Misplaced Pages

#529470

127-452: Doublespeak is most closely associated with political language. The term "doublespeak" derives from two concepts in George Orwell 's novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four , " doublethink " and " Newspeak ", despite the term itself not being used in the novel. Another version of the term, "doubletalk," also referring to intentionally ambiguous speech, did exist at the time Orwell wrote his book, but

254-892: A dialogic transmission system (many sources to many receivers) while traditional media operate under a monologic transmission model (one source to many receivers). For instance, a newspaper is delivered to many subscribers, and a radio station broadcasts the same programs to a city. Social media has been criticized for a range of negative impacts on children and teenagers, including exposure to inappropriate content, exploitation by adults, sleep problems, attention problems, feelings of exclusion, and various mental health maladies. Social media has also received criticism as worsening political polarization and undermining democracy . Major news outlets often have strong controls in place to avoid and fix false claims, but social media's unique qualities bring viral content with little to no oversight. "Algorithms that track user engagement to prioritize what

381-543: A blue plaque at his Kentish Town residence. At this time, Victor Gollancz suggested Orwell spend a short time investigating social conditions in economically depressed Northern England . The Depression had introduced a number of working-class writers from the North of England to the reading public. It was one of these working-class authors, Jack Hilton , whom Orwell sought for advice. Orwell had written to Hilton seeking lodging and asking for recommendations on his route. Hilton

508-726: A tripe shop. In Wigan, he visited many homes to see how people lived, went down Bryn Hall coal mine , and used the local public library to consult public health records and reports on working conditions in mines. During this time, he was distracted by concerns about style and possible libel in Keep the Aspidistra Flying . He made a quick visit to Liverpool and during March, stayed in south Yorkshire, spending time in Sheffield and Barnsley . As well as visiting mines, including Grimethorpe , and observing social conditions, he attended meetings of

635-435: A bibliography of 103 sources on doublespeak. Lutz was also the former editor of the now defunct Quarterly Review of Doublespeak , which examined the use of vocabulary by public officials to obscure the underlying meaning of what they tell the public. Lutz is one of the main contributors to the committee as well as promoting the term "doublespeak" to a mass audience to inform them of its deceptive qualities. He mentions: There

762-469: A book called Language and Public Policy (1974), with the aim of informing readers of the extensive scope of doublespeak being used to deliberately mislead and deceive the audience. He highlighted the deliberate public misuses of language and provided strategies for countering doublespeak by focusing on educating people in the English language so as to help them identify when doublespeak is being put into play. He

889-661: A brief visit in mid-1907, he did not see his father until 1912. Aged five, Eric was sent as a day student to a convent school in Henley-on-Thames. It was a Catholic convent run by French Ursuline nuns. His mother wanted him to have a public school education, but his family could not afford it. Through the social connections of Ida's brother Charles Limouzin, Blair gained a scholarship to St Cyprian's School in Eastbourne , East Sussex. Arriving in September 1911, he boarded for

1016-487: A cell he returned home to Southwold. In April 1932 Blair became a teacher at The Hawthorns High School, a school for boys, in Hayes , west London. This was a small private school, and had only 14 or 16 boys aged between ten and sixteen, and one other master. While at the school he became friendly with the curate of the local parish church and became involved with activities there. Mabel Fierz had pursued matters with Moore, and at

1143-542: A chill that developed into pneumonia. He was taken to a cottage hospital in Uxbridge, where for a time his life was believed to be in danger. When he was discharged in January 1934, he returned to Southwold to convalesce and, supported by his parents, never returned to teaching. He was disappointed when Gollancz turned down Burmese Days , mainly on the grounds of potential suits for libel, but Harper were prepared to publish it in

1270-449: A common lodging house, possibly George Levy's "kip". For a while he "went native" in his own country, dressing like a tramp , adopting the name P.S. Burton; he recorded his experiences of the low life for use in " The Spike ", his first published essay in English, and in the second half of his first book, Down and Out in Paris and London (1933). In early 1928 he moved to Paris. He lived in

1397-531: A day in the life of a tramp, and the beggars of London, respectively. "In one or another of its destructive forms, poverty was to become his obsessive subject—at the heart of almost everything he wrote until Homage to Catalonia ." He fell seriously ill in February 1929 and was taken to the Hôpital Cochin , a free hospital where medical students were trained. His experiences there were the basis of his essay " How

SECTION 10

#1732877151530

1524-778: A deposition was presented to the Tribunal for Espionage & High Treason in Valencia , charging the Orwells with "rabid Trotskyism", and being agents of the POUM. The trial of the leaders of the POUM and of Orwell (in his absence) took place in Barcelona in October and November 1938. Observing events from French Morocco, Orwell wrote that they were "only a by-product of the Russian Trotskyist trials and from

1651-514: A device in satirical comedy and social commentary to ironically parody political or bureaucratic establishments' intent on obfuscation or prevarication. The television series Yes Minister is notable for its use of this device. Oscar Wilde was an early proponent of this device and a significant influence on Orwell. This pattern was formulated by Hugh Rank and is a simple tool designed to teach some basic patterns of persuasion used in political propaganda and commercial advertising. The function of

1778-472: A flat in Parliament Hill. A Clergyman's Daughter was published on 11 March 1935. In early 1935 Blair met his future wife Eileen O'Shaughnessy , when his landlady, Rosalind Obermeyer, who was studying for a master's degree in psychology at University College London , invited some of her fellow students to a party. One of these students, Elizaveta Fen, recalled Blair and his friend Richard Rees "draped" at

1905-644: A fraction of the cost of traditional marketing campaigns. Nonprofit organizations and activists may also attempt to spread content virally. Social media sites provide specific functionality to help users re-share content, such as X 's and Facebook 's "like" option. Bots are automated programs that operate on the internet . They automate many communication tasks. This has led to the creation of an industry of bot providers. Chatbots and social bots are programmed to mimic human interactions such as liking, commenting, and following. Bots have also been developed to facilitate social media marketing . Bots have led

