Creative influence

 How do you influence people to take seriously and engage with an important issue in society? My natural tendency would be to document the problem with statistics, background, context, analysis and concrete suggestions to address the problem. In that sense, I am a technocrat. A Presbyterian once joked with me: if Presbyterians had heard Jesus tell the Parable of the Good Samaritan, that would have formed a committee to prepare a report about the problem of violent crime on the Jericho road!

There are alternative approaches to social and political critique. They are creative and indirect. A classic example is the novel, Animal Farm, by George Orwell. I recently read it for the first time, prompted by my daughter who had just read it for a book club. It is a classic work of satire. The book is only one hundred pages, easy to read, funny, subtle, imaginative, and pointed. It is a satire of the Soviet Union under Stalin. Violent and sudden political revolutions may begin with noble values of justice, truth, equality, and camaraderie. However, power corrupts and revolutionary governments can quickly degenerate into totalitarianism, the cult of personality, corruption, propaganda, violence, deception, revisionist history, and inequality. Truth suffers and the oppressed can't face the pain of questioning the deceptions and the failure of the revolution. Power is maintained by creating "the other", constructed enemies within and without, who allegedly threaten the revolution. This justifies the violent suppression of dissent.

Sadly, the Soviet Union was not a unique case. The same pattern of degeneration has happened in Nicaragua, Venezuela, Cambodia, ...

Orwell had political concerns, being opposed to tyranny of all forms, both from the left and the right. After fighting on the republican (socialist) side in the Spanish civil war, he witnessed firsthand the ruthless purges of his comrades by Stalinists. This partially motivated the writing of Animal Farm. He was concerned about the uncritical support of the Soviet Union, by both the left, and by the right. The latter saw it necessary in order to win World War II. Orwell's earlier writing had been more direct, such as in Homage to Catalonia, a chronicle of his experiences in the Spanish civil war. But, Animal Farm had a far greater impact, particularly in the long term. A new edition is about to be issued, with a new introduction, by Jason Cowley, Editor of The New Statesman. This gives nice background to the novel and its enduring influence.

I also recommend an Econtalk podcast, from 2009, featuring Christopher Hitchens, author of Why Orwell Matters. One of many items of interest in the podcast is the discussion of the review written in 1944 by Orwell of The Road to Serfdom by F.A. Hayek.

Generally, I am not a fan of Hitchens as he was one of the champions of The New Atheism. I consider that their critiques of Christianity are largely ill-informed and superficial. Terry Eagleton has presented robust critiques of him and Dawkins. However, this podcast gave me a greater appreciation of Orwell and how Hitchens did justifiably become well known for some of his essays and biographies.

Orwell's strategy of influence reminds me of the examples of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. C.S. Lewis started out doing traditional apologetics: giving rational arguments for the validity of Christianity. Later, he took a creative approach, aiming to capture people's imagination through his fictional work, such as The Chronicles of Narnia.