Summary: What Orwell Didn't Know E-Book

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• Herausgeber: Political Book Summaries
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 18

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

The must-read summary of Andras Szanto's book: “What Orwell Didn't Know: Propaganda and the New Face of American Politics”.

This complete summary of "What Orwell Didn't Know" outlines a collection of essays examining how Orwell’s insights into political language and propaganda may still hold and explaining what has subtly changed.

Added-value of this summary:
• Save time
• Understand propaganda and political language
• Expand your knowledge of 21st century politics

To learn more, read "What Orwell Didn't Know" and discover how propaganda and mind control are alive and well in society, and how we should all pay attention to manipulation and misinformation.

Leseprobe

Book Presentation: What Orwell Didn’t Know by Andras Szanto

Book Abstract

Much has changed in our political culture in the 60 years since George Orwell wrote his classic essay, Politics and the English Language. Orwell warned against the ways the indiscriminate use of language can pervade and create one’s thoughts, and he critiqued the use of propaganda and political language to distort reality.

What Orwell Didn’t Know features 18 leading thinkers who examine how Orwell’s insights into political language may still hold, but also how political language in our culture has changed radically in an age of mass media where spin, hype, publicity, infotainment, bias, and manipulation present grave challenges for the hopes of reality-based politics. These essays address the intersections between political language and science, religion, education, war reporting, and entertainment.

About the Author

Contributors: Geoffrey Cowan, Mark Danner, Farnaz Fassihi, Frances Fitzgerald, Konsanty Gerbert, Susan Harding, Martin Kaplan, George Lakoff, Nicholas Lemann, Michael Massing, Victor Navasky, Aryeh Neier, Alice O’Connor, Francine Prose, David Rieff, George Soros, Drew Westen, and Patricia Williams.

Summary of What Orwell Didn’t Know (Andras Szanto)

Introduction

George Orwell first wrote Politics and the English Language in 1946. In the essay, he warned that sloppiness in the use of language can lead to sloppiness in thought and he cautioned against imprecise words, the passive voice, and pretentious phrases that can obfuscate meaning when plain and simple words will do. But his concerns extend far beyond those of a cantankerous grammarian, for he warns us that language colonizes our thoughts and that a mind steeped in overused metaphors and readily available catch-phrases will manipulate one’s thinking. This lack of clarity is most dangerous when it comes to political speech.