2032-472: A media studio for business users, after YouTube's Creator Studio. The discussion platform Reddit added an integrated image hoster replacing the external image sharing platform Imgur , and then an internal video hosting service, followed by image galleries (multiple images in a single post), known from Imgur. Imgur implemented video sharing. YouTube rolled out a Community feature, for sharing text-only posts and polls . According to Statista , it

2159-452: A moustache similar to those worn by officers of the British regiments stationed there. [He] also acquired some tattoos; on each knuckle he had a small untidy blue circle. Many Burmese living in rural areas still sport tattoos like this—they are believed to protect against bullets and snake bites. In April 1926 he moved to Moulmein, where his maternal grandmother lived. At the end of that year, he

2286-536: A newspaper in Lucknow , but by March 1938 Orwell's health had deteriorated. He was admitted to Preston Hall Sanatorium at Aylesford , Kent, a British Legion hospital for ex-servicemen to which his brother-in-law Laurence O'Shaughnessy was attached. He was thought initially to be suffering from tuberculosis and stayed in the sanatorium until September. Homage to Catalonia was published in London by Secker & Warburg and

2413-604: A number of systems offering diverse views and information to highlight the manipulative and dishonest methods that advertisers employ. According to Jacques Ellul , "the aim is not to even modify people’s ideas on a given subject, rather, it is to achieve conformity in the way that people act." He demonstrates this view by offering an example from drug advertising. Use of doublespeak in advertisements resulted in aspirin production rates rising by almost 50 percent from over 23 million pounds in 1960 to over 35 million pounds in 1970. Doublespeak, particularly when exaggerated, can be used as

2540-586: A political/literary journal edited by Henri Barbusse (his first article as a professional writer, "La Censure en Angleterre", appeared in that journal on 6 October 1928); G. K.'s Weekly , where his first article to appear in England, "A Farthing Newspaper", was printed on 29 December 1928; and Le Progrès Civique (founded by the left-wing coalition Le Cartel des Gauches ). Three pieces appeared in successive weeks in Le Progrès Civique : discussing unemployment,

2667-544: A positive relationship with social media, while emotional stability has a negative sloping relationship with social media. A 2015 study reported that people with a higher social comparison orientation appear to use social media more heavily than people with low social comparison orientation. Common Sense Media reported that children under age 13 in the United States use social networking services although many social media sites require users to be 13 or older. In 2017,

SECTION 20

#1732877151530

2794-440: A specific time. A human writes a post content and the bot posts it a specific time. In other cases, cyborgs spread fake news . Cyborgs may work as sock puppets , where one human pretends to be someone else, or operates multiple accounts, each pretending to be a person. A multitude of United States patents are related to social media, growing rapidly. As of 2020 , over 5000 social media patent applications had been published in

2921-510: A stop to this. Orwell was also able to find a more sympathetic publisher for his views in Fredric Warburg of Secker & Warburg. Orwell returned to Wallington, which he found in disarray after his absence. He acquired goats, a cockerel (rooster) he called Henry Ford and a poodle puppy he called Marx ; and settled down to animal husbandry and writing Homage to Catalonia . There were thoughts of going to India to work on The Pioneer ,

3048-468: A strike, and "meaningful downturn in aggregate output", an attempt to avoid saying the word "recession". The US National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Committee on Public Doublespeak was formed in 1971, in the midst of the Watergate scandal. It was at a point when there was widespread skepticism about the degree of truth which characterized relationships between the public and the worlds of politics,

3175-497: A sub-divisional officer, he was responsible for the security of some 200,000 people. At the end of 1924, he was posted to Syriam , closer to Rangoon. Syriam had the refinery of the Burmah Oil Company , "the surrounding land a barren waste, all vegetation killed off by the fumes of sulphur dioxide pouring out day and night from the stacks of the refinery." But the town was near Rangoon, a cosmopolitan seaport, and Blair went into

3302-457: Is Blair as Burton (the name he used in his down-and-out episodes) in search of experience in the kips and spikes, in the East End, on the road, and in the hop fields of Kent. He went painting and bathing on the beach, and there he met Mabel and Francis Fierz, who later influenced his career. Over the next year he visited them in London, often meeting their friend Max Plowman. He also often stayed at

3429-460: Is best known for his allegorical novella Animal Farm (1945) and the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), although his works also encompass literary criticism , poetry, fiction, and polemical journalism. His non-fiction works, including The Road to Wigan Pier (1937), documenting his experience of working-class life in the industrial north of England, and Homage to Catalonia (1938), an account of his experiences soldiering for

3556-409: Is estimated that, in 2022, around 3.96 billion people were using social media globally. This number is up from 3.6 billion in 2020. The following is a list of the most popular social networking services based on the number of active users as of January 2024 per Statista . A 2009 study suggested that individual differences may help explain who uses social media: extraversion and openness have

3683-614: Is extremely similar to the popular definition of the term, doublespeak: In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defence of the indefensible… Thus political language has to consist largely of euphemism, question-begging and sheer cloudy vagueness… the great enemy of clear language is insincerity. Where there is a gap between one's real and one's declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms… The writer Edward S. Herman cited what he saw as examples of doublespeak and doublethink in modern society. Herman describes in his book, Beyond Hypocrisy,

3810-535: Is more to being an effective consumer of language than just expressing dismay at dangling modifiers, faulty subject and verb agreement, or questionable usage. All who use language should be concerned whether statements and facts agree, whether language is, in Orwell's words, "largely the defense of the indefensible" and whether language "is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind". Charles Weingartner, one of

3937-564: Is often used by politicians to advance their agenda. The Doublespeak Award is an "ironic tribute to public speakers who have perpetuated language that is grossly deceptive, evasive, euphemistic, confusing, or self-centered." It has been issued by the US National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) since 1974. The recipients of the Doublespeak Award are usually politicians, national administration or departments. An example of this

Doublespeak - Misplaced Pages Continue

4064-604: Is shown tend to favor content that spurs negative emotions like anger and outrage. Overall, most online misinformation originates from a small minority of “superspreaders,” but social media amplifies their reach and influence." The PLATO system was launched in 1960 at the University of Illinois and subsequently commercially marketed by Control Data Corporation . It offered early forms of social media features with innovations such as Notes, PLATO's message-forum application; TERM-talk, its instant-messaging feature; Talkomatic , perhaps

