In message 011201c0a332$8c544880$f080590c@dshilling, Dana Shilling dshilling@worldnet.att.net writes
Annie said:
Because, given that the culture supposedly exists far in the future and in what appears to be post-apocalyptic type domes, I would find it hard to believe that British culture of today would have survived.
If I were British, I might hesitate to ascribe aspects of my own culture to a vicious dictatorship.
Except that if you *were* British, you probably wouldn't hesitate... We (I think I'll be British this evening) are commonly quite capable of facing up to the nastier elements of our history. _1984_ was written in reaction to the political situation in Britain in 1948. Swift's _Gulliver's Travels_ and _A Modest Proposal_ are searing political satire.