This Day in History: 1903-06-25

George Orwell,  writer and journalist, is born on this day in 1903. Orwell’s insight into the twisting of the English language for totalitarian purposes, for example in his famous novel Nineteen Eighty Four, contributed to public understanding of propaganda techniques so frequently used in environmental debates. His 1946 essay, “Politics and the English Language” is an attack not only on bureaucratic language but also on the motives behind it. Arguing that Nineteen Eighty Four is an environmental novel,  Mike Mariott said: “The world Orwell created in 1984 (is) run down and exhausted. Look in the corners of his world and you will see the poverty and shambolic social services. What else do you see? The exclusive use of resources by the military and political elite at the expense of the populace; the stifling of voices who question this status quo … Every organ of the state exists to control the use of resources and keep the people compliant through violence, language and surveillance…”