4191-523: Is the United States Department of Defense, which won the award three times, in 1991, 1993, and 2001. For the 1991 award, the United States Department of Defense "swept the first six places in the Doublespeak top ten" for using euphemisms like "servicing the target" (bombing) and "force packages" (warplanes). Among the other phrases in contention were "difficult exercise in labor relations", meaning

4318-406: Is transmitted through the mass media. The two resolutions were accomplished by forming NCTE's Committee on Public Doublespeak, a body which has made significant contributions in describing the need for reform where clarity in communication has been deliberately distorted. Hugh Rank helped form the Doublespeak committee in 1971 and was its first chairman. Under his editorship, the committee produced

4445-956: Is used to document memories, learn, and form friendships. They may be used to promote people, companies, products, and ideas. Social media can be used to consume, publish, or share news . Popular social media platforms with over 100 million registered users include Twitter , Facebook , WeChat , ShareChat , Instagram , Pinterest , QZone , Weibo , VK , Tumblr , Baidu Tieba , Threads and LinkedIn . Depending on interpretation, other popular platforms that are sometimes referred to as social media services include YouTube , Letterboxd , QQ , Quora , Telegram , WhatsApp , Signal , LINE , Snapchat , Viber , Reddit , Discord , and TikTok . Wikis are examples of collaborative content creation. Social media outlets differ from old media (e.g. newspapers , TV , and radio broadcasting ) in many ways, including quality, reach , frequency , usability, relevancy, and permanence. Social media outlets operate in

4572-601: The Henley and South Oxfordshire Standard . He came second to Connolly in the Harrow History Prize , had his work praised by the school's external examiner, and earned scholarships to Wellington and Eton . But inclusion on the Eton scholarship roll did not guarantee a place, and none was immediately available. He chose to stay at St Cyprian's until December 1916, in case a place at Eton became available. In January, Blair took up

4699-586: The 8th Earl of Westmorland . His grandfather, Thomas Richard Arthur Blair, was an Anglican clergyman. Orwell's father was Richard Walmesley Blair, who worked as a Sub-Deputy Opium Agent in the Opium Department of the Indian Civil Service , overseeing the production and storage of opium for sale to China. His mother, Ida Mabel Blair ( née Limouzin), grew up in Moulmein , Burma, where her French father

4826-533: The Esperanto movement. The Westropes were friendly and provided him with comfortable accommodation at Warwick Mansions, Pond Street . He was sharing the job with Jon Kimche , who also lived with the Westropes. Blair worked at the shop in the afternoons and had his mornings free to write and his evenings free to socialise. These experiences provided background for the novel Keep the Aspidistra Flying (1936). As well as

4953-775: The First World War , the family moved 2 miles (3 km) south to Shiplake , Oxfordshire, where Eric became friendly with the Buddicom family, especially their daughter Jacintha . When they first met, he was standing on his head in a field. Asked why, he said, "You are noticed more if you stand on your head than if you are right way up." Growing up together, Buddicom and Blair became idealistic adolescent sweethearts, reading and writing poetry together, and dreaming of becoming famous writers. Blair also enjoyed shooting, fishing and birdwatching with Jacintha's brother and sister. While at St Cyprian's, Blair wrote two poems that were published in

5080-563: The International Brigades and advised him to get a safe-conduct from the Spanish Embassy in Paris. Not wishing to commit himself until he had seen the situation in situ , Orwell instead used his Independent Labour Party contacts to get a letter of introduction to John McNair in Barcelona. Orwell set out for Spain on about 23 December 1936, dining with Henry Miller in Paris on the way. Miller told Orwell that going to fight in

5207-675: The Republican faction of the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), are as critically respected as his essays on politics, literature, language and culture. Orwell's work remains influential in popular culture and in political culture , and the adjective " Orwellian "—describing totalitarian and authoritarian social practices—is part of the English language, like many of his neologisms , such as " Big Brother ", " Thought Police ", " Room 101 ", " Newspeak ", " memory hole ", " doublethink ", and " thoughtcrime ". In 2008, The Times named Orwell

Doublespeak - Misplaced Pages Continue

5334-483: The United States Department of Homeland Security use social media data as influencing factors during the visa process, and monitor individuals after they have entered the country. CPB officers have also been documented performing searches of electronics and social media behavior at the border, searching both citizens and non-citizens without first obtaining a warrant. As social media gained momentum among

5461-641: The anarcho-syndicalist Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) and the Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia (a wing of the Spanish Communist Party ). Orwell was at first exasperated by this "kaleidoscope" of political parties and trade unions. The ILP was linked to the POUM so Orwell joined the POUM. After a time at the Lenin Barracks in Barcelona he was sent to the relatively quiet Aragon Front under Georges Kopp . By January 1937 he

5588-554: The characters of Dickens . Down and Out was modestly successful and was next published by Harper & Brothers in New York. In mid-1933 Blair left Hawthorns to become a teacher at Frays College , in Uxbridge , west London. This was a much larger establishment with 200 pupils and a full complement of staff. He acquired a motorcycle and took trips through the surrounding countryside. On one of these expeditions he became soaked and caught

5715-559: The marketing industry into an analytical crisis, as bots make it difficult to differentiate between human interactions and bot interactions. Some bots violate platforms' terms of use , which can result in bans and campaigns to eliminate bots categorically. Bots may even pose as real people to avoid prohibitions. ' Cyborgs '—either bot-assisted humans or human-assisted bots —are used for both legitimate and illegitimate purposes, from spreading fake news to creating marketing buzz . A common use claimed to be legitimate includes posting at

5842-449: The network etiquette (or " netiquette ") described in a 1982 handbook on computing at MIT 's Artificial Intelligence Laboratory . ARPANET evolved into the Internet in the 1990s. Usenet , conceived by Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis in 1979 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University , was the first open social media app, established in 1980. A precursor of

