You have two homework readings you should have completed before starting on the classwork for March 23. The first is “Why I Write” by Aaron Barlow. The second is “Politics and the English Language” George Orwell. After you have read and annotated these, and before the end of the day (if possible) on the 23rd, also read one current essay or op-ed on politics today–your choice. Link to it in a comment to this post here and give your reaction to it, either positive or negative and why. Then relate it to what Orwell wrote in his essay. That is, what would Orwell have thought of it? Then respond to the comments of others in the class. If they have not yet posted their initial comments, wait until a few have and join in discussing with them.
This task (including the reading of your chosen essay) should take about and hour and fifteen minutes, the amount of time we would spend in class.
Remember: your papers are due on the 25th!
Recently, epidemics have occurred all over the world. Many countries have closed cities and schools have closed classes. We have been forced to take classes online. The global stock market has been hit hard. The United States has seen two fuses. So in my opinion, it can help small and medium-sized enterprises in a short period of time, reduce financial pressure and work efficiency with insufficient manpower. At home aged 65 and over, ask about the closure status of the bar and the famous brewery. I agree with this view and reduce the flow of people so that the spread of the epidemic can be reduced. We try our best to go out to visit relatives and friends. Also pay attention to personal protection, traditional masks, hand washing and other strategies should still pay attention. In addition, pay attention to rest should not be fun or excessive drinking, better immunity can protect yourself. I hope that every classmate recently bought more necessities for life at home, protect ourselves, and complete this semester’s tasks online.
Thank you for being the first to post as we move into this new configuration for class.
Can you relate the essay in the Times to Orwell’s? This may be a little hard to do, for you have chosen a news story and not an op-ed or essay. However, the article you chose is extremely important right now and the discussion you start is on all of our minds–so it is a viable topic right now for the class.
In addition to responding to this comment and any others that are posted here, consider how the article is written. Is it well constructed? Does it accomplish its purpose? Does it follow Orwell’s rules?
Again, thanks. We all need to be thinking about how to respond to coronavirus in our lives and our education.
Orwell said that political writing is also an art, and he wrote it because he wanted to lie to expose some facts that I wanted to draw attention to, and that his initial thought was about hearings. I think the news article is to tell the reader some relatively real information and tell us how to face the global virus. Like his candid political book about the Spanish Civil War, “Salute to Catalonia,” but mainly in some detached and valued form. He worked very hard to tell the whole truth without violating my literary instinct. The writer’s writing is to express to the reader with the truest heart, so that the reader can understand a real world
Thanks. Good points.
Can you relate the article you read specifically to the six rules at the end of “Politics and the English Language”?
In his “Politics and English” article, Orwell enumerated several major disadvantages of English writing at the time. Orwell believed that “language corruption can be cured.” He even formulated some specific rules to deal with these disadvantages. Similarly, he also believes that language will affect the controversy of social processes. Just as after each article is published, everyone has different views. Everyone will discuss and debate this matter. Everyone is eager to pursue a same answer
George Orwell’s essay on “Politics and the English Language” exclusively talks about how the English language is used incorrectly and thus meaning is distorted in extreme cases. For instance, the article called “War with Iraq” has some of the linguistic mistakes discussed in Orwell’s article. The wall articles talk about the economic consequences that have come about as a result of the war. It has used simple language and also it is very straightforward. It is also crucial to note that the author of this article has used rhetorical questions appropriately as a literary English style. Despite this, the author has also touched on some linguistic errors that Orwell talks about. He has used long sentences to explain straightforward points. Furthermore, the passive voice is being used in places where the active voice could be used. George Orwell has strongly criticized this act in his article. Pretentious diction mistakes are present in the article. For instance in the sentence, “Iraq is a country torn by profound ideological, religious and ethnic conflicts”, the word profound is unnecessary.
War with Iraq. Costs, consequences, and alternatives. Kaysen, Carl Kaysen et al.
http://www.econ.yale.edu/~nordhaus/homepage/homepage/AAAS_War_Iraq_2.pdf
Thank you. Can you pull your discussion forward into the current crisis? I would be interested in your comments on commentary right now.
