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All propaganda or popularization involves a putting of the complex into the simple, but such a move is instantly deconstructive. For if the complex can be put into the simple, then it cannot be as complex as it seemed in the first place; and if the simple can be an adequate medium of such complexity, then it cannot after all be as simple as all that.

Terry Eagleton#10

LanguageClarityCommunicationComplexity

About this quote

What does it mean?
Simplifying complex ideas reveals that neither the complex nor the simple is truly as they seem.
In plain terms
Simplification changes how we see complexity.
What can you take from it?
Simplify to challenge assumptions.

Where it applies

  • public speaking
  • teaching
  • writing

Putting it to work

  • simplify concepts
  • question clarity

Questions to consider

  • Can truth be simple?
  • How does language limit complexity?

Another view

It ignores necessary simplification for understanding.

More from Terry Eagleton

  1. Chaucer was a class traitor Shakespeare hated the mob Donne sold out a bit later Sidney was a nob.

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  2. Readers are less and less seen as mere non-writers, the subhuman 'other' or flawed derivative of the author; the lack of a pen is no longer a shameful mark of …

    Permalink to quote #11
  3. Ideaology is a contemporary mythology.

    Permalink to quote #8

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