5969-618: The pen name George Orwell because "It is a good round English name." The name George was inspired by the patron saint of England , and Orwell after the River Orwell in Suffolk which was one of Orwell's favourite locations. Down and Out in Paris and London was published by Victor Gollancz in London on 9 January 1933 and received favourable reviews, with Cecil Day-Lewis complimenting Orwell's "clarity and good sense", and The Times Literary Supplement comparing Orwell's eccentric characters to

6096-619: The "coddled" poor "take advantage of". These terms, however, are not as often applied to other beneficiaries of government spending such as military spending. The bellicose language used interchangeably with calls for peace towards Armenia by Azerbaijani president Aliyev after the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War were described as doublespeak in media. Advertisers can use doublespeak to mask their commercial intent from users, as users' defenses against advertising become more entrenched. Some are attempting to counter this technique with

6223-497: The Burma police for the novel Burmese Days (1934) and the essays " A Hanging " (1931) and " Shooting an Elephant " (1936). In England, he settled back in the family home at Southwold , renewing acquaintance with local friends and attending an Old Etonian dinner. He visited his old tutor Gow at Cambridge for advice on becoming a writer. In 1927 he moved to London. Ruth Pitter , a family acquaintance, helped him find lodgings, and by

6350-715: The Civil War out of some sense of obligation or guilt was "sheer stupidity" and that the Englishman's ideas "about combating Fascism, defending democracy, etc., etc., were all baloney". A few days later in Barcelona , Orwell met John McNair of the Independent Labour Party (ILP) Office. The Republican government was supported by a number of factions with conflicting aims, including the Workers' Party of Marxist Unification (POUM),

6477-571: The Communist Party and of Oswald Mosley ("his speech the usual claptrap—The blame for everything was put upon mysterious international gangs of Jews") where he saw the tactics of the Blackshirts . He also made visits to his sister at Headingley , during which he visited the Brontë Parsonage at Haworth . Orwell needed somewhere he could concentrate on writing his book, and once again help

SECTION 50

#1732877151530

6604-639: The Communist press he was a fascist. After his return to the front, he was wounded in the throat by a sniper's bullet. At 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m), Orwell was considerably taller than the Spanish fighters and had been warned against standing against the trench parapet. Unable to speak, and with blood pouring from his mouth, Orwell was carried on a stretcher to Siétamo , loaded on an ambulance and sent to hospital in Lleida . He recovered sufficiently to get up and on 27 May 1937

6731-525: The Communists, Orwell was still ready to treat them as friends and allies. That would soon change." During the Barcelona May Days Orwell was caught up in the factional fighting. He spent much of the time on a roof, with a stack of novels, but encountered Jon Kimche from his Hampstead days during the stay. The subsequent campaign of lies and distortion carried out by the Communist press, in which

6858-482: The Indian Police Service. For this he had to pass an entrance examination. In December 1921 he left Eton and travelled to join his retired father, mother, and younger sister Avril, who that month had moved to 40 Stradbroke Road, Southwold , Suffolk, the first of their four homes in the town. Blair was enrolled at a crammer there called Craighurst, and brushed up on his Classics, English, and History. He passed

6985-522: The Mass Media that Orwellian doublespeak is an important component of the manipulation of the English language in American media, through a process called dichotomization, a component of media propaganda involving "deeply embedded double standards in the reporting of news." For example, the use of state funds by the poor and financially needy is commonly referred to as " social welfare " or " handouts ," which

7112-471: The O'Shaughnessy home at Greenwich. He found his views on the Spanish Civil War out of favour. Kingsley Martin rejected two of his works and Gollancz was equally cautious. At the same time, the communist Daily Worker was running an attack on The Road to Wigan Pier , taking out of context Orwell writing that "the working classes smell"; a letter to Gollancz from Orwell threatening libel action brought

7239-590: The POUM was accused of collaborating with the fascists, had a dramatic effect on Orwell. Instead of joining the International Brigades as he had intended, he decided to return to the Aragon Front. Once the May fighting was over, he was approached by a Communist friend who asked if he still intended transferring to the International Brigades. Orwell expressed surprise that they should still want him, because according to

7366-581: The Poor Die ", published in 1946 (though he chose not to identify the hospital). Shortly afterwards, he had all his money stolen from his lodging house. Whether through necessity or to collect material, he undertook menial jobs such as dishwashing in a fashionable hotel on the rue de Rivoli , which he later described in Down and Out in Paris and London . In August 1929, he sent a copy of " The Spike " to John Middleton Murry 's New Adelphi magazine in London. The magazine

7493-429: The United States. Only slightly over 100 patents had been issued. As an instance of technological convergence , various social media platforms adapted functionality beyond their original scope, increasingly overlapping with each other. Examples are the social hub site Facebook launching an integrated video platform in May 2007, and Instagram , whose original scope was low-resolution photo sharing, introducing

7620-645: The United States. Meanwhile, Blair started work on the novel A Clergyman's Daughter , drawing upon his life as a teacher and on life in Southwold. Eventually in October, after sending A Clergyman's Daughter to Moore, he left for London to take a job that had been found for him by his aunt Nellie Limouzin. This job was as a part-time assistant in Booklovers' Corner, a second-hand bookshop in Hampstead run by Francis and Myfanwy Westrope, who were friends of Nellie Limouzin in

7747-435: The ability to share quarter-minute 640×640 pixel videos (later extended to a minute with increased resolution). Instagram later implemented stories (short videos self-destructing after 24 hours), a concept popularized by Snapchat , as well as IGTV , for seekable videos. Stories were then adopted by YouTube . X , whose original scope was text-based microblogging, later adopted photo sharing, then video sharing, then

SECTION 60

#1732877151530

7874-503: The advent of Web 2.0 . Social media started in the mid-1990s with the invention of platforms like GeoCities , Classmates.com , and SixDegrees.com . While instant messaging and chat clients existed at the time, SixDegrees was unique as it was the first online service designed for people to connect using their actual names instead of anonymously. It boasted features like profiles, friends lists, and school affiliations, making it "the very first social networking site". The platform's name

