George Orwell

Illustration: Karl GustafsonCourt-ordered ankle monitors bring in hundreds of millions of dollars in the U.S. every year. Law enforcement uses the devices to monitor more than a hundred thousand people every day, a number that’s expanding rapidly. They play a key role in American criminal justice. For such a crucial technology, though, they began in an unlikely place: a lowly Spider-Man newspaper comic from the 1970s.The Amazing Spider-Man comic by Stan Lee and John Romia ran in newspapers across the country throughout…

Image: TorDotComIf you are in the global north and want to migrate to a fictional dystopia, then you have lost your grip on reality but also, more worryingly, may have expat colonial/oligarch aspirations: your only possible reason for wanting to move could be to reinforce that dystopia’s ruling elite. This advisory is not for you.If you’re in the global south and being forced to migrate by your regional totalitarian/oligarch combination, war, invasion, climate catastrophe, or by economic/social devastation caused by that…

Noted as being one of the most influential writers of the 20th century, Eric Arthur Blair, who gained prominence under his pen name George Orwell was known to be an outspoken supporter of democratic socialism and an ardent opposer of totalitarianism. The English novelist, essayist, journalist and critic, who as a writer produced literary criticism, ditties, fiction, and journalistic work, wrote books that find relevance even today in a neo-postmodern world. The author whose work remains influential even today in…