Today's Article
'In our time, political
speech and writing
are largely the
defense of the
indefensible,' wrote
George Orwell.
speech and writing
are largely the
defense of the
indefensible,' wrote
George Orwell.
The American Spark
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Remembering Orwell's Words On Political Language
By Cliff Montgomery - Jan. 3rd, 2008
As the 2008 presidential race earnestly begins in Iowa, we at The American Spark have decided to quote
sections of George Orwell's seminal work, Politics and the English Language. Though first published in April
1946, its lessons are just as profound now.
"Most people...would admit that the English language is in a bad way, but it is generally assumed that we
cannot by conscious action do anything about it. [...]
"Underneath this lies the half-conscious belief that language is a natural growth and not an instrument which
we shape for our own purposes.
"Now, it is clear that the decline of a language must ultimately have political and economic causes: it is not due
simply to the bad influence of this or that individual writer.
"But an effect can become a cause, reinforcing the original cause and producing the same effect in an
intensified form...A man may take to drink because he feels himself to be a failure, and then fail all the more
completely because he drinks.
"It is rather the same thing that is happening to the English language. It becomes ugly and inaccurate
because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish
thoughts.
"The point is that the process is reversible. Modern English, especially written English, is full of bad habits
which spread by imitation and which can be avoided if one is willing to take the necessary trouble.
"If one gets rid of these habits one can think more clearly, and to think clearly is a necessary first step toward
political regeneration: so that the fight against bad English is not frivolous and is not the exclusive concern of
professional writers.
"[...] Two qualities are common to all [bad writing]. The first is staleness of imagery; the other is lack of precision.
The writer either has a meaning and cannot express it, or he inadvertently says something else, or he is almost
indifferent as to whether his words mean anything or not.
"This mixture of vagueness and sheer incompetence is the most marked characteristic of modern English
prose, and especially of any kind of political writing.
"As soon as certain topics are raised, the concrete melts into the abstract and no one seems able to think of
turns of speech that are not hackneyed: prose consists less and less of words chosen for the sake of their
meaning, and more and more of phrases tacked together like the sections of a prefabricated hen-house. [...]
"I am going to translate a passage of good English into modern English of the worst sort. Here is a well-known
verse from Ecclesiastes:
"Here it is in modern English:
"[...] In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible.
"Things like the continuance of British rule in India, the Russian purges and deportations, the dropping of the
atom bombs on Japan, can indeed be defended, but only by arguments which are too brutal for most people to
face, and which do not square with the professed aims of the political parties.
"Thus political language has to consist largely of euphemism, question-begging and sheer cloudy vagueness.
"Defenseless villages are bombarded from the air, the inhabitants driven out into the countryside, the cattle
machine-gunned, the huts set on fire with incendiary bullets: this is called pacification.
"Millions of peasants are robbed of their farms and sent trudging along the roads with no more than they can
carry: this is called transfer of population or rectification of frontiers.
"People are imprisoned for years without trial, or shot in the back of the neck or sent to die of scurvy in Arctic
lumber camps: this is called elimination of unreliable elements.
"Such phraseology is needed if one wants to name things without calling up mental pictures of them. [...]
"The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one's real and one's declared
aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish spurting out ink.
"In our age there is no such thing as ‘keeping out of politics’. All issues are political issues, and politics itself is a
mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred, and schizophrenia.
"When the general atmosphere is bad, language must suffer."
Like what you're reading so far? Then why not order a full year (52 issues) of the The American Spark e-
newsletter for only $15? A major article covering an story not being told in the Corporate Press will be
delivered to your email every Monday morning for a full year, for less than 30 cents an issue. Order Now!
By Cliff Montgomery - Jan. 3rd, 2008
As the 2008 presidential race earnestly begins in Iowa, we at The American Spark have decided to quote
sections of George Orwell's seminal work, Politics and the English Language. Though first published in April
1946, its lessons are just as profound now.
"Most people...would admit that the English language is in a bad way, but it is generally assumed that we
cannot by conscious action do anything about it. [...]
"Underneath this lies the half-conscious belief that language is a natural growth and not an instrument which
we shape for our own purposes.
"Now, it is clear that the decline of a language must ultimately have political and economic causes: it is not due
simply to the bad influence of this or that individual writer.
"But an effect can become a cause, reinforcing the original cause and producing the same effect in an
intensified form...A man may take to drink because he feels himself to be a failure, and then fail all the more
completely because he drinks.
"It is rather the same thing that is happening to the English language. It becomes ugly and inaccurate
because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish
thoughts.
"The point is that the process is reversible. Modern English, especially written English, is full of bad habits
which spread by imitation and which can be avoided if one is willing to take the necessary trouble.
"If one gets rid of these habits one can think more clearly, and to think clearly is a necessary first step toward
political regeneration: so that the fight against bad English is not frivolous and is not the exclusive concern of
professional writers.
"[...] Two qualities are common to all [bad writing]. The first is staleness of imagery; the other is lack of precision.
The writer either has a meaning and cannot express it, or he inadvertently says something else, or he is almost
indifferent as to whether his words mean anything or not.
"This mixture of vagueness and sheer incompetence is the most marked characteristic of modern English
prose, and especially of any kind of political writing.
"As soon as certain topics are raised, the concrete melts into the abstract and no one seems able to think of
turns of speech that are not hackneyed: prose consists less and less of words chosen for the sake of their
meaning, and more and more of phrases tacked together like the sections of a prefabricated hen-house. [...]
"I am going to translate a passage of good English into modern English of the worst sort. Here is a well-known
verse from Ecclesiastes:
- I returned and saw under the sun, that the race [goes] not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither
yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and
chance happeneth to them all.
"Here it is in modern English:
- Objective considerations of contemporary phenomena compel the conclusion that success or failure in
competitive activities exhibits no tendency to be commensurate with innate capacity, but that a
considerable element of the unpredictable must invariably be taken into account.
"[...] In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible.
"Things like the continuance of British rule in India, the Russian purges and deportations, the dropping of the
atom bombs on Japan, can indeed be defended, but only by arguments which are too brutal for most people to
face, and which do not square with the professed aims of the political parties.
"Thus political language has to consist largely of euphemism, question-begging and sheer cloudy vagueness.
"Defenseless villages are bombarded from the air, the inhabitants driven out into the countryside, the cattle
machine-gunned, the huts set on fire with incendiary bullets: this is called pacification.
"Millions of peasants are robbed of their farms and sent trudging along the roads with no more than they can
carry: this is called transfer of population or rectification of frontiers.
"People are imprisoned for years without trial, or shot in the back of the neck or sent to die of scurvy in Arctic
lumber camps: this is called elimination of unreliable elements.
"Such phraseology is needed if one wants to name things without calling up mental pictures of them. [...]
"The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one's real and one's declared
aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish spurting out ink.
"In our age there is no such thing as ‘keeping out of politics’. All issues are political issues, and politics itself is a
mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred, and schizophrenia.
"When the general atmosphere is bad, language must suffer."
Like what you're reading so far? Then why not order a full year (52 issues) of the The American Spark e-
newsletter for only $15? A major article covering an story not being told in the Corporate Press will be
delivered to your email every Monday morning for a full year, for less than 30 cents an issue. Order Now!