8001-632: The availability of smartphones. As of 2023 as many as 4.76 billion people used social media some 59% of the global population. A 2015 review identified four features unique to social media services: In 2019, Merriam-Webster defined social media as "forms of electronic communication (such as websites for social networking and microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (such as videos)." Social media encompasses an expanding suite of services: Some services offer more than one type of service. Mobile social media refers to

8128-495: The churches of the Karen ethnic group. A colleague, Roger Beadon, recalled that Blair was fast to learn the language and that before he left Burma, "was able to speak fluently with Burmese priests in 'very high-flown Burmese'." Blair made changes to his appearance in Burma that remained for the rest of his life, including adopting a pencil moustache . Emma Larkin writes in the introduction to Burmese Days : While in Burma, he acquired

8255-549: The city as often as he could, "to browse in a bookshop; to eat well-cooked food; to get away from the boring routine of police life". In September 1925 he went to Insein , the home of Insein Prison . By this time, Blair had completed his training and was receiving a monthly salary of Rs. 740, including allowances. Blair recalled he faced hostility from the Burmese, "in the end the sneering yellow faces of young men that met me everywhere,

8382-506: The clergyman's daughter who worked as a gym-teacher at St Felix Girls' School . Although Salkeld rejected his offer of marriage, she remained a friend and regular correspondent for many years. He also renewed friendships with older friends, such as Dennis Collings, whose girlfriend Eleanor Jacques was also to play a part in his life. In early 1930 he stayed briefly in Bramley, Leeds , with his sister Marjorie and her husband Humphrey Dakin. Blair

8509-711: The committee's charge to inform teachers of ways of teaching students how to recognize and combat language designed to mislead and misinform. William D. Lutz , professor emeritus at Rutgers University-Camden has served as the third chairman of the Doublespeak Committee since 1975. In 1989, both his own book Doublespeak and, under his editorship, the committee's third book, Beyond Nineteen Eighty-Four , were published. Beyond Nineteen Eighty-Four consists of 220 pages and eighteen articles contributed by long-time Committee members and others whose bodies of work have contributed to public understanding about language, as well as

8636-528: The common ways whereby communication is intensified or downplayed, so as to counter doublespeak. In 2022 and 2023, it was widely reported that social media users were using a form of doublespeak – sometimes called " algospeak " – to subvert content moderation on platforms such as TikTok . Examples include using the word "unalive" instead of "dead" or "kill", or using "leg booty" instead of LGBT , which users believed would prevent moderation algorithms from banning or shadow banning their accounts. Doublespeak

8763-602: The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic and pediatric critical care." However others in the medical community were concerned about social media addiction, as it became an increasingly important context and therefore "source of social validation and reinforcement" and were unsure whether increased social media use was harmful. Governments may use social media to (for example): Social media has been used extensively in civil and criminal investigations . It has also been used to search for missing persons. Police departments often make use of official social media accounts to engage with

8890-542: The electronic bulletin board system (BBS), known as Community Memory , appeared by 1973. Mainstream BBSs arrived with the Computer Bulletin Board System in Chicago, which launched on February 16, 1978. Before long, most major US cities had more than one BBS, running on TRS-80 , Apple II , Atari 8-bit computers , IBM PC , Commodore 64 , Sinclair , and others. CompuServe , Prodigy , and AOL were three of

9017-556: The end of 1927 he had moved into rooms in Portobello Road ; a blue plaque commemorates his residence there. Pitter's involvement in the move "would have lent it a reassuring respectability in Mrs. Blair's eyes." Pitter had a sympathetic interest in Blair's writing, pointed out weaknesses in his poetry, and advised him to write about what he knew. In fact he decided to write of "certain aspects of

9144-411: The end of June 1932, Moore told Blair that Victor Gollancz was prepared to publish A Scullion's Diary for a £40 advance, through his recently founded publishing house, Victor Gollancz Ltd , which was an outlet for radical and socialist works. At the end of the summer term in 1932, Blair returned to Southwold, where his parents had used a legacy to buy their own home. Blair and his sister Avril spent

9271-632: The exam, coming seventh out of the 26 who passed. Blair's maternal grandmother lived at Moulmein , so he chose a posting in Burma , then still a province of British India. In October 1922 he sailed on board SS Herefordshire to join the Indian Imperial Police in Burma. A month later, he arrived at Rangoon and travelled to the police training school in Mandalay . He was appointed an Assistant District Superintendent (on probation) on 29 November 1922, at

9398-523: The fireplace, looking, she thought, "moth-eaten and prematurely aged." Around this time, Blair had started to write reviews for The New English Weekly . In June, Burmese Days was published and Cyril Connolly's positive review in the New Statesman prompted Blair to re-establish contact with his old friend. In August, he moved into a flat, at 50 Lawford Road, Kentish Town , which he shared with Michael Sayers and Rayner Heppenstall . The relationship

9525-425: The firm conducted a survey of parents of children from birth to age 8 and reported that 4% of children at this age used social media sites such as Instagram , Snapchat , or (now-defunct) Musical.ly "often" or "sometimes". Their 2019 survey surveyed Americans ages 8–16 and reported that about 31% of children ages 8–12 use social media. In that survey, teens aged 16–18 were asked when they started using social media.

9652-403: The first online chat room ; News Report, a crowdsourced online newspaper, and blog and Access Lists, enabling the owner of a note file or other application to limit access to a certain set of users, for example, only friends, classmates, or co-workers. ARPANET , which came online in 1969, had by the late 1970s enabled exchange of non-government/business ideas and communication, as evidenced by

9779-537: The first version of Down and Out . On the advice of Richard Rees, he offered it to Faber & Faber , but their editorial director, T. S. Eliot , also rejected it. Blair ended the year by deliberately getting himself arrested, so that he could experience Christmas in prison, but after he was picked up and taken to Bethnal Green police station in the East End of London the authorities did not regard his "drunk and disorderly" behaviour as imprisonable, and after two days in

9906-532: The founding members of the NCTE committee on Public Doublespeak mentioned: "people do not know enough about the subject (the reality) to recognize that the language being used conceals, distorts, misleads. Teachers of English should teach our students that words are not things, but verbal tokens or signs of things that should finally be carried back to the things that they stand for to be verified." George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950)

