Hypocrisy: United Kingdom and Language George Orwell

Hypocrisy is defined as the practice of claiming to have moral standards to which one’s own behavior does not exhibit. In 10th grade Stockbridge High School English, you claim to do something but actually don’t. Just like joy, pain, anger, and sorrow; hypocrisy is inevitable in the world we live in today. When I read the essay “Politics and the English Language”, I automatically thought of Pastor Eddie Long. I know your thinking, “What in the world is he talking about?”, but Orwell and Pastor Long are alike in many ways. They both spoke out against a topic very critically, Orwell against bad language and Pastor Long against homosexuality, but still ended up involving themselves in the activity. George Orwell had a strong stance against the state of the English language. He talked harshly about the English language but was he guilty of the same things he preached so harshly against? The answer to this question is yes. Based on the fact that environment affects language and his admission to the crime in Politics in the English Language, he IS in fact a hypocrite. I have two points to make that proves Orwell’s hypocrisy and then I will be done. My first point is the fact that Orwell admits to using the same bad language that he writes about! In the essay Politics and the English Language George Orwell says, and I quote, “Look back through this essay, and for certain you will find that I have again and again committed the very faults I am protesting against.” Now this sounds just like a high school girl if you ask me. They argue a point, argue it again, and then apologize and admit to being hypocritical. Some people out there will say that even though Orwell was a hypocrite, he was very qualified to write this paper. I agree with you on that. He was very, and I mean VERY, qualified to write this essay but that alone does not make hypocrisy okay. That’s just like saying that its right for the KKK to lynch black people and then write a book about how people should be equal. IT JUST ISNT RIGHT! Listen to this sentence. But an effect can become a cause, reinforcing the original cause and producing the same effect in an intensified form, and so on indefinitely. That came straight from the text. Orwell wrote this and this is proof of his hypocrisy.
My second point is actually a point that Orwell makes himself. He says that, and I again quote, “Modern English, especially written English, is full of bad habits which spread by imitation and which can be avoided if one is willing to take the necessary trouble.” This quote is saying that people in the country are easily influenced into using bad language. People use it and others catch on who in turn spread it to others. This effectively destroys the good use of language we have in our country. If this is true, then Orwell is hypocritical because he too lives in the same society as the people who speak the decadent English. Some people out there will say that Orwell knows too much to be easily influenced. Studies show that if you are around people enough then you will start to act as they do. Because Orwell lives in the same country that we do, he in turn acts as we do.
I would like to leave you with a few questions to ponder. Are you a hypocrite? If you are, it may not be that big of a deal. But if you go public preaching and marching against a cause that you really support, as Stockbridge Students would say, you need to chill out. You don’t want to end up like George Orwell who is a world class hypocrite. Based on the facts that I have provided in this speech, Orwell IS in fact a hypocrite. Thank you.