Doublespeak can be categorized in four kinds; first kind is euphemism, second kind is Jargon, third kind is gobbledygook, and the fourth type is inflated language. Throughout the essay William Lutz has given examples of how doublespeak has been misleading us in many ways like “there are no potholes in the street of Tuscan, Arizona, just “pavement deficiencies”. The audiences will definitely not think it is a bad news because they used the language where bad seemed good. Take this example “there are no more poor people, just fiscal underachiever”.
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Basically it is not saying that there are no more poor people but the words that have been used make it seems like there are no more poor people and that’s not the truth. William Lutz used many more examples which create controversy among people and how government has been misguiding people with doublespeak. In the fourth kind of doublespeak which is inflated language writer talks about giving importance to things that are not really important or to make day to day things impressive. Giving example of pentagon “pre-emptive counterattack” which means American force attacked first”.
The language used made it seems like it was not American force who started the attack first. And the other example “In the doublespeak of the military, the 1983 invasion of Grenada was conducted not by the US Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines, but by the “Caribbean Peace Keeping Forces”. But then, according to the Pentagon, it wasn’t an invasion, it was a “predawn vertical insertion”. Again if we read the sentence that Pentagon used we do not see that there was no involvement of US Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines in the 1983 invasion.
The statement doesn’t provide clear information that people wants to know instead it keeps people in illusion or confusion. This type of doublespeak creates confusion between people and what it is actually doing is keeping people form the right of information. Even though they are giving out the full information but, it is not clear and people misinterpret it. William Lutz talks about the first type that is euphemism. It is a language used to consoles one’s feeling.
He gave an example of “you express your condolences that someone has “passed away” because you do not want to say to a grieving person, “l’m sorry your father is dead” – When you use the euphemism “passed away”, no one is misled”. It is just another way of saying the same things which everyone understands. Nevertheless, it can be a double speak if it is misleading to people. Writer gave an example “in 1984 the US State Department announced that it would no longer use the word “killing” in its annual report on the status of human rights in countries around the world.
Instead, it would use the phrase “unlawful or arbitrary deprivation of life, which the department claimed was more accurate. ” They were trying to hide the fact that in the on-going war US soldier killed people. Similarly, he also talked about the Jargon. The language used by the professional in particular field. It is not considered as a doublespeak but it can be one if used outside the profession where people don’t have any idea about the language he or she is using.
William Lutz talked about how doublespeak has been used in past in different sector to deviate the statements. Readers can easily tell government has been deeply influenced by the doublespeak not only in present days but from the time of its establishment and how it has been informing us disingenuously. We live in an era where information plays vital role in our lives. From the time we get out of bed we watch news channels, newspapers, and other kind of sources to obtain information on what is happening in the world, in the country and in our neighbourhood.
In everything we do we rely on information and if the information we are receiving is not accurate or are prejudiced we might get in trouble. Likewise, the world of doublespeak by William Lutz focused on the danger of doublespeak and how people are being victimized by doublespeak. Doublespeak is not something that happens unknowingly or by mistake in fact it is done intentionally. William Lutz has successfully explained doublespeak and where it has been used and how it has been affecting us.
