George Orwell – Politics and the English Language – An Essay

When we talk about something Orwellian, the term conjures up a certain distasteful image of power cycles corrupting society, misshaping communities, poisoning human interactions, and infecting any and every sense of love with suspicion and anger.That is the curse of 1984.In Animal Farm we are confronted by the manipulation of revolutionary leaders, the dangers of not being educated enough to understand what is happening around us, the folly of unchallenged belief that the powerful will take care of the powerless.This episode is not a story but an essay written by George Orwell about the relationship of language and politics, and more specifically, poor language forms and decaying political parties.As usual with George Orwell, whose death in 1950 stole away a great mind from social discourse, his essay could just as well have been written last week, so accurate are his sentiments. Even though I may disagree on some points, for example I have no issue with non-English words entering the English vernacular, the main thrust of his argument here about language clarity, obfuscation and attempting to defend unjustifiable actions tolls significantly loudly.