Something We Must Remember

Simon Leys in his May 26, 2011, New York Review of Books article "The Intimate Orwell" notes that the author George Orwell had made some quite mean-spirited remarks about the poet Stephen Spender, ideological and homophobic remarks. After meeting Spender, Orwell and Spender became friends. Simon Leys writes,

Even in the heat of battle, and precisely because he distrusted ideology—ideology kills—Orwell remained always acutely aware of the primacy that must be given to human individuals over all “the smelly little orthodoxies.”

This Orwellian stance was often emphasized by Curtis Mayfield. It's something that I (we) need to remember.

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/may/26/intimate-orwell/?pagination=false