Wednesday, March 28, 2007
GEORGE ORWELL AND THE ELECTION - POLITICAL LANGUAGE
1. "POLITICAL LANGUAGE - AND WITH VARIATIONS THIS IS TRUE OF ALL POLITICAL PARTIES, FROM CONSERVATIVES TO ANARCHISTS - IS DESIGNED TO MAKE LIES SOUND TRUTHFUL AND MURDER RESPECTABLE, AND TO GIVE AN APPEARANCE OF SOLIDITY TO PURE WIND"
(Source : 'Politics and the English Language' - 1946)
Examples in 2007 :
2. "WHEN ONE WATCHES SOME TIRED HACK ON THE PLATFORM MECHANICALLY REPEATING THE FAMILIAR PHRASES...ONE OFTEN HAS A CURIOUS FEELING THAT ONE IS NOT WATCHING A LIVE HUMAN BEING BUT SOME KIND OF DUMMY.......
"THIS INVASION OF ONE'S MIND BY READY-MADE PHRASES...CAN ONLY BE PREVENTED IF ONE IS CONSTANTLY ON GUARD AGAINST THEM, AND EVERY SUCH PHRASE ANAESTHETIZES A PORTION OF ONE'S BRAIN.......
"FROM TIME TO TIME, ONE CAN EVEN, IF ONE JEERS LOUDLY ENOUGH, SEND SOME WORN-OUT AND USELESS PHRASE...INTO THE DUSTBIN WHERE IT BELONGS"
(Source : 'Politics and the English Language' - 1946)
Examples in 2007 :
1. "WE TOOK ACCOUNT OF ALL THESE POINTS BEFORE DECIDING NOT TO LAUNCH CONSULTATION IN ADVANCE OF THE LOCAL ELECTIONS" (JOHN WILDERSPIN, WEST SUSSEX PRIMARY CARE TRUST CHIEF EXECUTIVE)
(Source : "So when ARE you going to consult", Mid Sussex Times - Dianne Jones - March 29 2007)
IN OTHER WORDS, "WE DECIDED TO DELAY THE PUBLIC CONSULTATION UNTIL AFTER THE LOCAL ELECTION RESULTS".
I WONDER WHY ?
3. "ALMOST ANY ENGLISH PERSON WOULD ACCEPT 'BULLY' AS A SYNONYM FOR 'FASCIST'. THAT IS ABOUT AS NEAR TO A DEFINITION AS THIS MUCH-ABUSED WORD HAS COME"
(Source : 'What is Fascism?' - 1944)
Examples in 2007 :
4. "The enemy of the moment always represented absolute evil, and it followed that any past or future agreement with him was impossible...
"He, Winston Smith, knew that Oceania had been in alliance with Eurasia as short a time as four years ago.
"But where did that knowledge exist ? ...
"It was quite simple. All that was needed was an unending series of victories over your own memory. 'Reality control' they called it; in Newspeak, 'doublethink' ".
(Source : "Nineteen Eighty-Four" - quoted in Edward Herman's "Beyond Hypocrisy" - Black Rose Books - 1992)
(Source : 'Politics and the English Language' - 1946)
Examples in 2007 :
2. "WHEN ONE WATCHES SOME TIRED HACK ON THE PLATFORM MECHANICALLY REPEATING THE FAMILIAR PHRASES...ONE OFTEN HAS A CURIOUS FEELING THAT ONE IS NOT WATCHING A LIVE HUMAN BEING BUT SOME KIND OF DUMMY.......
"THIS INVASION OF ONE'S MIND BY READY-MADE PHRASES...CAN ONLY BE PREVENTED IF ONE IS CONSTANTLY ON GUARD AGAINST THEM, AND EVERY SUCH PHRASE ANAESTHETIZES A PORTION OF ONE'S BRAIN.......
"FROM TIME TO TIME, ONE CAN EVEN, IF ONE JEERS LOUDLY ENOUGH, SEND SOME WORN-OUT AND USELESS PHRASE...INTO THE DUSTBIN WHERE IT BELONGS"
(Source : 'Politics and the English Language' - 1946)
Examples in 2007 :
1. "WE TOOK ACCOUNT OF ALL THESE POINTS BEFORE DECIDING NOT TO LAUNCH CONSULTATION IN ADVANCE OF THE LOCAL ELECTIONS" (JOHN WILDERSPIN, WEST SUSSEX PRIMARY CARE TRUST CHIEF EXECUTIVE)
(Source : "So when ARE you going to consult", Mid Sussex Times - Dianne Jones - March 29 2007)
IN OTHER WORDS, "WE DECIDED TO DELAY THE PUBLIC CONSULTATION UNTIL AFTER THE LOCAL ELECTION RESULTS".
I WONDER WHY ?
3. "ALMOST ANY ENGLISH PERSON WOULD ACCEPT 'BULLY' AS A SYNONYM FOR 'FASCIST'. THAT IS ABOUT AS NEAR TO A DEFINITION AS THIS MUCH-ABUSED WORD HAS COME"
(Source : 'What is Fascism?' - 1944)
Examples in 2007 :
4. "The enemy of the moment always represented absolute evil, and it followed that any past or future agreement with him was impossible...
"He, Winston Smith, knew that Oceania had been in alliance with Eurasia as short a time as four years ago.
"But where did that knowledge exist ? ...
"It was quite simple. All that was needed was an unending series of victories over your own memory. 'Reality control' they called it; in Newspeak, 'doublethink' ".
(Source : "Nineteen Eighty-Four" - quoted in Edward Herman's "Beyond Hypocrisy" - Black Rose Books - 1992)
Comments:
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Politicians with dark intentions in the backs of their minds, twist the meaning of languages. The use of deceitful propaganda is very simple amd history has shown it is the most radical regimes that have used it most profusely.
Just read about Goebbels, the paradigmatic Hitler's propaganda minister and how he manipulated the Germans during the III Reich.
And read about the propaganda totalitarian regimes have used and are using to achieve their unconfessable aims. Most recent example is Egypt's referendum to change its constitution.
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Just read about Goebbels, the paradigmatic Hitler's propaganda minister and how he manipulated the Germans during the III Reich.
And read about the propaganda totalitarian regimes have used and are using to achieve their unconfessable aims. Most recent example is Egypt's referendum to change its constitution.
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