Is it just me who notes this in almost any newpaper article where there might - might - just be a slight mention of somebody being told 'what to do' which may be for their own good, the word 'Orwellian' is dredged up to denote sinister undertones which actually have no relation to anything Eric Arthur Blair ever wrote, but sounds good 'because they're trying to control us' - anyone else think this word is overused and out of context? the latest example was schools thinking of not letting 'the kids' out at lunch at school to stop them turning into Roseanne Barr and JOhn Goodman by the time they're ten by gorging on Chicken Cottage. I mean is this really 'orwellian'??
Nanny state. There said it before anyone else did.
or well
nevermind.
by the way
if you want to control childhood obesity, then not letting the kids out at lunchtime is probably a good idea. it may be a nanny state thing, but you get a nanny because the kids need looking after, right? note: looking after does not mean the same as infringing whatever civil liberties, k?
not letting them out
but also not selling off all the playing fields
what age are kids let out anyway? at my school we couldn't leave the grounds til year 10
not selling off playing fields is also a very good idea
but what do you do about the schools that've already sold off their playing fields, or that never had them in the first place? you don't let them out. but you just said that, so i dunno why i'm trying to pick a fight
I agree
I think there's an issue of trying to force kids to eat what they're given rather than making them/their parents want to do it themselves, but it's not Orwellian and the word is used to describe any time there's any kind of authority to scare people.
i find it weird that kids are allowed out at breaktimes.
we weren't.
we had to stay on school grounds. we didn't have a school shop or anything.
so, if you didn't bring lunch, you didn't eat, or sometimes you could scab a hot meal from the 'school dinners' lot and/or boarders.
so...
anyway, i don't care.
see also 'Macchiavellian'
still, at least anyone saying either of those things isn't saying "quintessentially British", which is the hoariest old cliche to avoid like the plague.
orwellian love and war
DONT TELL ME WHAT TO DO OKAY?
heh heh libertarians. I don't think I went into town much at school but that was to do with there being loads to do and loads of playing fields etc - I suppose going to St Pikey's in Wood Green above the Cineworld is not conducive to sitting on the rugby fields vainly writing poetry is it?