10033-474: The general public to collect information regarding corona virus pandemics in various perspectives. During these days, people are forced to stay at home and the social media have connected and supported awareness and pandemic updates." Healthcare workers and systems became more aware of social media as a place people were getting health information: "During the COVID-19 pandemic, social media use has accelerated to

10160-453: The holidays making the house habitable while he also worked on Burmese Days . He was also spending time with Eleanor Jacques, but her attachment to Dennis Collings remained an obstacle to his hopes of a more serious relationship. "Clink", an essay describing his failed attempt to get sent to prison, appeared in the August 1932 number of Adelphi . He returned to teaching at Hayes and prepared for

10287-407: The homes of Ruth Pitter and Richard Rees, where he could "change" for his sporadic tramping expeditions. One of his jobs was domestic work at a lodgings for half a crown (two shillings and sixpence, or one-eighth of a pound) a day. Blair now contributed regularly to Adelphi , with " A Hanging " appearing in August 1931. From August to September 1931 his explorations of poverty continued, and, like

10414-400: The insults hooted after me when I was at a safe distance, got badly on my nerves". He recalled that "I was stuck between my hatred of the empire I served and my rage against the evil-spirited little beasts who tried to make my job impossible". In Burma, Blair acquired a reputation as an outsider. He spent much of his time alone, reading or pursuing non- pukka activities, such as attending

10541-477: The intensify/downplay pattern is not to dictate what should be discussed but to encourage coherent thought and systematic organization. The pattern works in two ways: intensifying and downplaying. All people intensify, and this is done via repetition, association and composition. Downplaying is commonly done via omission, diversion and confusion as they communicate in words, gestures, numbers, et cetera. Individuals can better cope with organized persuasion by recognizing

10668-479: The issues relating to the publication of The Road to Wigan Pier before setting out for Spain herself, leaving Nellie Limouzin to look after The Stores. Eileen volunteered for a post in John McNair's office and with the help of Georges Kopp paid visits to her husband, bringing him English tea, chocolate and cigars. Orwell had to spend some days in hospital with a poisoned hand and had most of his possessions stolen by

10795-674: The largest BBS companies and were the first to migrate to the Internet in the 1990s. Between the mid-1980s and the mid-1990s, BBSes numbered in the tens of thousands in North America alone. Message forums were the signature BBS phenomenon throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1991, Tim Berners-Lee integrated HTML hypertext software with the Internet, creating the World Wide Web . This breakthrough led to an explosion of blogs , list servers , and email services. Message forums migrated to

10922-652: The median age was 14, although 28% said they started to use it before reaching 13. Social media played a role in communication during the COVID-19 pandemic . In June 2020, a survey by Cartoon Network and the Cyberbullying Research Center surveyed Americans tweens (ages 9–12) and reported that the most popular application was YouTube (67%). (as age increased, tweens were more likely to have used social media apps and games.) Similarly, Common Sense Media's 2020 survey of Americans ages 13–18 reported that YouTube

11049-576: The military, and business. NCTE passed two resolutions. One called for the council to find means to study dishonest and inhumane uses of language and literature by advertisers, to bring offenses to public attention, and to propose classroom techniques for preparing children to cope with commercial propaganda. The other called for the council to find means to study the relationships between language and public policy and to track, publicize, and combat semantic distortion by public officials, candidates for office, political commentators, and all others whose language

11176-498: The next five years, returning home only for holidays. Although he knew nothing of the reduced fees, he "soon recognised that he was from a poorer home". Blair hated the school and many years later wrote an essay " Such, Such Were the Joys ", published posthumously, based on his time there. At St Cyprian's, Blair first met Cyril Connolly , who became a writer and who, as the editor of Horizon , published several of Orwell's essays. Before

11303-477: The north was The Road to Wigan Pier , published by Gollancz for the Left Book Club in 1937. The first half of the book documents his social investigations of Lancashire and Yorkshire , including an evocative description of working life in the coal mines. The second half is a long essay on his upbringing and the development of his political conscience, which includes an argument for socialism. Gollancz feared

11430-518: The pay of Rs. 525 per month. After a short posting at Maymyo , Burma's principal hill station , he was posted to the frontier outpost of Myaungmya in the Irrawaddy Delta at the beginning of 1924. Working as an imperial police officer gave him considerable responsibility while most of his contemporaries were still at university in England. When he was posted farther east in the Delta to Twante as

11557-460: The place at Wellington, where he spent the Spring term. In May 1917 a place became available as a King's Scholar at Eton. At this time the family lived at Mall Chambers, Notting Hill Gate. Blair remained at Eton until December 1921, when he left midway between his 18th and 19th birthdays. Wellington was "beastly", Blair told Jacintha, but he said he was "interested and happy" at Eton. His principal tutor

11684-556: The point of becoming a ubiquitous part of modern healthcare systems." This also led to the spread of disinformation . On December 11, 2020, the CDC put out a "Call to Action: Managing the Infodemic ". Some healthcare organizations used hashtags as interventions and published articles on their Twitter data: "Promotion of the joint usage of #PedsICU and #COVID19 throughout the international pediatric critical care community in tweets relevant to

11811-517: The political situation in Barcelona had deteriorated and the POUM—painted by the pro-Soviet Communists as a Trotskyist organisation—was outlawed and under attack. Members, including Kopp, were arrested and others were in hiding. Orwell and his wife were under threat and had to lie low, although they broke cover to try to help Kopp. They finally escaped from Spain by train. In the first week of July 1937 Orwell arrived back at Wallington; on 13 July 1937

11938-491: The potential to spread virally , an analogy for the way viral infections spread contagiously from individual to individual. One user spreads a post across their network, which leads those users to follow suit. A post from a relatively unknown user can reach vast numbers of people within hours. Virality is not guaranteed; few posts make the transition. Viral marketing campaigns are particularly attractive to businesses because they can achieve widespread advertising coverage at

12065-533: The present that he set out to know" and ventured into the East End of London —the first of the occasional sorties he would make intermittently over a period of five years to discover the world of poverty and the down-and-outers who inhabit it. In imitation of Jack London , whose writing he admired (particularly The People of the Abyss ), Blair started to explore the poorer parts of London. On his first outing he set out to Limehouse Causeway , spending his first night in

