“Orwell's defenders always look to contextualize Orwell's shortcomings in a historic moment. Whatever his infraction, he was a victim of circumstance—times were different then, and, for example, Hitler was looking really good for a minute there. Orwell never meant that his books should be employed to stultify schoolchildren. And yet that's what "Animal Farm" is—an educational missile aimed at any healthy impulse towards reform. The argument that "Animal Farm" is a generalized indictment of totalitarianism is simply unsupportable by the text or any existing presentation of the text. Rather, the intelligence of the pigs as opposed to the stupidity of the other animals, and the ultimate hopelessness of revolution, renders "Animal Farm" a de facto endorsement of the status quo.”

— John Reed (novelist)

Saint George and the Damn Truth http://www.mobylives.com/Orwell_Reed.html

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

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John Reed (novelist) 2

American writer 1969

George Woodcock (1912–1995) Canadian writer of political biography and history, an anarchist thinker, an essayist and literary critic

The Crystal Spirit : A Study of George Orwell (1966), Ch. I : The Man I Remembered, p. 3
Context: Orwell can only be understood as an essentially quixotic man. … He defended, passionately and as a matter of principle, unpopular causes. Often without regard to reason he would strike out against anything which offended his conceptions of right, justice and decency, yet, as many who crossed lances with him had reason to know, he could be a very chivalrous opponent, impelled by a sense of fair play that would lead to public recantation of accusations he had eventually decided were unfair. In his own way he was a man of the left, but he attacked its holy images as fervently as he did those of the right. And however much he might on occasion find himself in uneasy and temporary alliance with others, he was — in the end — as much a man in isolation as Don Quixote. His was the isolation of every man who seeks the truth diligently, no matter how unpleasant its implications may be to others or even to himself.

“Animals are the main victims of history, and the treatment of domesticated animals in industrial farms is perhaps the worst crime in history.”

Yuval Noah Harari (1976) Israeli historian

Introduction to Animal Liberation

“What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny "failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions". In 1984, Huxley added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us.”

Neil Postman (1931–2003) American writer and academic

Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business (1985)

“I know people who just absolutely everyday of their life work for change. … The animal rights people. THOSE are my people. … You always hear about the Farmer in the Dell and how he loves his animals, but we’re not educated. And now it’s all coming out and people are starting to finally get educated about it. Farm Sanctuary is rescuing all these animals … I mean not one animal had a good life before they got here.”

Jennifer Coolidge (1961) American actress and comedian

"Farm Sanctuary Exclusive Interview: Jennifer Puts The "Cool" In Coolidge", in Ecorazzi (8 December 2008) http://www.ecorazzi.com/2008/12/08/farm-sanctuary-exclusive-interview-jennifer-puts-the-cool-in-coolidge/.

“Many years from now, our descendants will look back on the use of animals for food—particularly the intense animal suffering in factory farms—as a moral atrocity.”

Jacy Reese (1992) American social scientist

[Why It's Time to End Factory Farming, October 20, 2018, Quillette, https://quillette.com/2018/10/20/why-its-time-to-end-factory-farming/]

“As I learned more about veganism, and animal farms and the way animals were treated, it just disgusted me to the point where I could never imagine eating animals again.”

Daniel Negreanu (1974) Canadian poker player

“Kid Poker – Vegan Daniel Negeanu Dominates the Card Scene,” interview with Sophie Jackson of PokerListings.com, reported in VeganLifeMag.com (7 August 2016) https://www.veganlifemag.com/daniel-negeanu-vegan-poker/.

“What is happening to [animals] on modern farms and in modern slaughterhouses is beyond most of the worst moments of our lives...that's their entire existence.”

Bruce Friedrich (1969) Member of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals

Bruce Friedrich on Protein Alternatives and the Good Food Institute https://hearthisidea.com/episodes/bruce, Interview on the Hear This Idea podcast, 2021

“George Orwell wrote in his "Notes on Nationalism" that, for the pacifist, the truth that, "Those who 'abjure' violence can only do so because others committing violence on their behalf," is obvious but impossible to accept.”

Jack Donovan (1974) American activist, editor and writer

Violence is Golden
A Sky Without Eagles (2014)

“When I talk to farmers about how they treat the animals on their farms, I come up against a strange fact: while the general public and most research scientists all acknowledge that farm animals suffer, the farmers responsible for them have a tendency to deny it.”

Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson (1941) American writer and activist

Source: The Face on Your Plate (2009), Ch. 2, p. 64

“I personally chose to go vegan because I educated myself on factory farming and cruelty to animals, and I suddenly realized that what was on my plate were living things, with feelings. And I just couldn’t disconnect myself from it any longer.”

Ellen DeGeneres (1958) American stand-up comedian, television host, and actress

From her website; quoted in "Why Ellen Went Vegan", in peta.org (9 November 2009) https://www.peta.org/blog/ellen-went-vegan/

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