It stuck with me as much as anything in the book did. I had no idea that Orwell volunteered to fight for the Spanish government in their civil war.
The essays are sometimes amazing. If you have never read "Shooting an Elephant" than you should, if it strikes you as worthwhile then consider reading more of him.
Thank you for pointing that out. I had recently read 1984 and Animal Farm, and those did not come close to moving me like this essay. There is something in actual, especially personal, experience that cannot be matched. It's not only a perception of things, but perception and actuality mixed together. I really almost wanted to cry at the end there. Not for the elephant, but because I could understand his feeling.
I'll be reading more of Orwell's for sure. I'd love to find a reading list of works that were part autobiographical. BTW, you might be interested in George Kennan's "Tent Life in Siberia". It's a personal account of a trip across Siberia in the 1860's, planning a route for a US-Europe telegraph cable. It's not very provocative, but it is unique. Some background on Kennan: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Kennan_(explorer)
In short, he found Animal Farm to be "Trotskyite".
This telling line kind of gets to the heart of what worries me with the Neo-Libertarian movement in our country. I don't understand why some on the right have a hard time grasping that Capitalism can be a direct affront to Democracy. Corporate personhood, control of the media outlets, seemingly limitless money flowing directly into the pockets of our representatives, -it's too much, and it's getting harder and harder to envision a path away from where we are now. I agree with Orwell's sentiment that amongst other options, a democratic capitalist country works well for the most part, but that doesn't mean we can't fall off the rails. I don't think he or anybody else ever succeeded in destroying the myth of Soviet Socialism in order to save Socialism itself, -at least as far as the United States is concerned.
I think the unofficial censorship we see today has as much to do with the sensibilities of sponsors as it does with public policy. However, on the public policy front, Saudi troops just recently helped suppress protests in Bahrain. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/20/bahrain-saudi-ar...) US news outlets are pretty quiet about this. The Saudi regime gets a pass by the US 'free press'.