News From Nowhere by William Morris is included on The 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read list, in the Science Fiction section – you find notes on books from that list at https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/10/a-voyage-to-arcturus-by-david-lindsay.html where I have a few hundred reviews - 7 out of 10

 

News From Nowhere by William Morris is included on The 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read list, in the Science Fiction section – you find notes on books from that list at https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/10/a-voyage-to-arcturus-by-david-lindsay.html where I have a few hundred reviews

 

7 out of 10

 

To start with a brief conclusion, there is a lot of nonsense in News From Nowhere, and unfortunately, I have experienced this society inspired by Marxist ideas, together with hundreds of millions, and it is terrible, murderous, and think of North Korea, if you have any doubts, albeit if you muse about it, God be with you, you need help

 

Alas, I have only seen now that William Morris was a Marxist, and this is too late, the information would have been useful a priori, I would not have touched News From Nowhere, or just took it with a pole, nevertheless, it is also true that his ‘true colors’ show quite soon after engaging with the opus, hence the rejection

There are aspects that we can appreciate in the novel, I did to some extent, but the proposition of a Marxist utopia is not for yours truly, I had the ‘chance’ to experience the benefits of an egalitarian society, during the rule of Ceausescu, one of the most abject tyrants, in the same class with Orange Jesus, future dictator of America

 

News From Nowhere mentions a revolution – one of the most tedious chapters, in spite of the deaths, I was so annoyed, because of my own heinous experience, that I decided this project is not for me – which is for the poor, workers, whereas I took part in another http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

My participation was against the ‘workers’, better said it was to take down Ceausescu, and the system, the latter is producing the likes of Stalin, Ceausescu, Kim of North Korea, it is not like the doctrine is superb -which so many morons say – only the work in practice was not good enough, no, it is a calamity, it happened again and again

 

As for the utopia that there should be a society where they will all be equal, as described in the book, calling themselves ‘neighbor’, just like we had to use the stupid, false ‘comrade’, in the commie days, it is all nonsense, and a ‘Big Lie’ – to quote that big Orange Idiot that will become despot and command over us from Washington

 

Animal Farm https://realini.blogspot.com/2022/01/animal-farm-by-george-orwell-magnum.html describes perfectly what happens in the kind of human project that is sold in News From Nowhere, people will not accept others as equals, those who will adopt that frame of mind, will be taken for a ride by the likes of Orange Jesus

 

‘All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others’ that is the hard reality, the Marxists will get the top jobs, just like the pigs at the Animals Farm and get into the habits of the bourgeoise aka the humans, and exploit the others, kill millions, Stalin, Mao killed many more than Hitler, and not together, individually

Aristotle https://realini.blogspot.com/2014/07/aristotle-in-ninety-minutes-by-paul.html wrote many fabulous things, and one was The Golden Mean, virtue is in the middle, with vices on both sides, the man who takes a motorcycle and speeds to 200 miles per hour on an icy road is not brave, he is crazy, they call some organ donors

 

So let use some moderation and say that what we have now is flawed, let me repeat at nauseam the American example, the once greatest democracy in the world is about to elect an Orange Ceausescu – I mean let us hope they do not, Insha’Allah, but they have done, and just the fact that it is so close is damning enough

Studies have shown that a big discrepancy between rich and poor is damaging for levels of happiness and more, Northern countries do not have those immense differences between wealthy and paupers, there are systems of Social nets, the taxes are at their highest in places like Sweden, and they top the charts for felicity

 

So yes, William Morris has a point in that, furthermore, it is nice to read about beautiful people – the women are apparently stunning, once Marxism is applied, only we have seen it, and you do not gent Anything from Anywhere, queues for bread, milk, you name it, shortage of food, no electricity for days, cold, no human rights

Is that conducive to beauty, respect, brotherliness, and all that shows up in the pages of this flawed novel – I am getting angry, what the hell is this fellow talking about, come to think of it, this is dangerous stuff, if readers buy this, metaphorically, and start dreaming, implementing this bulshit, then there is trouble

 

 “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function. One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless and yet be determined to make them otherwise.” This is what Scott Fitzgerald said and it is superb

In other words, for this book, it would be fabulous to have merry people, handsome, not just that, god-like, looking young – a woman is forty two and looks twenty – they do not sell things, they do only what they want, poverty has been eliminated, the concept of money belongs to history, their education is bizarre, but could be seen as natural – children get into forests and play together in summer -they do not just have freedoms, this is liberty at its maximum, no politics, no punishment for murder or anything else for that matter, no army, the French would not invade, it is explained in an example, if they were, they could no more harm to those poor workers of the nineteenth century anyway, what a sorry, Panglossian view this is

 

Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

 There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

 

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

 

‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

 

“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”