Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1998. [Vol. 5.] Eger Journal of American Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 25)

Studies - Pál Csontos: Is Political Correctness Politically Correct? A Tour along the Alleyways of the Shambles Called Political Correctness

George Orwell. His dystopic prophecy about 1984 did not fully materialize, yet one can certainly recognize its relevance concerning the language aspect of the emergence of PC. The purpose of Newspeak was not only to provide a medium of expression for the world view and mental habits proper to the devotees of Ingsoc, but to make all other modes of thought impossible. It was intended that when Newspeak had been adopted once and for all and Oldspeak forgotten

, a heretical thought

—that is a thought diverging from the principles of Ingsoc

—should be literally unthinkable, at least as far as thought is dependent on words. Its vocabulary was constructed as to give exact and often very subtle expression to every meaning that a Party member could properly wish to express, while excluding all other meanings and also the possibility of arriving at them by indirect methods. (Nineteen Eighty-Four 257) The following quotation is also from Orwell, but it is not an apprehension of an imaginary future state of affairs any more. It is a reflection on how one actual segment of the English language can deteriorate when it is used for dubious purposes: In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defence of the indefensible Thus political language has to consist largely of euphemisms, question-beggings and sheer cloudy vagueness Consider for instance some comfortable English professor defending Russian totalitarianism. He cannot say outright, 7 believe in killing off your opponents when you can get good results by doing so.

' Probably

, therefore, he will say something like this: 'While freely conceding that the Soviet regime exhibits certain features which the humanitarian may be inclined to deplore

, we must, I think, agree that a certain curtailment of the right to political opposition is an unavoidable concomitant of transitional periods, and that the rigours which the Russian people have been called upon to undergo have been amply justified in the sphere of concrete achievement.

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