the use of manipulative language in politics
The Use of Manipulative Language in Politics:
A Short Term Research Paper
Everything English has ever stood for will be forgotten as time passes. Specific words like
“acquisition” and “thereafter” will fade away into nothingness as English evolves into a melee of
words that had completely different meanings only fifty years ago. “Stuff” use to be a verb that
meant to pack something. “Cool” use to be a describer of temperature or disposition. “Awesome”
use to depict something grand that struck wonder in the beholder. Evidently, our language will
quickly come to the point of disregarding what were once its own guidelines for grammar and
punctuation.
The English language seems to be deteriorating more and more each day. Two different writers have pointed out some examples of the butchering of the language. Yarbroff and George
Orwell both state that the English Language, particularly as it is manipulated in the realm of politics, is in trouble. By speaking about how one has developed words in the English language to disguise the true meaning for political causes, one masks what is trying to be said, and at the same time, confuses the audience, affecting the way one communicates properly and professionally. In the brilliant novelist George Orwell’s essay “Politics and the English Language”, he tears apart modern writing for all of its clichés and stylistic ostentatious wordiness resulting in sometimes intentional vagueness, and every other linguistic foible imaginable that one as a society commits. This essay concludes with not only a detailed map of how one should be writing, bullet points and all, but also with the argument that the vague, flowery, regurgitated language of today is not just bad for literature as a whole but it is, one of the roots of all governments as well. "In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible.
A Short Term Research Paper
Everything English has ever stood for will be forgotten as time passes. Specific words like
“acquisition” and “thereafter” will fade away into nothingness as English evolves into a melee of
words that had completely different meanings only fifty years ago. “Stuff” use to be a verb that
meant to pack something. “Cool” use to be a describer of temperature or disposition. “Awesome”
use to depict something grand that struck wonder in the beholder. Evidently, our language will
quickly come to the point of disregarding what were once its own guidelines for grammar and
punctuation.
The English language seems to be deteriorating more and more each day. Two different writers have pointed out some examples of the butchering of the language. Yarbroff and George
Orwell both state that the English Language, particularly as it is manipulated in the realm of politics, is in trouble. By speaking about how one has developed words in the English language to disguise the true meaning for political causes, one masks what is trying to be said, and at the same time, confuses the audience, affecting the way one communicates properly and professionally. In the brilliant novelist George Orwell’s essay “Politics and the English Language”, he tears apart modern writing for all of its clichés and stylistic ostentatious wordiness resulting in sometimes intentional vagueness, and every other linguistic foible imaginable that one as a society commits. This essay concludes with not only a detailed map of how one should be writing, bullet points and all, but also with the argument that the vague, flowery, regurgitated language of today is not just bad for literature as a whole but it is, one of the roots of all governments as well. "In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible.
Cited: Dergisi, Sosyal. “The Use of Language in Political Rhetoric: Linguistic Manipulation”. 19 May, 2009 http://sablon.sdu.edu.tr/dergi/sosbilder/dosyalar/19_9.pdf De Gramont, Patrick. Language and the Distortion of Meaning. NYC: Press, 1992. Print