‘It needs more public-spirited pigs’: TS Eliot’s rejection of Orwell’s Animal Farm
This was the title of https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/may/26/ts-eliot-rejection-george-orwell-animal-farm-british-library-online
Eliot, one of the 20th century’s greatest poets and literary figures (his critics said he had fascist tendencies), said: “And after all, your pigs are far more intelligent than the other animals, and therefore the best qualified to run the farm – in fact, there couldn’t have been an Animal Farm at all without them: so that what was needed (someone might argue), was not more communism but more public-spirited pigs.”
Thinking about it maybe LKY, Dr Goh, Lim Kim San, Toh Chin Chye etc would be role-models for such public-spirited pigs.
So if the pigs had been as public-spirited as Harry Lee, Dr Goh etc:
— there would be a Pigs’ Action Party (Don’t worry, the comments get better);
— a sheep would always be elected president but the colour of the fleece mattered (while yellow was the preferred colour, sometimes the president’s fleece must be brown, black or white):;
— the leader of the pigs would always be a yellow coloured one;
— the other animals would have a share (albeit not as much as the pigs) of the “brain food”, apples and milk;
— but much of their apples and milk would be locked up (and waste away) like our CPF monies;
— Boxer would have been treated a lot better: he’d have Pioneer benefits to supplement his meagre share of stored apples and milk;
— but if Boxer had cancer he’s have to return to the UK (like Alex Josey, LKY’s devoted follower) to get treated on the NHS;
— Squealer, like Rajaratnam, would have Alzheimer’s disease, as a consequence of having to practice doublespeak;
— Snowball, like Lim Chin Siong would be allowed to return from exile
— the farmhouse, like the Istana, would be open to the other animals on public holidays;
— the windmill would be built right the first time, providing Animal Farm with electricity and the animals would get a share of the benefits;
— Tan Wah Piow would be happy outside S’pore instead of being bitter in self-exile (Daisy the mare fled Animal Farm because she was unhappy and lived happily ever after);
— the animals that plotted against the pigs would not be killed but be arrested under the ISA and made to confess, like Teo Soh Lung and friends, their misdeeds on tv;and
— there would be free but unfair elections every few years that would serve as referendums on the pigs’ performance with 60% approval ratings being the passing mark;
— there would be a population of about 26% that would always vote against the public-spirited pigs, screaming ‘The pigs are always wrong”;
— “To each what he deserves” and “Work sets you free” would be prominent slogans at the Pigs’ Annual Rally.;
— some of the castrated pigs would form the Wankers’ Party to oppose the Pigs’ Action Party; and
— one of the dogs would go mad.
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But some sheep are always unhappy
PAP gave you one drum stick, now collecting two chickens
After every GE, the first 3-4 years, you see massive hikes of various fees to recoup the drum stick they gave during GE. With the greedy Minister, you see car-park charges raised and proposed SnCC charges soon to be raised to better service lifts. To his hypocritical stand to keep Singapore car-lite, more COEs are being released.
In the recent weeks, you see so many charges and fees being raised despite massive profits. From Medishield Life, taxi licenses, fares, basic necessities, levies et cetera, everything seems to be on auto-pilot going up.
The only year that Singaporean will have a breather will be the year before GE. Then suddenly, you will see all the ministers and politicians becoming your best friends over night, back by media and advertisements in addition social media. Remember all the nice ads at train stations telling you not to worry about CPF and Medishield Life?
Even Facebook and Chinese Wechat will promote these policies then. Question is why don’t you see them now? They seem to have disappeared right after the GE.
Look at the shopping centres, few are buying, pay has largely remain stagnant for years and there is no job security, high possibility of being replaced by fake talents imported. Despite massive profits, why is the government continue to squeeze poor Singaporeans dry? If Temasek and GIC are supposed to make good money, so why are they milking locals high and dry? Isn’t this puzzling at all? So why so many changes to entrap and restrict the use of CPF? Without any visibility, we can only assume that the funds are not doing well!!!
I hear Singaporeans complain and complain about the hikes and increased charges and fee. But isn’t this repeated every five years. After GE, they will fleece us right until the year before GE that they will suddenly be generous. WP did say, they will give you a drum stick and take one chicken, isn’t that correct?
My take is they have been very greedy, it is no longer one chicken, its two chicken, thanks to you giving them landslide. And for those who voted for the greedy party, stop complaining la, don’t be a gu niang!
DuGu QiuBai
He and his kind should realise that the PAP did things a left-wing US senator wants done in the US.
Elizabeth Warren named in some quarters as a potential running mate for Hillary Clinton.
First, she wants to make it easier for all workers to pay social security contributions and buy insurance against disability or illness, as well as to accrue credits for at least some paid leave. Second, she argues that health and pension benefits should belong to workers and should follow them no matter what their employment status. Third, she underlines the need to streamline and enforce existing labour laws to stop employers exploiting loopholes. Finally, she stresses the need for collective bargaining for all workers — unions, historically intent on protecting insiders, need to bear some responsibility.
FT extract
Finally a related post: Life on a real animal farm: animals are well-looked after to benefit the farmer. Something the successors (the natural aristocrats) to the PAP Old Guard forgot but quickly relearnt after the double 2011 debacles. Now they are spending more of our more on ourselves. And trying to fix the presidential elections so that a compassionate, humble ex-PAPpy, Dr Tan Cheng Bock, can never be elected president,
3rd last of your Animal Farm analogy – “Work sets you free” would mean the Pigs or the Pappy Pigs are closet fascists since the term comes from the notorious “Arbeit macht frei” sign at the entrance to Auschwitz. Not a bad analogy if you think the Pappy Pigs are neo-Nazis in white shirts and trousers.
Was hoping someone would spot that. But to be fair to Harry, he really believes those two sayings. And I think they had a life before the Nazis appropriated them.
The appropriate phrase is the one from the New Testament; “Then you know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” It rather applies to the PAP’s withholding of crucial information on the sovereign finances.
Yes, the pigs had to be clever and scheming to get on top. As long as they looked after the denizens of the farm with diligence it would have been fine. But pigs get greedy and arrogant in the end. That’s history. That’s why you cannot just have one set of pigs.