Thank you for this. I've always had this rage at officialese, at empty language, and there's always this pressure of like "let it go, we know it sucks, but it's how we all get along with our lives" and it's just nice to be reminded of what's at stake in a culture that has ceased to try to find ways to tell the truth
Yes, and this is all being supercharged by AI and characterized as "good" language. To me this is the main reason to be critical of LLMs, which are, as Leif Weatherby put it, "ideology machines."
another banger! i especially love the reference to "stranger in the village." reading that in high school alongside "shooting an elephant" was totally foundational to not just my understanding of imperialism and power, but my view of what the essay could do, what writing could accomplish. it draws such a sharp contrast to the bullshit that swirls around us! thank you for this — i'll be thinking about what you've written.
Just an adjacent thought, but reading this essay made me remember a piece about Black intellectuals and the phenomenon of (primarily) white liberals placing an expectation of serving as an “authentic cultural interpreter” on these individuals, regardless of their actual area of scholarship.
Thank you for this. I've always had this rage at officialese, at empty language, and there's always this pressure of like "let it go, we know it sucks, but it's how we all get along with our lives" and it's just nice to be reminded of what's at stake in a culture that has ceased to try to find ways to tell the truth
Yes, and this is all being supercharged by AI and characterized as "good" language. To me this is the main reason to be critical of LLMs, which are, as Leif Weatherby put it, "ideology machines."
Excellent, yes, I too have a visceral response to bullshit language and its deployers, enablers, and apologists
another banger! i especially love the reference to "stranger in the village." reading that in high school alongside "shooting an elephant" was totally foundational to not just my understanding of imperialism and power, but my view of what the essay could do, what writing could accomplish. it draws such a sharp contrast to the bullshit that swirls around us! thank you for this — i'll be thinking about what you've written.
Just an adjacent thought, but reading this essay made me remember a piece about Black intellectuals and the phenomenon of (primarily) white liberals placing an expectation of serving as an “authentic cultural interpreter” on these individuals, regardless of their actual area of scholarship.
https://www.publicbooks.org/black-intellectuals-and-white-audiences/
this is phenomenal, thank you for this.
An especially fine essay, Patrick, thank you.
Looking forward to your book of essays!