a superstate wields extreme control over the people and persecutes any form of independent thought. UPDATE 1/24/17 6:56PM PST: Orwell's dystopian novel is now the #1 Best Seller in Books on Amazon.

7 of 659 comments (clear)

  1. Who's buying? by TimothyHollins · · Score: 5, Funny

    First we should make sure it's not the Trump administration buying these. They might be mistaken for operating manuals.

    1. Re:Who's buying? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Nineteen Eighty-Four has always been out of copyright in Oceania.

    2. Re:Who's buying? by PopeRatzo · · Score: 5, Funny

      The left have spent the last 10 years changing the meaning of words like "male" and "female"

      Here on Slashdot, "male" and "female" refer to types of plugs, not biology.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
  2. Muhammed Saeed al-Sahaf reincarnated by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Seeing Sean Spicer claiming the biggest audience ever reminded me of the Iraqi Minister of Information.

  3. Re:Uh-oh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Conclussion [kuh n-kluhsh-uh n] noun
    Shock caused upon reaching the end of a particularly jarring chain of thought.

  4. Re:1984 by Chrisq · · Score: 3, Funny

    I see you are one of those fools who believes knowledge is power..

    Quite right citizen, ignorance is strength.

  5. Re:And here we go again... by Fragnet · · Score: 4, Funny

    The Obama administration never lied about anything? Or perhaps now it's Trump people are actually checking and reporting it.