Ok, so I just finished reading Orwell's essay, Politics and the English Language and I have mixed emotions. I agree that the "professional" English writing is full of bore and big words with no depth or idea. Simple can be better, but now that I've read Postman's book, I have different views. I believe that America has abused simplicity. Television and media have changed created the connotation that simplicity means no thinking. You aren't required to think when watching TV and they give what they call "simple", but it is really just fragments of information. Orwell's ideas are correct, but I don't think that they will work in today's society. Orwell writes, "Probably it is better to put off using words as long as possible and get one's meaning as clear as one can through pictures and sensations. Afterword one can choose- not simply accept- the phrases that will best cover the meaning..." This is good, but today the problem is no one will put the effort into the afterword part. Changing the English language is the only way Americans know how to make eachother think. Until we can change the meaning of simple, we cannot change the English language.
-Rachel Fisher
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I think that "simple" in today's society means to not think about the subject that much. You're right about the television and media showing things that they call "simple." They don't want to make the audience think too much or else the audience would just stop watching the program. People use a lot of big words in sentences to sound smart, but sometimes it just doesn't make any sense at all. I believe the best way to convey a message is to keep the words simple and to use big words only when the writer knows how to use them.
I don't think that Orwell wants us to change our language. I think he wants use to really understand want our idea is and he wants use to the correct words to describe them. It's true that we use words without even knowing the meaning, just sound smart. I also agree with the fact that TV has become more and more "simple." We as the viewer aren't careing about what we are viewing or thinking about it either . If we really spent the time thinking instead watching we would find so many things wrong in the media.
I don't think Orwell is really trying to stress the use of "simple" as in being short and blunt but because where's the fun in that? I think he is trying to focus on all the meaningless and emotionless words we use, the "big words." True, we use them to sound adult and smart most of the time but we most likely don't know what they mean. I feel like he is trying to make us think about what we are trying to say and word it so that the reader will have the same image that you did when the thought popped into your brain. He even uses imagery himself in the essay, like he is giving us examples and clues to sufficient writing. And the only exerpt i could truly understand was the exerpt from Ecclesiastes which used simple words with nice imagery and clear thoughts. I also don't believe that all TV and media is abusing simplicity, most of it is but some will make you think and see things in a different light. Maybe you're not watching the right things...
-Ariana Allison
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