Thoughts on "Politics and the English" by George Orwell

It gave me chills to read this piece. I could not agree more with Orwell's idea that people destroy language and language destroys people too. I saw this happen in Korea--teenagers on street were using distorted language, even using web abbreviations while talking. Of course, they were not behaving well--loud and rough in a convenience store. Probably many people might have heard of the expression, "You are what you eat." In this case, it would be "You are what you say."

The examples given were so odd--did really people of professional level wrote this? In case of examples 1 and 3, I could not even tell what the first sentence was saying. The writers of these passages seem like trying to sound smart, but their works just turned into some kind of babblers. Orwell points out some of the cliche expressions and words that can trap the writers into fixed patterns from page 3 to 6. "Meaningless Words" sections came to me as strong agreement, because quite often the words he gives as examples, such as "romantic" or "natural," do not come to me as a surprise or impression--just hanging flatter. Readers these days are spoiled and overly stimulated--they want stronger things to read. It is difficult to live up to those expectations as a writer.

Why writing about politics is not desired, as in page 8? Because the world is going crazier every minute, and politics are not favored by people. Who can blame someone who goes on a vacation on election day? We live in a world that if you say something electronically, a war can break out in comments section between total strangers. Writers have a task to not offend the readers while making arguments. Now that is like walking a plank while holding a spoon in the mouth with an egg in it.

The industry of writing becomes harsher and more difficult as the years go by. Now I am scared to graduate.

Hae-Lim Lee