A SHORT HISTORY OF SPIN—A DEADLY VIRUS IN THE BLOODSTREAM OF LIBERAL SOCIETIES
A SHORT HISTORY OF SPIN—A DEADLY VIRUS IN THE BLOODSTREAM OF LIBERAL SOCIETIES

Summary/Abstract: It is widely believed that the term “spin” came from George Orwell. These activities were mentioned in his Oceania (1984) and on farm (Animal Farm). And in the preface to the book of Orwell’s political texts, half a century later, Timothy Garton Ash wrote that “the extreme, totalitarian version that he satirized as Newspeak is less often encountered these days, except in countries such as Burma and North Korea” but “the obsession of democratically elected governments, especially in Britain and America, with media management and ‘spin’ is today one of the main obstacles to understanding what is being done in our name. Read Orwell and you will know that something nasty must be hidden behind the euphemistic, Latinate phrase used by NATO spokespeople during the Kosovo war: ‘collateral damage.’ (It means innocent civilians killed.)” (Orwell, 2001: xviii).

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