The pandemic let us consult some information. The historical pandemic mortality rate in Spain in 1918 was 2%, and 50 million people died. This time, the new coronary death rate was the same as his, but the transmission rate was much higher. Although it has a history of more than 100 years, even if the development of science and technology has developed for such a long time, its virus processing capacity has not been greatly improved. We have no choice but to isolate and develop a vaccine. The development cycle of the vaccine is very long, so at present we can only isolate it. Apart from China, no country in the world can achieve effective isolation in the first place. Many European countries miss the best time for isolation. If the epidemic really persists at some later time, no country in the world will have enough medical resources to do this, which is also an unprecedented crisis in human history.
Do you think the political misuses of language have an impact on the spread of coronavirus? If we spoke more precisely, could we act more effectively?
current crisis? Do you mean coronavirus?
Yes.
Corona virus is world pandemic that has led to the decline of many economic and social activities. This disaster has created tension and fear among people all over the world especially the countries of China and Italy. Business activities all over the world have stopped or reduced to prevent the spread of the deadly virus. a lot has been done in an effort to try to curb the spread of Covid -19. For instance, closure of schools, use of sanitizers and wearing masks. However, the best way to do away with this catastrophe is to find a vaccine soon.
Wait what? I missed something here…
I did not read the Orwell article since I am in Florida, and only Sunday will I be landing in new york…
From what I recall the Spanish flu hit over a period of 3 different waves…
The Covid-19 virus is in its first season and the world has not had any real capabilities to test every human to know how many cases there really is…
That is why the mortality rate here is really a bad statistic… because its mostly from people who are feeling very sick who are being tested…
There is a very big problem in the fact that we have not invested heavily in the healthcare system as much as we have in other catagories… and this virus has shown the world that…
My brother, a doctor, is very worried that this virus will evolve like the Spanish flu did and come back in the Fall in, as a, much more deadly and mutated virus… his suggestion to combat this is to ”invest in the system” that is trying to keep ”the critically sick population” alive
I believe as some that this is a very bad disease, only because it hits the elderly in a much harder fashion…
I even saw a meme that people are calling it the ”boomer remover”
I feel sad for those people because now its affecting the elderly hard… if we don’t act now, to boost up our healthcare system, who says it wont come back and find a way to hit the younger generation…
Yes, we have to act in more ways than just staying home! Can we craft our words in ways that will help make that happen?
Hello, I do not have access too to my book now because of quarantine , but found in google, https://www.orwell.ru/library/essays/politics/english/e_polit
Correct me please somebody if this is not correct article.
Here’s a better link: https://faculty.washington.edu/rsoder/EDLPS579/HonorsOrwellPoliticsEnglishLanguage.pdf
According to Orwell political writing is a kind of art, but I think he wanted to hide something such as the information about how to face the global virus and the political book about the Spanish Civil War, “Salute to Catalonia,”. On the other hand he worked hard to tells the truth of history.
The essay ¨Politics and the English Language¨ by George Orwell portrays the author’s criticism towards the english language and its written standards. Orwell persistently emphasizes the many ways that individual authors incorrectly use certain methods/strategies. For example in the essay the list of incompetent writing methods consist of dying metaphors, operators or verbal false limbs, prentious diction, and meaningless words.
The op-ed essay ¨ Is COVID-19 Donald Trump’s Hurricane Katrina?¨ by Virginia Herffernan discusses and analyzes the toll that the current pandemic has on the president’s credibility similar to the way hurricane Katrina affected George W. Bush’s reputation. After the op-ed was placed under scrutiny I was left with the notion that many believe that authorities held back critical information that should have been given to the public in the beginning. The news delivery to the public from the press plays a vast role on how we as a nation act in accordance. If Orwell had the opportunity to read such an article he would critique the article for its lack of distinctiveness. The op-ed contains pretenious diction and dying metaphors. Had the media reported the news bluntly there would be a greater rate of prevention and a lower rate of fatalities.
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-03-19/donald-trump-coronavirus-covid-19-george-w-bush-katrina
I have read that the coronavirus is boosting President Trump’s ratings and making democrats go against what he says. President Trump’s ask of congress to give taxpayers $1000 each was approved by democrats, but they are trying their best to make sure he doesn’t get the positive votes for reelection. Honestly, if he treats the coronavirus well and combats the situation correctly it should be used in his favor.