12192-479: The principal characteristics of doublespeak: What is really important in the world of doublespeak is the ability to lie, whether knowingly or unconsciously, and to get away with it; and the ability to use lies and choose and shape facts selectively, blocking out those that don’t fit an agenda or program. Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky comment in their book Manufacturing Consent: the Political Economy of

12319-572: The production of other publications— College Days and Bubble and Squeak —and participated in the Eton Wall Game . His parents could not afford to send him to university without another scholarship, and they concluded from his poor results he would not be able to win one. Runciman noted he had a romantic idea about the East , and the family decided Blair should join the Imperial Police , the precursor of

12446-809: The protagonist of A Clergyman's Daughter , he followed the East End tradition of working in the Kent hop fields. He kept a diary about his experiences there. Afterwards, he lodged in the Tooley Street kip , but could not stand it for long, and with financial help from his parents moved to Windsor Street, where he stayed until Christmas. "Hop Picking", by Eric Blair, appeared in the October 1931 issue of New Statesman , whose editorial staff included his old friend Cyril Connolly. Mabel Fierz put him in contact with Leonard Moore , who became his literary agent in April 1932. At this time Jonathan Cape rejected A Scullion's Diary ,

12573-464: The public, publicize police activity, and burnish law enforcement's image; conversely, video footage of citizen-documented police brutality and other misconduct has sometimes been posted to social media. In the United States, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement identifies and track individuals via social media, and has apprehended some people via social media-based sting operations. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (also known as CPB) and

12700-475: The publication of his book, now known as Down and Out in Paris and London . He wished to publish under a different name to avoid any embarrassment to his family over his time as a "tramp". In a letter to Moore (dated 15 November 1932), he left the choice of pseudonym to Moore and to Gollancz. Four days later, he wrote to Moore, suggesting the pseudonyms P. S. Burton (a name he used when tramping), Kenneth Miles, George Orwell, and H. Lewis Allways. He finally adopted

12827-540: The rue du Pot de Fer, a working class district in the 5th arrondissement . His aunt Ellen (Nellie) Kate Limouzin also lived in Paris (with the Esperantist Eugène Lanti ) and gave him social and, when necessary, financial support. He began to write novels, including an early version of Burmese Days , but nothing else survives from that period. He was more successful as a journalist and published articles in Monde ,

12954-504: The second half would offend readers and added a disculpatory preface to the book while Orwell was in Spain. Orwell's research for The Road to Wigan Pier led to him being placed under surveillance by the Special Branch from 1936. Orwell married O'Shaughnessy on 9 June 1936. Shortly afterwards, the political crisis began in Spain and Orwell followed developments there closely. At the end of

13081-480: The second-greatest British writer since 1945. Eric Arthur Blair was born on 25 June 1903 in Motihari , Bengal Presidency (now Bihar ), British India , into what he described as a " lower-upper-middle class " family. His great-great-grandfather, Charles Blair, was a wealthy slaveowning country gentleman and absentee owner of two Jamaican plantations ; hailing from Dorset , he married Lady Mary Fane, daughter of

13208-677: The staff. He returned to the front and saw some action in a night attack on the Nationalist trenches where he chased an enemy soldier with a bayonet and bombed an enemy rifle position. In April, Orwell returned to Barcelona. Wanting to be sent to the Madrid front, which meant he "must join the International Column", he approached a Communist friend attached to the Spanish Medical Aid and explained his case. "Although he did not think much of

13335-514: The start every kind of lie, including flagrant absurdities, has been circulated in the Communist press." Orwell's experiences in the Spanish Civil War gave rise to Homage to Catalonia (1938). In his book, The International Brigades: Fascism, Freedom and the Spanish Civil War, Giles Tremlett writes that according to Soviet files, Orwell and his wife Eileen were spied on in Barcelona in May 1937. Orwell returned to England in June 1937, and stayed at

13462-673: The thing I care most about is gardening, especially vegetable gardening". He also tested the possibility of reopening the Stores as a village shop. Keep the Aspidistra Flying was published by Gollancz on 20 April 1936. On 4 August, Orwell gave a talk at the Adelphi Summer School held at Langham , entitled An Outsider Sees the Distressed Areas ; others who spoke at the school included John Strachey , Max Plowman , Karl Polanyi and Reinhold Niebuhr . The result of his journeys through

13589-526: The usage of "doublespeak", as well as of "doubletalk", in the sense of emphasizing ambiguity, clearly predates the publication of the novel. Parallels have also been drawn between doublespeak and Orwell's classic essay, Politics and the English Language , which discusses linguistic distortion for purposes related to politics. In the essay, he observes that political language often serves to distort and obscure reality. Orwell's description of political speech

13716-457: The use of social media on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets . It is distinguished by its ubiquity, since users no longer have to be at a desk in order to participate on a computer . Mobile services can further make use of the user's immediate location to offer information, connections, or services relevant to that location. According to Andreas Kaplan , mobile social media activities fall among four types: Certain content has

13843-518: The various guests of the Westropes, he was able to enjoy the company of Richard Rees and the Adelphi writers and Mabel Fierz. The Westropes and Kimche were members of the Independent Labour Party , although at this time Blair was not seriously politically active. He was writing for the Adelphi and preparing A Clergyman's Daughter and Burmese Days for publication. At the beginning of 1935 he had to move out of Warwick Mansions, and Mabel Fierz found him

13970-448: The web, and evolved into Internet forums , supported by cheaper access as well as the ability to handle far more people simultaneously. These early text-based systems expanded to include images and video in the 21st century, aided by digital cameras and camera phones . The evolution of online services progressed from serving as channels for networked communication to becoming interactive platforms for networked social interaction with

14097-614: The year, concerned by Francisco Franco 's military uprising, Orwell decided to go to Spain to take part in the Spanish Civil War on the Republican side . Under the erroneous impression that he needed papers from some left-wing organisation to cross the frontier, on John Strachey 's recommendation he applied unsuccessfully to Harry Pollitt , leader of the British Communist Party . Pollitt was suspicious of Orwell's political reliability; he asked him whether he would undertake to join

