Nearly 70 years ago, when George Orwell examined the tendency toward ambiguity, he offered the rather simple explanation that “political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible.” In other words, hazy language is necessary to obscure unsavory realities.
近70年前，乔治·奥威尔（George Orwell）考察了含糊倾向，他给出了一个相当简单的解释，即“政治话语和字句基本上是明知不可辩而辩。”换句话说，朦胧的用语是模糊令人不快的现实的必不可少的手段。针对平民的大规模暴力是“绥靖”，种族清洗是“改变人口”，奥威尔指出，“直言的大敌是伪善。”