
“Politics and the English Language,” By George Orwell - danielpal
http://alexgolec.github.io/orwell/politics
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quinndupont
Orwell is awesome, but his linguistics were long-ago debunked. For a good,
easy-going (popular) assessment of modern linguistics pick up one of Steven
Pinker's books. He tries to ram through his own conception (mentalese), but
despite this he still offers a nice survey (and strong argument against
Orwell).

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Patrick_Devine
It's hard to take Orwell seriously when he launches into histrionics in the
first two paragraphs of his essay. He makes valid points (the selected quotes
are almost indecipherable), but it's difficult to to see how the particular
abuses of language that he cites are responsible for the decline of our
civilization.

If anything, it's the opposite. Our language seems to be getting more puerile,
simplistic and filled with sound bites. I agree with him that succinctness and
brevity are things we should strive for, however even that is not a panacea
for vapid ideas and muddled thinking.

