It's another episode! Moses, Jake, and Steph are back to talk about heroism, censorship, and the dangers of isolation!
Is Winston a hero? What makes a hero anyway?
Here we discuss active versus passive protagonists and what kinds of character arcs they can have. Turns out that not all heroic feats require swords and guns. Some heroism happens with in the inner world of one's own mind.
Here is also where 1984 gets really political, and potentially politically relevant! We talk censorship and cancel culture! Just what does that look like? It's not just book burnings and government. Sometimes it's how we filter our news feeds...which could also be an expression of good boundaries.
Perhaps the best defense against censorship is to cultivate an active, intentional and curious approach to the narratives you want to hear...and occasionally be curious about the other side too.
But here's a question - When faced with a perspective that counters our own, why do we tend to respond with defensiveness? What would it look like if we could be more curious? We share some thoughts about this.
We talk repression of emotions. We talk isolation. We talk sexual ethics! We raise the question...is our current government doing "Orwellian" things? Going deeper, we reflect on whether or not our past church experiences have had Orwellian elements to them.
Mostly, we notice how when people become isolated, they become extremely vulnerable to diabolical suggestions from powerful entities. What we have learned from our own lives, and what we see depicted in this novel, is that community and relationship take active intentional effort, especially when "The Party" works full time to prevent connection.
Moses goes on a sub-tangent about how online dating and pornography have impacted young people's arousal templates.
Finally, we raise the question - why is it important to tell our story? What is the value of revisiting the past? And on a global scale, why on earth do we need to study history? Even both sides of a historical event? What happens when we don't know who got us here or why?
Moreover, what happens when we lose capacity for privacy, loyalty, and emotion, including "Deep and complex sorrows"? Why are we better off, like Captain Kirk, to shout, "I need my pain!"?
Moses leaves us with the thought, "Telling your story is a way of preserving your humanity. Studying history is a way of preserving culture."
For more information about Moses, subscribe at www.mosesbernabe.com, or support at www.patreon.com/mosesbernabe.
For more information about Jake, contact him at www.jacobrayschwartz.com or @jacobrayschwartz
For more information about Stephanie, contact her at @bennetts.edits on Instagram or her website https://www.bennettsedits.com/
