Funny how powerful language can be. When I first read 1984 in my late teens/early 20s, I always thought that big chunk of the novel where Orwell discusses the use of language as a means of control was dry, boring and unrealistic.
It has become clear to me since, that it very well may have been his most prescient point.
the use of language as a means of control […] well may have been his most prescient point.
While I think Orwell’s “newspeak” was contrived, it did illustrate the point in strong relief as something unfamiliar… at least at first. But I don’t think he was predicting the future. Instead, I think he was warning the reader of what dangers are already with us.
Honestly, I think this has always been a thing. The spoken word is often inexact as a form of communication efficiency; if the other party has the same ideas in their head as you, pronouns, idioms, recalling past events, are all powerful ways to compress dialogue. However, that same inexactness leaves the door open for doublespeak, dogwhistles, and suggestion in place of fact. Language as a means of control is just in how you use it; the underlying mechanisms were always there.
I don’t think I implied it’s anything new. Nor was I trying to say he predicted the future per se. It’s been years since I’ve read it, but I don’t think the section was just about newspeak. I didn’t mind that stuff.
I recall there being a whole section where he kind of steps away from the narrative for a bit and basically writes an essay about controlling people through language. I just remember being like “lol yeah right, controlling thoughts with language? Impossible and boring… bring back Winston” when I was in my teens.
Reading it again as an adult, it didn’t particularly ring true to me at the time either. It wasn’t until I experienced 2015-now that I thought back to it and recognized how wrong I was.
Funny how powerful language can be. When I first read 1984 in my late teens/early 20s, I always thought that big chunk of the novel where Orwell discusses the use of language as a means of control was dry, boring and unrealistic.
It has become clear to me since, that it very well may have been his most prescient point.
While I think Orwell’s “newspeak” was contrived, it did illustrate the point in strong relief as something unfamiliar… at least at first. But I don’t think he was predicting the future. Instead, I think he was warning the reader of what dangers are already with us.
Honestly, I think this has always been a thing. The spoken word is often inexact as a form of communication efficiency; if the other party has the same ideas in their head as you, pronouns, idioms, recalling past events, are all powerful ways to compress dialogue. However, that same inexactness leaves the door open for doublespeak, dogwhistles, and suggestion in place of fact. Language as a means of control is just in how you use it; the underlying mechanisms were always there.
I don’t think I implied it’s anything new. Nor was I trying to say he predicted the future per se. It’s been years since I’ve read it, but I don’t think the section was just about newspeak. I didn’t mind that stuff.
I recall there being a whole section where he kind of steps away from the narrative for a bit and basically writes an essay about controlling people through language. I just remember being like “lol yeah right, controlling thoughts with language? Impossible and boring… bring back Winston” when I was in my teens.
Reading it again as an adult, it didn’t particularly ring true to me at the time either. It wasn’t until I experienced 2015-now that I thought back to it and recognized how wrong I was.