What Orwell thought of military parades
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'A military parade is really a kind of ritual dance, something like a ballet, expressing a certain philosophy of life,' wrote the great British author George Orwell in 1941. He argued that the 'parade-step' of a national army reflected something about a country's 'social atmosphere.' The goose-step adopted by a number of fascist militaries during World War II, Orwell observed, was 'simply an affirmation of naked power' and, consequently, 'is one of the most horrible sights in the world.'
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