Perl's lack of 'in' keyword

Aaron Trevena aaron.trevena at gmail.com
Thu Oct 9 21:00:03 BST 2008


2008/10/9 Iain Barnett <iainspeed at gmail.com>:
>> Nah, it's not the "perl thought police" you have to worry about with
>> that one - it's the radical functional programming fifth columnists
>> posing as otherwise respectable members of the perl community ...
>>
>> /J\
>
> Is that a double invocation of Godwin's Law by stealth?

No.

The Fifth Column refers to "nationalist" sabateurs and agent
provocateurs within the republican controlled areas of spain during
the spanish civil war, it was for the most part a bogeyman used to
justify infighting and secret police and sabotage of other parties
within the republican alliance, mostly by the communists who were
trying to take control using soviet supply and support as leverage.

> It was, of course, in "1984" that the fascist government controlled people
> though making the language smaller and resisting changes. That makes the
> "in"-crowd proles, not 5th columnists. Unless you're a fascist[1] :D

No. Proles are the common man, fifth columnists are the Emanual
Goldstein (except of course that Goldstein), the Thought Police are
neither the proletariat nor the fifth column.

IIRC George Orwell based the scenario in 1984 as much on totalitarian
communist regime that eventually took almost exclusive control of the
republican side during the civil war, as well as the fascists that it
would more obviously be associated with, fighting as part of the
international brigades gave him experience of what happens when the
End justifies the Means, and the power of propoganda used by both
sides throughout the war.

A.

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