George Orwell's piece on English language and politics is more relevant in today's America than ever. Following an extremely divisive presidential election, we now get to witness the ridiculous consequences of the nation's decision. The president, along with his cabinet, is the epidemic of not only human decency, but also of English language. The ways they butcher prose to fit their agendas would most definitely give Orwell a heart attack or two. Dying metaphors, verbal false limbs, meaningless words - you name it, POTUS has it all. As I'm still trying to brace myself for the next four years of logical fallacies and idiotic behaviors, Orwell's take on political writing served as a reminder that bad political prose is not an issue of one individual, but rather that of a system. In American politics, officials are encouraged to bend words and use cliches and exploit denotations, all for the sake of securing their power and influence. Lying to the public, engulfing in the use of meaningless jargon, and hiding one's ignorance with pretentious diction is any politician's starter kit. If we want to change present conditions in the presidential office, we should not be aiming at one cockroach -- instead, we need to burn the entire nest.
