The point is not that anyone would think the label is describing something harmless. The point is that it strips words of their power. Orwell extended this to say that clear language produces clear thinking.
“Child sexual abuse material” vs “child porn.”
“Age-restricted workforce implementation” vs “child labor.”
“Involuntary sexual intercourse” vs “rape.”
“Intentional cessation of third-party biological functions” vs “murder.”
“The Twentieth Century European Jewry Demographic Crisis” vs “The Holocaust.”
I can read the first version of each of those and understand their literal meaning just fine. But every syllable you add strips the power from the words. And much is lost as a consequence.
The point of communication is not only to impart the literal meaning of the words. It’s also to communicate emotional impact. “CSAM” and “child porn” share the same literal meaning, but their emotional definition is entirely different. They describe the same thing, but they are not the same word.
Irrelevant. The problem is emotional impact, not the literal meaning of the words.
Read Orwell’s Politics and the English Language. I’m basically cribbing from him.
The point is not that anyone would think the label is describing something harmless. The point is that it strips words of their power. Orwell extended this to say that clear language produces clear thinking.
“Child sexual abuse material” vs “child porn.”
“Age-restricted workforce implementation” vs “child labor.”
“Involuntary sexual intercourse” vs “rape.”
“Intentional cessation of third-party biological functions” vs “murder.”
“The Twentieth Century European Jewry Demographic Crisis” vs “The Holocaust.”
I can read the first version of each of those and understand their literal meaning just fine. But every syllable you add strips the power from the words. And much is lost as a consequence.
The point of communication is not only to impart the literal meaning of the words. It’s also to communicate emotional impact. “CSAM” and “child porn” share the same literal meaning, but their emotional definition is entirely different. They describe the same thing, but they are not the same word.