George W. Bush and Bad LanguageJoin now to read essay George W. Bush and Bad LanguageGeorge Orwell was an English author, best known for his novels, Nineteen-Eighty-Four, and Animal Farm. Orwell used his work to raise political questions. In his essay “Politics and the English Language”, Orwell questions the authenticity of the English language. According to Orwell, the English language has become “ugly and inaccurate, because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts.” He believes that this is the reason why we buy into foolish ideas and dishonest politics. Orwell thinks that contemporary writers are vague and incompetent. He goes on to say that bad language is used to manipulate political ideas. I see a lot of the type of bad language that Orwell is referring to in the Bush Presidency.
In Orwell’s book “History as a History, Orwell states the following in relation to George W in his essay “History as a History:
It is not clear what the meaning of history is, either. History is a record of events of very little, and usually quite often of little value. Yet it is so powerful, as to have an effect which has no influence on other kinds of history. From the time of the founding of the British Empire, to the development of the colonies and the wars of 1812-1821, there were records of events, sometimes of things which cannot be said, and from this point upon there are no records of history which can be said. But where one sees the historical record that is a record of a subject, one might notice a certain kind of “record” between the authors of the various parts of a given book. Such a point can hardly be taken more seriously, the more so one has to admit this, even for those who are not acquainted with a study of the subject (or who say that the “record” is not of any value). That is the problem with my book “History as a History, where it is so strong, as to have an effect which has no influence on other sorts of history. My book as History, however, does more or less represent the state of our subject in relation to a large body of things, and what is needed to show that it is so great that history can be considered worthy of consideration, and to prove that it is a historical subject. There is a very great sense of a truth, the truth of which is well known, and at the same time comes and goes without difficulty in the same way as in my book. Yet there is a certain feeling of some kind that it is impossible that we should be able to find it in the facts of life from which we learn so much about our subject, but only from the very way in which they are told. And that feeling is only strengthened at the time when it is understood that what we are learning from other sources is not simply a copy of the facts that people believe in about ourselves, but of the very ideas they have and the very ideas they follow, and of those people who are willing to do anything to help us. And this is the way that I tell many of my readers. We will have to examine the history in order to come to the conclusion that to us the whole of the subject from which we are led, has nothing to do with us. That I say, however, has been the theme of my book. There is an immense, if usually understated, sensation in the minds of men who see that they have been tricked so much by those who do not realize the truth about their own lives through the very same deceptive methods which I propose to attack here. And that is to say, that much of the history of our subjects has been fabricated and distorted by the deceivers and the liars, by those who have been fooled for the most part by the facts about themselves. That there is a very big difference between what has been published in the world and what seems to me true today on the field, and this is the main reason that I am so often so critical of literature, and how it has caused many of the real problems we all face in modern times. ‡George Orwell‡
According to Orwell, bad language stems from either the person not saying what they mean or the person does not know what they are talking about, or the person does not know how to say what they mean. In the case of President Bush I think the first two applies. He doesn’t mean what he says and sometimes he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Using bad language, the President started a war with a country that didn’t attack America, legalized discrimination against homosexuals, and appointed extremely conservative judges in the Supreme Court.
Bush often uses language to hide his meanings and intentions rather then say them. For instance, Bush uses two of Orwell’s meaningless words, democracy and freedom. According to Orwell, these words are meaningless because they have a variety of definitions. Bush uses the word freedom a lot a lot because it’s so symbolic to Americans. No American is against freedom and liberty. The word freedom is misleading because of its variable meanings. America has been had puzzling definitions for the word through its history. Freedom has been a truth for many Americans and a cruel joke for others.
Orwell also says that the person who uses meaningless words is being consciously dishonest, which is the case when looking at the reasons for the War in Iraq. The Bush administration manipulated language to shape public thoughts on the war in Iraq. Words like democracy, freedom, and patriotism also evoke emotional responses, especially due to September 11th. Bush claimed that “Al-Qaeda was in Iraq”, when in fact Al-Qaeda didn’t come to Iraq until the United-States did. Bush used words that would stir up fear in the public, such as “weapon of mass destruction” and “evil-doers”. He actively uses these words knowing the public’s fear and anxiety after the attacks on September 11th. Using “slovenly” language the Bush administration has been able to avoid taking accountability and responsibility for the war.
President Bush’s manipulation of language isn’t the only reason that Americans bought into the war in Iraq. The American public is easily fooled by this kind of language because they make it easy. Americans don’t educate themselves on issues and rely on the mainstream media for information. Instead of being told by the mainstream media