Big Brother First Impression

• The importance of clarity and concise language and how those elements affect political writing.
• Modern language is in decline, since it is overly complicated without any legitimate purpose
• Orwell argues that the English language becomes “ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts.”
• This kind of language, overly fraught with large words without conveying significant meaning, is exceptionally susceptible to being used in propaganda.
• Orwell believes that this type of speech is inherently insincere, and that is why it is so useful as propaganda.
• One of the most interesting actions he takes in this essay is to translate a passage from the Biblical text of Ecclesiastes. 
• Orwell uses the writing of two professors,a Communist pamphlet, an essay on psychology in Politics, and a letter in the Tribune. All these examples, Orwell argues, have two common faults: staleness of imagery and lack of precision.
• Orwell maintains that, in his time, political speech and writing are “largely the defence of the indefensible.” That is, the actions of ruthless politicians can be defended, but only by brutal arguments that “do not square with the professed aims of political parties.”
• He gives examples of the British rule in India, the Russian purges and deportations, and the dropping of the atom bombs on Japan. 
• Orwell contends, one has to use political language that consists “largely of euphemism, question-begging and sheer cloudy vagueness.” Orwell translates for his readers the real meanings of such terms as “pacification,” “transfer of population,” “rectification of frontiers,” and “elimination of unreliable elements.” He concludes: “Political language—and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists—is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.”