Mr. George Orwell’s words are thoughtful in all languages.
First, Bambi just read a French translation of one of his quotes, shared by Beirut-based journalist Roula Douglas. Thanks to her:
Second, here are Mr. Orwell’s original words in English:
“Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind. ”
Bambi is not interested in pointing to any political discourse in particular, although it is not hard to guess if we read the latest international and Lebanese headlines.
Keeping Mr. Orwell’s words in mind, impunity is still prevailing in Lebanon, despite national and international investigations or tribunals and regardless of the crime.
Talking about crimes or criminal negligence, guess what comes to Bambi’s mind again? The surrealistic Beirut port explosion. Among its 219 victims, you may recall “Lexou” (or Alexandra), the daughter of Mr. Paul Naggear and Ms. Tracy Awad-Naggear from Canada who, “rather than return to Canada, they stayed for a better Lebanon“, according to the Globe and Mail (https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-beiruts-port-explosion-killed-their-daughter-but-rather-than-return-to/):
Well, Lexou’s grand-father, Mr. Michel Awad (Tracey’s dad) and her best friend, Ms. Mayssa Jallad, wrote a song after the blast:
Bambi can only imagine one drop of the ocean of sorrow of Mr. Awad who lost his granddaughter. What can she say about Lexou’s parents?! And Isaac Ohlers’ mother and father? Bissan’s and Elias’ parents and all the relatives and friends of the other 200+ victims, younger and older? And what about the 6000+ injured people (some still undergoing surgeries!) and their fellow residents who survived… even if a piece of them died on that doomed August 4, 2020?
Indeed, to use the words of Lexou’s dad tweeted in Arabic: “A year ago, your heart stopped beating and ours stopped with it…“
While waiting for justice, as we (endlessly) wait for Godot, may the music of these two artists help many hearts heal, starting with theirs. Bambi thanks them for sharing their moving English song called “Shout“.
Orwell was a powerful writer indeed and his observations have lasting value. As I suspected, the quote “Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind ” is from Orwell’s 1946 essay “Politics and the English Language”. It is an excellent essay which I also recommend to Bambi in addition to Animal Farm, to be read before or after depending on her diplomatic engagements.
I read “Politics and the English Language” in college rhetoric class and when I was a proctor in NYC, I was entrusted with testing a Russian applicant’s knowledge of French by having him read the same essay in English and explain it to me in French. Handy also to have Roula Douglas as a correspondent in Beirut.