Anyone who thinks the left has a monopoly on manipulating words for their own benefit is fifty percent blind.
A lot of the manipulation is about associating something with good or bad. Percentages, high or low, can be good or bad—either way. The prevailing orientation of what is meant is significant to understand where we are at, but Orwell is probably quite right. Suppression of evidence is preferred, but language, in the end, is always revealing.
Besides the left, one’s own way of thinking is often the culprit. There’s a voice that you hear, telling you a good thing is bad or a bad thing is good.