Politics and the English Language

I absolutely love what George Orwell has to say in "Politics and the English Language." I have always felt similarly about the (sometimes) intentional butchering of the English Language, not only by politicians, but by the population in general. While it is widely known and easily discoverable (just turn on C-SPAN) the ridiculous use to which our lawmakers put our language. Orwell says:

 "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."

For me, this was one of the most resonant passages from the text. Aside from being perfectly parallel with my own opinion of "the-Government-is-constantly-doing-things-they-dont-want-us-to-know-about," Orwell's point here is that (in order to maintain good public standing in the case of controversy) politicians purposefully word their presented documents in such an incomprehensible way that only those of us with backgrounds in the drafting of legal documents would be able to understand them.

While the work seems to mainly criticize the improper, pretentious, and senseless way in which politics butcher the beauty and fluidity of our language, George Orwell's "Politics and the English Language" brought to my attention just how trite and cliche the English Language has become. Over time, and still today, the English language has been evolving (or rather, the opposite of such) into a lazy, worn-out product of our ever-increasing desire for convenience. In America especially, our society, economy, and culture are driven by nothing more than pure desire; driven by an emotion that presents itself in early childhood and never seems to leave us. We crave things, and easier ways to obtain those things. Naturally, the integrity and sophistication of our spoken communications dissolves as we find easier, shorter, "better" ways of making our points and desires known to others. Why would you ask, "would you please pass me that pencil," when "give me that" is much easier and quicker to say? Just as "violence begets more violence," ignorance and laziness operate exactly the same way. With the development of the "drive-thru," which one may note is spelled improperly as a result of this mentality, we have pampered ourselves into shameful laziness, insatiable greed, and willful ignorance. The most meaningful excerpt from this text (for me, at least) is hauntingly apparent upon the examination of our modern spoken and written communication:

"...modern writing at its worst does not consist in picking out words for the sake of their meaning and inventing images in order to make the meaning clearer. It consists in gumming together long strips of words which have already been set in order by someone else, and making the results presentable by sheer humbug. The attraction of this way of writing is that it is easy. It is easier -- even quicker, once you have the habit..."

While no one is completely innocent when it comes to the murder of the English Language, not you or I...not even Orwell as he confesses, every living person should strive to keep their words fresh, clear, and most of all, intelligent.