14224-688: The younger generations, governments began using it to improve their image, especially among the youth. In January 2021, Egyptian authorities were reported to be using Instagram influencers as part of its media ambassadors program. The program was designed to revamp Egypt 's image and to counter the bad press Egypt had received because of the country's human rights record. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates participated in similar programs. Similarly, Dubai has extensively relied on social media and influencers to promote tourism. However, Dubai laws have kept these influencers within limits to not offend

14351-431: Was A. S. F. Gow , Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge , who gave him advice later in his career. Blair was taught French by Aldous Huxley . Steven Runciman , who was at Eton with Blair, noted that he and his contemporaries appreciated Huxley's linguistic flair. Blair's performance reports suggest he neglected his studies, but he worked with Roger Mynors to produce a college magazine, The Election Times , joined in

14478-402: Was a British novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell , a name inspired by his favourite place, the River Orwell . His work is characterised by lucid prose , social criticism , opposition to all totalitarianism (i.e. to both left-wing authoritarian communism and to right-wing fascism), and support of democratic socialism . Orwell

14605-790: Was a commercial flop; it re-emerged in the 1950s, following on the success of Orwell's later books. Social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the creation , sharing and aggregation of content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongst virtual communities and networks . Common features include: The term social in regard to media suggests platforms enable communal activity. Social media can enhance and extend human networks. Users access social media through web-based apps or custom apps on mobile devices. These interactive platforms allow individuals, communities, and organizations to share, co-create, discuss, participate in, and modify user-generated or self-curated content. Social media

14732-522: Was also the founder of the Intensify/Downplay pattern that has been widely used to identify instances of doublespeak being used. Daniel Dieterich, former chair of the National Council of Teachers of English , served as the second chairman of the Doublespeak committee after Hugh Rank in 1975. He served as editor of its second publication, Teaching about Doublespeak (1976), which carried forward

14859-652: Was assigned to Katha in Upper Burma , where he contracted dengue fever in 1927. Entitled to a leave in England that year, he was allowed to return in July due to his illness. While on holiday with his family in Cornwall in September 1927, he reappraised his life. Deciding against returning to Burma, he resigned from the Indian Imperial Police to become a writer, with effect from 12 March 1928. He drew on his experiences in

14986-541: Was at Alcubierre 1,500 feet (460 m) above sea level, in the depth of winter. There was very little military action and Orwell was shocked by the lack of munitions, food and firewood as well as other extreme deprivations. With his Cadet Corps and police training, Orwell was quickly made a corporal. On the arrival of a British ILP Contingent about three weeks later, Orwell and the other English militiaman, Williams, were sent with them to Monte Oscuro and on to Huesca . Meanwhile, back in England, Eileen had been handling

15113-567: Was edited by Max Plowman and Sir Richard Rees , and Plowman accepted the work for publication. In December 1929 after nearly two years in Paris, Blair returned to England and went directly to his parents' house in Southwold , a coastal town in Suffolk , which remained his base for the next five years. The family was well established in the town, where his sister Avril ran a tea-house. He became acquainted with many local people, including Brenda Salkeld,

15240-446: Was inspired by the " six degrees of separation " concept, which suggests that every person on the planet is just six connections away from everyone else. In the early 2000s, social media platforms gained widespread popularity with the likes of Friendster and Myspace , followed by Facebook , YouTube , and Twitter . Research from 2015 reported that globally, users spent 22% of their online time on social networks, likely fueled by

15367-543: Was involved in speculative ventures. Eric had two sisters: Marjorie, five years older; and Avril, five years younger. When Eric was one year old, his mother took him and Marjorie to England. In 2014 restoration work began on Orwell's birthplace and ancestral house in Motihari. In 1904, Ida settled with her children at Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire. Eric was brought up in the company of his mother and sisters and, apart from

15494-400: Was provided by Aunt Nellie, who was living at Wallington, Hertfordshire in a very small 16th-century cottage called the "Stores". Orwell took over the tenancy and moved in on 2 April 1936. He started work on The Road to Wigan Pier by the end of April, but also spent hours working on the garden, planting a rose garden which is still extant, and revealing four years later that "outside my work

15621-401: Was sent on to Tarragona and two days later to a POUM sanatorium in the suburbs of Barcelona. The bullet had missed his main artery by the barest margin and his voice was barely audible. It had been such a clean shot that the wound immediately went through the process of cauterisation . He received electrotherapy treatment and was declared medically unfit for service. By the middle of June,

15748-561: Was sometimes awkward and Blair and Heppenstall even came to blows, though they remained friends and later worked together on BBC broadcasts. Blair was now working on Keep the Aspidistra Flying , and also tried unsuccessfully to write a serial for the News Chronicle . By October 1935 his flatmates had moved out and he was struggling to pay the rent on his own. He remained until the end of January 1936, when he stopped working at Booklovers' Corner. In 1980, English Heritage honoured Orwell with

15875-414: Was the most popular (used by 86% of 13- to 18-year-olds). As children aged, they increasingly utilized social media services and often used YouTube to consume content. While adults were using social media before the COVID-19 pandemic , more started using it to stay socially connected and to get pandemic updates. "Social media have become popularly use to seek for medical information and have fascinated

16002-563: Was unable to provide him lodging, but suggested that he travel to Wigan rather than Rochdale, "for there are the colliers and they're good stuff." On 31 January 1936, Orwell set out by public transport and on foot. Arriving in Manchester after the banks had closed, he had to stay in a common lodging-house. The next day he picked up a list of contacts sent by Richard Rees. One of these, the trade union official Frank Meade, suggested Wigan , where Orwell spent February staying in dirty lodgings over

16129-413: Was writing reviews for Adelphi and acting as a private tutor to a disabled child at Southwold. He then became tutor to three young brothers, one of whom, Richard Peters , later became a distinguished academic. His history in these years is marked by dualities and contrasts. There is Blair leading a respectable, outwardly eventless life at his parents' house in Southwold, writing; then in contrast, there

#529470