{"id":3743,"date":"2020-07-05T09:16:44","date_gmt":"2020-07-05T00:16:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/juliafriedman.org\/?p=3743"},"modified":"2020-11-27T22:50:38","modified_gmt":"2020-11-28T06:50:38","slug":"on-george-orwell-and-j-k-rowling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juliafriedman.org\/?p=3743","title":{"rendered":"On George Orwell and J.K. Rowling"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>My <a href=\"https:\/\/newcriterion.com\/blogs\/dispatch\/why-words-matter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">latest contribution to <em>The New Criterion<\/em><\/a> is about what we can (and should) learn from George Orwell&#8217;s 1945 essay &#8220;Politics and the English Language.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-thumbnail wp-image-3747\" src=\"https:\/\/juliafriedman.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/526-1-400x500.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"500\"><\/p>\n<p>Ed Ruscha, <em>Words&#8230;<\/em>, 1987, acrylic on canvas, 64 x 64 inches.&nbsp;\u00a9 Edward J. Ruscha IV<\/p>\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The present degradation of political discourse is buttressed by the decline of language. This decline is nearly indistinguishable from the sort Orwell complained about in 1945\u2014it is still a mixture of \u201cvagueness and sheer incompetence.\u201d When political language relies on \u201cdying metaphors\u201d (\u201ca few bad apples\u201d), \u201coperators, or verbal false limbs\u201d (\u201cuse our voices\u201d), \u201cpretentious diction\u201d (\u201cdecolonize the museum\u201d), and plain \u201clack of precision\u201d (\u201cdefund the police\u201d), actual meaning cannot manifest itself, and is supplanted by what Orwell called \u201cemotional meaning\u201d: \u201cPeople who write in this manner usually have a general emotional meaning\u2014they dislike one thing and want to express solidarity with another\u2014but they are not interested in the detail of what they are saying.\u201d Instead of endeavoring to clarify their thinking by clarifying their language, political actors on all sides use terms with implied (but not always established) definitions.&#8221; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My latest contribution to The New Criterion is about what we can (and should) learn from George Orwell&#8217;s 1945 essay &#8220;Politics and the English Language.&#8221; Ed Ruscha, Words&#8230;, 1987, acrylic on canvas, 64 x 64 inches.&nbsp;\u00a9 Edward J. Ruscha IV &#8220;The present degradation of political discourse is buttressed by the decline of language. This decline [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[972],"tags":[973,977,974,975,976],"class_list":["post-3743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-george-orwell","tag-george-orwell","tag-jkrowling","tag-language","tag-propaganda","tag-slogans"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>On George Orwell and J.K. Rowling - Julia Friedman<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As long as we commit the indefensible, we will need euphemisms. 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