The 'Political' english language.

George Orwell wrote an essay about the English language and how contemporary English language has just become manipulative and very 'political.' Orwell said that political English was simply created to "make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind." Basically, to manipulate voters into thinking that the politicians were whiter than white and being truthful even if they were the most immoral of people. But he argued that this manipulative creation had spread to those that didn't even need to decorate lies, the general population. I think this is true 100%, journalism has taught me that school teacher English as it has been called by our lecturers, is designed to make you decorate the basics. Fill out a sentence. Rather than just get to the point. The point of a sentence is to provide information to your reader, audience, whatever. But how can you do this when half of your readers don't know what you are talking about! By using 'political English' a writer can distract himself from the purpose of writing in the first place, constantly trying to make what he is saying sound interesting, controversial or intelligent and drown the information in a sea of over complicated, alienating bullshit.

Orwell in his essay "Politics and the English Language", lays out six rules to avoid political English language:

1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.
3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.
5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.
   

Even Orwell said that these bad writing habits can be easily picked up by anyone. He said that he had even committed the same bad habits that his essay was against! So why is it so easy to pick up these bad habits. In a society where most jobs, schools and even people require us to be intelligent it is easy for us to cover our basic/sloppy ideas and transform them into something brilliant by decorating the idea with elaborate language. I am also guilty of doing this!
I think developing these bad habits goes way back to the schoolroom. Teachers were always pushing you to use descriptive language and forcing you away from the basic words, "what is wrong with the word but", what's wrong with umbrella words? Why can we not just say what we think. That is the purpose of a word, to show exactly what you mean. Why should I point at a wall and go "that solid object formed of a red stone that prevents access" when I can just say, "that wall that stops me getting in". Teachers were always handing me back essays with 'describe this in more detail', why? She's sad. That's how she feels now please get stuffed! I don't want to pick up a paper and read a pompous article about a load of facts. I want the facts and that is what Orwell is saying. Lets not have unnecessary words that take away the feeling of the article/story just so that a writer can dress it up. Lets leave that to the politicians!

WINOL - The new term

So, a new year a new module. I know it is a bit late to start blogging but I thought I would get back into it. I have sat down so many times and just had complete writers block! Anyway, back to the subject at hand. Starting our second year we are now part of the team that produces WINOL - Winchester News Online - a university based news channel that brings the local news from all over Winchester to the people that take an interest. Not many right?
Although I didn't think that WINOL was going to be as big as BBC news or any other news channel for that matter I still didn't feel confident enough in being in front of or behind the camera. So I decided to opt for a features job - more specifically - the features role of people and celebrity. I know what you're thinking... "People and celebrity? In Winchester!" Yes I know that when you walk down the street you're hardly likely to bump into Kate moss or Peter Andre but I had to make the best of it!

So people and celebrity. What was I going to do. Who could I possibly use? Then I realised, WINOL is a university based news channel, with a majority of the audience being staff and students. So why not just used well recognised people from the university, people who everyone knew but wouldn't necessarily be able to talk to everyday. People like the student union president or the DJ's of well known university events! So that is where my idea came from. I decided every week that I would do a feature interview on the people whose names were known but not necessarily what they were like or what they did. Similar to a celebrity.
Who would be my first victim! I only came up with the idea at the features meeting and when the editor asked me who I was going to interview I panicked... "I haven't actually got anyone... I could ask the DJ at LKD (another student event)?" So that's what she put me down to do and to have it in by 6pm on the following day! So I rushed home to try and get in contact... but did not hear anything back. Then my friend put me in touch with Jimmy Weighall the student union president. He asked me if I was available to do it right there and then... of course I said yes! So I rushed up to the union armed with a digital camera and no questions. Great!
Luckily on the way I thought of some questions, just the basic get to know you questions though, stuff about his role and about how he felt doing the job bla bla bla. From doing that interview Irealised in the next one I needed a few 'curve balls' questions that would cause a bit of panic. After all, if a interview isn't interesting... no one is going to read it right?
Well I wrote up the interview in the style of a magazine. The standard question and answer format but after talking to Chris (my lecturer) I realised it wasn't enough. I was writing for a feature not the news, so I had to be creative and somehow convey myself through the article. He told me to write it as though I was going on some sort of adventure of discovery to include my own opinions and thoughts as well as the interviewee. So in my future interviews this is something I will take on board. I will be creative and put an element of myself in the interview. So... all I have to do now is re write my original interview!

If you want... take a look at WINOL every Wednesday! The team do a really good job!

www.winol.co.uk