What Would Orwell Think?
Global financier and philanthropist George Soros joins Patricia Williams, professor of law at Columbia University, and Farnaz Fassihi, senior Middle East correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, to discuss what George Orwell would think about the state of political discourse in 2007. WNYC, New York Public Radio - The Brian Lehrer Show 7/11/07 35.14 [1]
In his classic essay Politics and the English Language, George Orwell described political speech as consisting 'largely of euphemism, question-begging and sheer cloudy vagueness.' Six decades later, the tactics of disinformation and manipulation diagnosed by Orwell persist on the political battlefield, along with new propaganda techniques made possible by advances in scientific knowledge and modern technology.
There You Go Again: Orwell Comes to America invites historians, linguists, cognitive experts, journalists, government officials, and political consultants to assess the current state of public discourse - and journalism’s response to it - one year before a hotly contested presidential election. The panels explore the past, present, and future of deceptive political speech, and assess what can be done to bring more realism and honesty into the conduct of America’s public affairs. 7/11/07
What Orwell Didn't Know: Propaganda and the New Face of American Politics, an anthology featuring twenty prominent writers and thinkers, has been published to coincide with the conference.
I. PROPAGANDA THEN AND NOW: WHAT ORWELL DID AND DIDN'T KNOW
Moderator: Orville Schell
Panelists: Konstanty Gebert, Warsaw-based former Solidarity activist; columnist and international reporter, Gazeta Wyborcza · Masha Gessen, Moscow-based author and journalist; contributor to The New York Times, The New Republic, and US News & World Report · Jack Miles, senior fellow for religious affairs, Pacific Council on International Policy; distinguished professor of English and religious studies, UC Irvine · George Soros, chair of Soros Fund Management LLC; philanthropist and author
II. DECEIVING IMAGES: THE SCIENCE OF MANIPULATION
Moderator: Nicholas Lemann, dean and Henry R. Luce Professor, The Journalism School, Columbia University
Panelists: George Lakoff, Co-Founder and Senior Fellow, Rockridge Institute and the Goldman Distinguished Professor of Cognitive Science and Linguistics, UC Berkeley · Frank Luntz, political pollster and consultant; author of Words That Work: It's Not What You Say, It's What People Hear · Deborah Tannen*, University Professor and professor of linguistics, Georgetown University; author of fourteen books on language, communication, and perception · Drew Westen, professor of psychology/psychiatry and behavioral sciences, Emory University; author of The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation. [*Deborah Tannen was unable to attend the conference.]
III. SOLUTIONS: THE FUTURE POLITICAL LANDSCAPE
Moderator: Ernest J. Wilson III, dean and Walter Annenberg Chair in Communication, Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California
Panelists: Michael J. Copps, commissioner, Federal Communications Commission · Charlayne Hunter-Gault, broadcast journalist, former CNN bureau chief, and chief national correspondent, The Newshour with Jim Lehrer · Josh Marshall, publisher of Talking Points Memo, TPMmuckraker, TPM Election Central and TPMCafe · Alessandra Stanley, television critic and former Moscow-bureau co-chief, The New York Times