How Can Thought and Language Corrupt Each Other? From "Politics and the English Language" By: George Orwell

          In his piece, Politics and the English Language, George Orwell wrote, "But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought?" Many things can be taken from this statement presented by George Orwell.  Because there can be so many ideas taken from this statement alone, I believe the ideas that he is putting out relate to the society that surrounds us and how both ourselves and society can reflect off of each other.

          The beginning of his quote starts out as, "But if thought corrupts language." From here, we can see that Orwell can be presenting the idea that our own personal ideas in our thoughts can affect our language. And where do those thoughts usually come from; the society that surrounds us daily. Without other people and their ideas in our lives, we wouldn't be able to be as sociable as we are and from that, we are able to think of our own ideas and the way we speak in our language. If we want to say the word to for example, we just say it was to. But if we write it, society makes us think grammatically so we have to decide if it is written as to, too, or two. These thoughts just then over complicate how we want to think.

          Since I've gone over the beginning, the end of the quote suggests, "Language can also corrupt thought." Orwell is now perceiving the opposite of the first statement and yet again, this statement is true. I believe that society is the number contributor to our language and it will always mess with how we think. If you look at promotions in media and around you, the companies will try to persuade you into thinking a certain way. Burger King and other food markets use specific logos, colors, and pictures to persuade you into their food even if you aren't hungry at the time. We will never really be able t think on our own unless we hide away from society because it will always try to draw us in and change our thoughts.

          In the end, these two sides are both true, language can corrupt thought and thought can corrupt language. Orwell made a very good statement because it is a idea that can often be overlooked  and it can show how the world has an influence over us.