Language and Totalitarianism

1 - (Cartoon of George Orwell and Horizon magazine.) In 1946, one year after the end of WWII, Horizon Magazine in the UK published the most important piece of writing ever written. It was an essay called 'Politics and the English Language', written by George Orwell.
2 - Now, granted, not a lot of people will agree with me on this. Most people would probably say that there's a whole lot of other writing that's way more important than this measly essay. (List of other perhaps more important works: 1. The Bible 2. Principia Mathematica 3. The Collected Works of Shakespeare 4. The U.S. Constitution 5. On the Origin of Species 6. The Magna Carta 7. Harry Potter...)
3 - (Cartoon of Orwell's head alongside his books.) Even when limited to only Orwell's own writing -- which includes works like Animal Farm and 1984 -- -- almost no one would pick 'Politics and the English Language' as his most important work.
4 - (Inpho in his podcast studio, shaking his fist.) Inpho: But we're not here to talk about other people's stupid opinions! Only mine! This is my podcast, GOD-DAMMIT!
5 - (Cartoon of a brain lit up and bright with electricity.) Anyway, in my opinion, when it comes to understanding how to cultivate a sharp and clear mind, how to think for yourself, and how to communicate truth ... George Orwell's 'Politics and the English Language' is the most important thing you'll ever read.
6 - (In the podcast studio with Inpho and George Orwell.) Inpho: And here in the studio to discuss it with me now: it's George Orwell! Thanks for coming on the podcast, George. Orwell: My pleasure, Inpho.
7 - Inpho: I'd like to start with a quote from your essay, if I may. And, again, this is you writing in 1946. You write...
8 - (Cartoon of George Orwell next to his quote.) One ought to realize that the present political chaos is connected with the decay of language, and that one can bring about some improvement by starting on the verbal end.
9 - Inpho: Could you elaborate on that a little bit? Orwell: Certainly! You see, the state of our politics is directly related to the quality of our language and our ability to express ourselves...
10 - Orwell: A free society relies on the ability of free thinking individuals to express their thoughts with clarity and meaning. (Cartoon of Inpho saying, 'I think')
11 - Orwell: But when our language gets muddled up with euphemisms, self-censorship, and vagueness, that creates the conditions for totalitarianism. (Image of Inpho saying, 'In my apocalyptically unambiguous opinion, it is not an unjustifiable assumption that...')
12 - Orwell: To see the difference more closely, let's take a look at an example. This is a passage from Ecclesiastes in the Bible, an example of good language:
13 - (Text shows images of the sun, a runner, a muscular arm, bread, money, a clock, dice, and a skull.) I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, for time and chance happeneth to them all.
14 - (Cartoon of Inpho recalling all the images from the text.) Orwell: You see how this passage uses simple words and concrete images that allow you to see the meaning as a series of pictures?
15 - Orwell: Now compare that to this version of the same passage translated into modern English: (Image of a kooky, unshowered professor giving a lecture, saying 'Objective considerations of contemporary phenomena compel the conclusion that success or failure in competetive activities exhibits no tendancy to be commensurate with innate capacity, but that a considerable element of the unpredictable must invariably be taken into account.')
16 - Orwell: You see how abstract and meaningless those words become? Rather than communicating what you mean, this way of talking allows you to keep the meaning hidden--even from yourself!
17 - (Back in the podcast studio.) Inpho: This is where the connection with politics fits in, I imagine. Orwell: That's right. You see...
18 - Orwell: The more you succumb to this level of language, the more you turn into a kind of machine, where the appropriate noises are coming out of your larynx, but your brain is not involved. (Cartoon of Inpho brainwashed saying, 'It is problematic that the post-colonial, transglobalized extrapolation of complex metaprocesses are not unracistly deniable.')
19 - Orwell: And this reduced state of consciousness, if not indispensible, is at any rate favourable to political conformity. (Image of a series of brainwashed Inphos.)
20 - Orwell: Speaking in vague euphemisms helps you avoid confrontation with the actual meaning of what you're saying, which in politics, where the truth is often too offensive to face, is extremely useful.
21 - Orwell: For instance, consider some English professor defending Russian totalitarianism. He can't say: (Cartoon of the same raggedy professor saying, 'I believe in killing off your opponents when you can get good results by doing so.')
22 - Orwell: Probably, therefore, he will say something like this: (Same professor, 'While freely conceding that the Soviet regime exhibits certain features which the humanitarian may be inclined to deplore, we must, I think, agree that a certain curtailment of the right to political opposition is an unavoidable concomitant of transitional periods, and that the rigors which the Russian people have been called upon to undergo have been amply justified in the sphere of concrete achievement.')
23 - (Back in the podcast studio.) Inpho: Um... pardon? Orwell: Exactly! You see, when you don't use short words, and you don't create pictures in your listener's mind, what you get is meaningless drivel.
24 - This 'meaningless drivel', or what you might also call 'political language', is 'a language designed to make lies sound truthful, murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.' (Cartoon of the same old professor with #phd.)
25 - (Back in the podcast studio.) Inpho: And it does all that just by avoiding words that are too visual or concrete? Orwell: Yes! You see, 'our thoughts, in their pure state, do not exist as words at all...'
26 - (Cartoon of Inpho with a thought bubble of the world.) When you think of a concrete object, you think wordlessly, and then, if you want to describe the thing you have been visualizing, you hunt about until you find the exact words that seem to fit.
27 - (Cartoon of Inpho thinking of the images from the reading.) Probably it is better to put off using words as long as possible and get one’s meaning as clear as one can through pictures or sensations. Afterwards you can choose the phrases that will best cover the meaning.
28 - (Back in the podcast studio.) Inpho: Well, thanks so much for being here, George! Though I wish you would have told me all this stuff about words before I decided to start a podcast. Orwell: Why? What do you mean?
29 - (Cartoon of Inpho's spaceship.) Inpho: From listening to you, it seems like something more visual would've been the way to go.
30 - The end. Inpho and George Orwell standing arm in arm to end.

Afterword

There is no swifter route to the corruption of thought than through the corruption of language.

George Orwell

George Orwell's essay is my favourite essay of all time. Not only is it an example of the clear and precise writing that he advocates for, but it also establishes the connection between the clarity of our language with clarity and sovereignty in our thinking.

Read it now! Politics and the English Language