Thin Gruel

In “1984” in terms of Newspeak and the destruction of words Syme says to Winston
“Every year fewer and fewer words, and the range of consciousness always a little smaller”. After reading the “Thin Gruel” article, do you see the connection between the Newspeak of “1984” to the censorship of our language and vocabulary today? Make sure you use specific examples and information from the article to defend your view.


This article had a hugeeeee connection relating to 1984 and the present. I think that it's rediculous now-a-days that we censor everything because they don't want children to read about an ideal past. Both the political left and the political right agreed that "children will be shaped by what they read and will model their behavior on what they read." This is why so many things are censored because they think if we read something that shows rebellious behavior, then we are going to show the same behavior as we read. I think there should be some censorship--to a point, but I think it has gone overboard and is increasing as the years keep passing. In one of the articles that shows the words that are banned, the word doorman caught my attention. It is banned because it's sexist. I believe that is rediculous how they ban words because it's sexist and that the correct word would be door attendant. What I thought about was when they say "..all men are equal.." How isn't that sexist then?? I think that soon we will be in a Newspeak kind of world with the intense censoring that has already happened. There is a point where words can get out of hand, but if its not in a REAL offensive manner...where can we draw the line..