Orwell's essay, Politics and the English Language, highlighted one of my favorite aspects of the english language. Euphemisms. As Orwell pointed out, politicians are full of confusing jargon, using complicated lexis to convey the most simple of ideas or comments. Not only that, euphemisms used by previous politicians and leaders, hide the real aspect behind them. Euphemisms let people react in a better way, rather than giving them the shocking truth.
Alot of these euphemisms started to occur during the Iraq war.
Friendly fire: term used to describe military action on ones own side or allied forces. (Came from United States Military, stupid bastards)
Shock'n'awe: The use of overwhelming power, to demolish the opposing side and destroy their will to fight, also known as Rapid Dominance.( Came from United States Military, thick bastards)
Collateral Damage: Dead Civillians (Probably American)
Department of defence: Department of War (America ...again)
Soft Targets: Bombing of civillian targets (Yeah you know who did it)
Neutralise: Kill
You can see, especially with the last one, that It sounds better to say these words because it takes away the shocking nature of what politicians actually mean. Neutralise doesnt even sound like something has been killed, immobalised maybe (Immobalise- break or use force to stop working).
Orwell described this perfectly throughout his book and also in 1984. The ministry of truth obviously being a euphemism for the ministry of lies or control. The ideas of surveillance and control through the use of euphemisms is extremely important in the film. Orwells genious really was foreshadowing the events of today.
I leave you with a short video of another euphemism that came to light in the heat of war. Extraordinary Rendition.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0MjAzFeNbU (the 0 is a Zero not an o)
Monday, 7 December 2009
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