Today, we're getting a veritable feast of stupidity to devour, with Epic Games deciding to pick a petty slap fight with Apple over the tech giant's 30% tax on App Store purchases by invoking Orwell's seminal anti-communist screed, 1984.
But wait - am I pro-Apple? Pro-Epic? The answer to both is "no." They're both ꦑawful, neither of them are righteous, and buying into the bel♑ief that they are is an admittance that you literally don't understand what's going on with society.
1984 Is Bad, Actually
In the reveal video of Epic Games' incredibly cringe-inducing "#FreeFortnite" hashtag, a popular character skin destroys a TV broadcasting an evil dictator's speech. The dictator is a sentient apple in a suit, because subtlety really isn't Epic's strong suit, considering how they basically stole a mode from a popular game to save their failing PvE shooter. But I digress. In this video, the Fortnite ch﷽aracter is portrayed as a hero, standing up to the injusticꦅe of a tyrannical corporation.
This is accomplished by cribbing a famous scene from the movie adaptation of 1984, George Orwell's seminal piece of red scare propaganda. For the unfamiliar, the book tells the story of totalitarianism run amok, where free thought is punished and challenging the status quo is met with imprisonment. Generally speaking, it's taught in hig🗹h school to warn kiddies about the evils of censorship.
Only, that's only half of the story. Orwell was actually a simpering narc who, shortly before his death, compiled a list of suspected communists for the IRD. That list allowed the spirit of McCarthyism to thrive overseas, and continue to oppress anyone opposed to capitalist expansionism. In other words, it's impossible to read 1984 with this knowledge and not think of it as anything but propaganda. Of course totalitarianism and censorship are bad, but Orwell was coming at it from the wrong angle, and consequently emboldened jackbooted politicians to enact ꧋their own censorship, restrictions, and general oppression.
Invoking 1984, then, is not only keeping this legacy alive, but showing that you don't have an actual understanding of recent histor🔯y.
Apple Isn't Oppressing Epic
On top of that, Epic's whole "Apple is oppressing us uwu" schtick is extremely ꧋coꦐrny.
Look, I'm no fan of Apple. Their computers are too proprietary, their phones rely on a broken system of "patch the old ones into oblivion," and it sucks that I can't just install GarageBand on Windows. They're not a great company, to be sure. But the thing is that there's no such thing as a great company. They don't exist! All corporations of Apple's tier are evil in some way, shape, or form, and all of them oppress daily us in ways that we don't even think abಌout.
You know who isn't oppressed? Epic Games, the multi-billion dollar corporation behind one of the most popular games in the history of the medium. Between cluttering Target toy aisles with Fortnite toys, shoehorning a cameo into Avengers, and snagging lucrative exclusivity deals with major publishers, they're not exactly hurting for cash. Fortnite's mobile version alone, as of this year.
Epic Games is just as much an enemy of the people as Apple - they're just upset about not getting a few extra million dollars because they chose to use that platform. But that's just it, isn't it? Capitalism's greatest lie is that it's a "free market," and if Epic were truly beh𒊎olden to that, then there'd be no issue with this. This is Apple's platform, and to be on it means to play by their rules. If you don't, they don't play ball with you.
Is this is a bad system? Of course! It always has been. But🐻 corporations can't have their cake and eat it too. If they want to profit from this broken, exploitative system, then they also have to run up against its limitations. Also, it's a bit of delicious irony that Epic is upset about proprietary restrictions when you're forced to use their platform to play their biggest games and certain third-party titles. Sure, they're no Apple, but that's because they're not a tech giant.
Also, c'mon, y'all. .
Everything Is Bad Forever
Capitalism is an inherent rot on civilization. Our societal deification of corporations will inevitably lead to a mass upheaval against the system that will be sustained,ไ focused, and violent. We've seen this in numerous revolutions in the past - the bigger the wealth gap, the more likely a culꦇture is to crumble, and the more likely its leaders are to be walked to the guillotine.
In the meantime, though, all we can do is watch this broken system inevitably eat itself alive and heckle from the sidelines♕. My cynical nature aside, there are some positives that could come from this. This could raise some good conversations about corporations having monopolies over platforms. It could also finally set a precedent for somebody actually standing up to Apple, which is long overdue. Cer🔥tainly, this ain't all bad.
But before you ally yourself with Epic, remember that they don't care about you. Remember that they stole their biggest idea. Remember that Fortnite isn't a marginalized individual being brutalized by an oppressive regime. And remember th൲at this is what the future looks like 𒁏- "a boot, stamping on a human face, forever."
On♛ly we're the face. And capitalism? Well... you can figure that one out, loves.