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suntrader76's avatar

Very important request when you asked people who use pat phrases like "Trump derangement syndrome," actually to spell out whatever reasoning they think they might have.

In George Orwell's classic essay, "Politics and the English Language" he warned that it is easy to write sentences with well-worn phrases that seem to glue themselves together. More often than not, such sentences convey no meaning. Therefore Orwell proposed a simple (though not always easy) cure. To "Let the meaning choose the word, rather than the other way about."

If for example, you really believe that the covid mandates for masking and social distancing were "tyranny," you should have to explain exactly what freedoms were being abridged and what consequences you were willing to accept. You shouldn't get to shout, as Trump did, "LIBERATE MICHIGAN!" from mask mandates [caps in the original] without telling us which clause of the Constitution Michigan had presumably violated, what alternative health regime he would want, and how much of an increase to the covid death rate he was willing to tolerate.

I believe that anyone who follows the rules Orwell sets forth in that essay can make a decent job of expository writing -- or at least, as Orwell says, avoid saying anything that is "outright barbarous."

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James M. Coyle's avatar

From the point of view of this moderate (or so he thinks) lefty, there are so many excellent points in this excellent article that I am astonished that there are so few comments. I don't see how Claire does it, but we are better for her doing it.

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