Doublespeak: Ronald Reagan and Kristie Tran English
Kristie Tran
English 11
Summary: Fourteen Years of Doublespeak
In the article, the author describes the Committee on Public Doublespeak as a group that tries to change the people’s judgments through working with the government and others who have great influence on the public. They do so by creating the Doublespeak Award, Orwell Award, and most importantly through Quarterly Review of Doublespeak, which is a newsletter that carries tons of examples of doublespeak from areas like education to government. The QRD, the author explains, had subscribers from twenty-one other countries that put their input of doublespeak in their countries. After displaying the unfamiliar language, the usage of doublespeak increased and became popular in Canada; that the Canadian Council of Teachers of English even created a Public Doublespeak Commission. What is Doublespeak? According to the author, doublespeak is a language that manipulates the way others think and makes them think a certain way so that their personal thoughts are limited. The author goes in detail about how well hidden doublespeak is. An example given was President Ronald Reagan speech in 1981. Reagan speech about Social Security lead the public eye into believing that he supported Social Security, but proven by an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer, David Gergen, White House Director of Communication, claims that the president’s speech was fixed and that Reagan did not really meant what he said. The author then goes on stating that when trying to identify if a statement is a doublespeak, question, “who is saying what to whom…with what intent and with what results?” Lutz shows how, “double speak is language…to distort reality” and proves that it is found everywhere. The author creates this structure of evidence starting with little factors such as commercial somehow leading to bigger conflict such as war. He first proved that small things like used cars are considered “experienced” cars instead, to
English 11
Summary: Fourteen Years of Doublespeak
In the article, the author describes the Committee on Public Doublespeak as a group that tries to change the people’s judgments through working with the government and others who have great influence on the public. They do so by creating the Doublespeak Award, Orwell Award, and most importantly through Quarterly Review of Doublespeak, which is a newsletter that carries tons of examples of doublespeak from areas like education to government. The QRD, the author explains, had subscribers from twenty-one other countries that put their input of doublespeak in their countries. After displaying the unfamiliar language, the usage of doublespeak increased and became popular in Canada; that the Canadian Council of Teachers of English even created a Public Doublespeak Commission. What is Doublespeak? According to the author, doublespeak is a language that manipulates the way others think and makes them think a certain way so that their personal thoughts are limited. The author goes in detail about how well hidden doublespeak is. An example given was President Ronald Reagan speech in 1981. Reagan speech about Social Security lead the public eye into believing that he supported Social Security, but proven by an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer, David Gergen, White House Director of Communication, claims that the president’s speech was fixed and that Reagan did not really meant what he said. The author then goes on stating that when trying to identify if a statement is a doublespeak, question, “who is saying what to whom…with what intent and with what results?” Lutz shows how, “double speak is language…to distort reality” and proves that it is found everywhere. The author creates this structure of evidence starting with little factors such as commercial somehow leading to bigger conflict such as war. He first proved that small things like used cars are considered “experienced” cars instead, to