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Orwellian language and our TVs

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    #1

    Orwellian language and our TVs

    For those of you who don't know, George Orwell wrote a bleak, hopeless book about authoritarian governments called 1984 .

    One of the aspects of the book is the idea of how language can be used to hide information, rather than give information. This use of language has come to be referred to as "Orwellian Language."

    Here is a perfect example of the use of Orwellian Language:

    The Media Is Still Dancing Around The Word 'Torture'

    Why do you suppose Orwellian language is bad?
    Every moment of a life is a horrible tragedy, a slapstick comedy, dark nihilism, golden illumination, or nothing at all; depending on how we write the story we tell ourselves.

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    #2
    Re: Orwellian language and our TVs

    Ah, yes. I have noticed this phenomenon taking a troubling seat in our culture for years now. Much like in the book, Orwellian language is a scourge because language conveys ideas. When we narrow language down, we being to narrow ideas down as well.

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      #3
      Re: Orwellian language and our TVs

      Words help us to sublimate feelings and so maintain the more elaborate elements of being, those which mark us as human.
      'Newspeak' is manifest today in the form of lazy metaphors and stock phrases, the avoidance of which is liable to leave you vulnerable to the 'Autism' tag.

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        #4
        Re: Orwellian language and our TVs

        Euphamisms have always been part of language. When people haven't liked the symbols presented, they've changed them to better suit their intent. Orwellian language is only a problem when it is used to subvert or hide an unpleasant reality for the purposes of diverting people from making informed decisions. Sometimes though, the idea of changing symbols can actually be useful on a personal level. By changing the symbol from one with power over us to one that we have power over, we can gain control over the situation...provided we don't forget the underlying reality. What we percieve is as important in determining reality than what is actually real.

        So, maybe that means the act of using euphamistic terminology (I just made that up) isn't Orwellian, but rather the manner in which is is used is what makes it so.
        A human being is part of the whole, called by us 'Universe,' limited in time and space. He experiences himself...as something separated from the rest--a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a prison for us... Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the of whole nature in its beauty...
        --Albert Einstein

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          #5
          Re: Orwellian language and our TVs

          This is just an opinion, but I think if we're aware of this taking place and do some independent thinking we can sort of read between the lines to have some idea what's going on. I'm not saying that it'll give us the whole picture, but it may still be more of the picture than what they're trying to let us in on.

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