Orwell’s Criticism for Propaganda in the Language of Politics Is Still Valid
How Orwell in 1946 could describe the situation in 2020
George Orwell (1903–1950) was among the greatest English writers since 1945, according to a report from The Times in 2008. Eric Arthur Blair (his real name) was a man born in British India and his career was full of historic essays, novels and journals, adopting a critical position against totalitarianism, democratic capitalism and bad use of the English language. One of his best articles is entitled as “Politics and the English Language”, was written in 1946 and it strongly criticised the connection between the political incentives and the “ugly” use of written Enlgish.
This is an article by George Orwell, which emphasises on the language that politicians used and the way they sometimes ‘twist their words’ just to spread their messages and their agenda. He starts off by saying that the decline of the English language can be caused partially by the political and economic processes and the only thing we can do is end the bad habits, therefore contributing to the political regeneration.
The two most common mistakes of political articles, according to Orwell, are the staleness and vagueness of imagery, along with the lack of precision. The use of imprecise words along with the…
