Review
Not the truly generic and atemporal nationalist profile I expected to find after having read other reviews. Maybe Orwell didn’t intend the essay to be that, or maybe the convoluted times when this was written forced him to be too specific. About the psychological characteristics he discusses here, I’d remark the indifference to reality in the nationalist’s intelligentsia. I did find my expected generality and a match with the current context here.
- Nationalist’s indifference to reality: A greater truth lives in the correct morality more than in actual evidence. History, therefore, can and must be rewritten to serve new needs. The key: loyalty justifies what must be done.