Onlookers screamed as fire engulfed the young man, who had thrown pamphlets in the air before he set himself aflame. A police officer tried to extinguish the flames before the man was taken away in an ambulance.
    • @BirdyBoogleBop@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      11•7 months ago

      Well that was definitely something.

      So he understood the Simpsons, a Clockwork orange, and 1984 except thought that the subject matter was being praised rather than being shown as a bad thing? I am going to assume the other referenced media is the same.

      I don’t think you need to set yourself on fire to convince people shits fucked and getting worse. But. I don’t think it is because of “that”

          • queermunist she/her
            6•7 months ago

            I recently had an interesting discussion where someone interpreted the pessimistic ending as a result of successful in-universe propaganda from the Party, and that all the shit they said was just gaslighting and lies to make themselves seem omnipresent and make resistance seem hopeless.

            I don’t think this was the intended message but the author is dead, we can make up our own head canons and no one can stop us!

            • @Nonameuser678@aussie.zone
              4•7 months ago

              If you interpret the appendix as an ending then it’s a lot less pessimistic as it implies that all totalitarian regimes eventually fall.