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Episode 160: Orwell on Totalitarianism and Language (Part One)

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

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Orwell's Principle of Self Application

Orwell says the first five rules are guidelines and they can be broken but just don't be a complete donkey head. One of the bits of advice here is he wants you to let concrete meanings determine the word rather than letting abstract words points you're in the direction of vague meaning. So it's conceivable you could have some concrete thing that you have in mind that requires you to break a rule. Rather than not breaking a rule and then disobeying that more fundamental recommendation you should break it if you need it to mean what you mean.

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