Orwell Laughing His Dead Ass Off

The Universe - or more probably someone at Penguin Signet Classics - has a twisted sense of humor.

This morning, hundreds of Amazon Kindle owners awoke to discover that books by a certain famous author had mysteriously disappeared from their e-book readers. These were books that they had bought and paid for—thought they owned.

But no, apparently the publisher changed its mind about offering an electronic edition, and apparently Amazon, whose business lives and dies by publisher happiness, caved. It electronically deleted all books by this author from people’s Kindles and credited their accounts for the price.

For we bibliophiles who will stop paying the mortgage and buying food before we stop buying actual, real, bound-paper books, this is irony enough to last us for a few days. We told you that stupid electronic thing wasn't for reading real books.

But there's more - deliciously, perfectly more.

You want to know the best part? The juicy, plump, dripping irony?
The author who was the victim of this Big Brotherish plot was none other than George Orwell. And the books were “1984” and “Animal Farm.”

Here's a clue for giant corporations that think they can throw their weight around without consequences: when the reality of what you're planning to do would make a good headline in The Onion, it's time to step back and rethink it.

Cross-posted at They Gave Us A Republic ....