I revisited George Orwell’s essay – Politics and the English Language – published in 1946. The essay criticizes the poor written English in the post-World War II era due to political manipulation and people using language to obfuscate and exploit vulnerable readers. Orwell argued that the English language was suffering because of a poor economic and political climate. I draw insights from Politics and the English Language to highlight how writing and thinking reflect each other and how this essay remains relevant to this era when we grapple with AI and ChatGPT’s influence on our thinking and writing.

There is much to unpack from what Orwell mentioned: if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought. A bad usage can spread by tradition and imitation even among people who should and do know better. I believe that the writing we produce for any occasion bears the responsibility of teaching the audience to think more clearly. It is important to consider how we are using the English language today.

We can all agree that ChatGPT can write well and quickly. However, automated writing produced by ChatGPT places our human brain in a reduced state of consciousness and fosters conformity in thinking that diminishes society’s intellect. We, therefore, should resist over-reliance on AI for writing. There is no substitution for humanized content and writing.

What would ChatGPT have to say about my statement?

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