by Heineken » Thu 28 Aug 2008, 21:21:37
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('GASMON', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Heineken', 'R')occland, have you read Orwell's "Down and Out in Paris and London"? Or his "The Road to Wigan Pier"? They're all about starving, suffering, dreadfully impoverished, cruelly overworked people. These books are straight reporting from real life. The people Orwell observed didn't torture, maim, or loot (well, there was a little petty theft, by some). What they did do was become cowed, meek, and weak. And bored. Orwell observed this phenomenon again and again and commented on it directly. And he experienced all of it himself
As a Wigan person born and bred, my roots in this town go back 200+ years.
George Orwell was a disgrace to this town. What he saw and what he wrote were very different. Starving, suffering, dreadfully impoverished, cruelly overworked people, yes, a few, (as in ANY town), but BY NO MEANS was this the norm.
Wigan was built on Coal, Iron and Cotton. A proud, hard working grimy industrial town back then (and well into the 1960's), with good honest people and rich history, dating back to the Roman times.
Cowed, meek, and weak. And bored !!! -- Ha Ha - go to any Wigan Warriors rugby match and see a bit of real pain and torture !!!! (and they DON'T wear body protection).
See photo Garmon's post
Orwell's book wasn't about "the norm." It was about the poor. Orwell investigated conditions in Wigan in the 1930s, during the Depression. Were you there then?
If conditions have improved since then, you can thank the courage of people like George Orwell, who championed the coal miner and the other working---and unemployed---poor. The very same tough, proud, simple souls of whom you speak.
Naturally, whenever anyone exposes a disgrace, there will always be a faction in place to attack him. Even 70 years later!
Sorry if Orwell ruffled the feathers of your town fathers and colliery owners.