Essays For George Orwell

Essays For George OrwellThe essays of George Orwell did more than capture the political situation of the time in which he wrote. In fact, Orwell's essays are a period piece about the war years. His essays allow the reader to learn about life at that time in its historical context, while, at the same time, breaking away from the inherent things we associate with the war, for example, technological advances and new life-styles.What is interesting about his essays is that they do not address the fact that if he were alive today, then he would be a conservative, yet his essays help us understand how different views of the world might have developed in this period. Not surprisingly, such an insightful perspective can aid in understanding modern conflicts and problems today.It is the essays of George Orwell, therefore, that helps us understand current political events. He explains why our enemies sometimes seem to get exactly what they want and why the people who try to resist them are not always appeased with capitulation. His essay on the British government during the Second World War helps us see how difficult it was to maintain civil peace. But, it also shows how easy it is to destroy that peace once a war has begun.The essays of George Orwell also help us understand the forces behind what most political commentators now refer to as 'information.' During the war, the enemy had the advantage of intelligence, of secrecy, and of secrecy itself. Yet Orwell shows that we can be more open, both to information and ideas, and that the enemy can be easily spooked into abandoning their own secrets in the belief that the majority is against them. While he does not discuss the fight for freedom in his essay, one can easily assume that it was the hope of the victorious to expunge the ideas of communism from the minds of the oppressed.Orwell also shows that almost every person can be exploited. That is, when people are given information that is harmful to the interests of thei r own country, they will be especially motivated to cooperate, even if the information might otherwise seem to be harmful to them personally. This is particularly true of those who are perceived to be weak, for those individuals are often those who receive the most news or media exposure and are those who are least inclined to resist or to rebel.Since so many of us think we are experiencing modern times of free speech, Orwell's essays are a reminder that nothing is ever quite as it seems. In other words, we cannot simply dismiss even the worst ideas, and that gives every one of us a responsibility to be on guard against information that is harmful. There is also no free ride to those who do not care to be the most informed.Another of the essays that are worth reading, perhaps one of the most important, is titled 'Politics and the English Language.' Here Orwell suggests that our governments in other countries consider their language a weapon. He claims that during the Second World Wa r, the military and the government realized that the use of slang words such as 'camel'citizen' helped them create a number of enemies. They understood that by neutralizing these terms, they could keep an enemy distrustful of their nation and could change their mind about participating in the conflict.Orwell also shows that using jargon in everyday speech is a tactic by which government can get people to lose themselves in their own world and to cease recognizing reality. The vocabulary, therefore, becomes a weapon. This is why it is so important to keep up with the news and to understand what is going on around the world.