Instructions
Complete your reading of George Orwell's novel 1984 by Wednesday, December 3, 2008. When you reach one of the stopping points given below, respond to the Essential Question for that section of the novel. For each of the essential questions, you must respond to the question in 100-300 words and respond to the comments of at least one of your classmates in separate posts of the same length. Since this is a Web Log, your comments will not be nested, so be sure to identify the question and response you are addressing. Given that there are four stopping points and Essential Questions, I expect at least 8 responses from each of you.
NOTES: There is a cut-off date by which you must complete your responses to each essential question. I expect to read direct references to the novel and relevant discussion of pertinent ideas. Lastly, sign your posts with first name and last initial. Like this--John D.
Respond to the following questions by Friday, November 14, 2008. Again, responses to these questions will be cut off at midnight Friday night.
The world within which Winston lives is replete with contradictions. For example, a major tenet of The Party's philosophy is that War is Peace. Similarly, the Ministry of Love serves as what some would consider a department of war, others a department of defense. What role do these contradictions serve on a grand scale? Discuss the contradictions inherent in The Party's philosophy. What role does contradiction serve within the framework of Doublethink? How does Doublethink satisfy the needs of The Party?
81 comments:
Read up! Matt and Chris started us off in a couple of really good ways. Now, it's your turn. Don't wait until the last minute. Please remember that this is not the place to express "two minutes of hate." It is the place to have a studied conversation about the novel. Say it again--ABOUT THE NOVEL.
Orwell says about Winston, "He wondered, as he had many times wondered before, whether he himself was a lunatic. Perhaps a lunatic was simply a minority of one." How do you keep your head when all others around you seem to have lost theirs? Do you tell the emperor that he's not wearing clothes? Does a high-functioning society need lunatics?
If we look at the ministry truth and Winston's job at the records department, we see that truth is not what someone remembers, but what the government says is the truth. Likewise, the very definition and conditions of war are what the government says they are; unlike our societies which have certain negative connotations towards war, the idea of war in Oceania is made out to be love-- this is possible because of doublethink. The process of analyzing your thoughts and rejecting those that don't conform to the ideals of Oceania is like self-propaganda. In the end, doublethink becomes so instinctive that you probably won't be aware of doing it- at that point, what is truth, what is love, what is peace, is what the government says it is. Now why the government wants to use this power to drive the war machine is another question...
To Answer Big Brother's question-
First, I think we need to distinguish between lunatics and mentally disabled.
A mentally disable cannot process or express information completely (they only understand part of the sensory info) because of some biological deformation in the brain.
A lunatic can receive and express complete thoughts but processes information differently. Now, a lunatic is absolutely essential to progress (not necessarily bad or good progress) because they can take existing conditions and formulate revolutionary ideas. I think in the end, the rejection or acceptance of the new ideas determines the right/wrongness of progress (i.e Physics by Newton, or Purification of Race by Hitler), because after all, right and wrong is based on existing principles.
I found the Orwell's discussion of sanity really interesting. It reminded me of when we discussed the question "how do we know what we know?" What is truth really? When we call someone crazy, it is entirely possible that we are the crazy ones. In a way, truth is almost an assigned social construct. Sometimes, we believe things because everyone else believes them. Conspiracy theorists are looked upon with disdain because the truths they believe are overshadowed by the view of the majority. Winston is sort of in the same boat. He is so alone is his beliefs because he is isolated. He has no proof that he is not just crazy, no second opinion. I thought that this enforced social isolation was a brilliant move by the inner party. It keeps people from breaking the social contract because they cannot be confident in their criticisms of the party. Even has actual proof in the form of the photograph he cannot be sure of its real existence. He could just have imagined it. In Oceania there is no way to separate the real from the imagined.
In response to Will:
You bring up a good point. If right and wrong are based on existing principles how can we asses a truly new idea? I think some thoughts and behaviors are labeled as lunacy simply because they do not conform to previously established norms. Paradigms shift. it was once crazy and dangerous to think that the world was round. For something that is outside of current discourse to become true an overwhelming amount of proof is required. If i told you that I have a dog, you would find this easy to believe because it is pretty normal to have a doge. However, if i told you I have talking dog, I would be a lunatic until I absolutely convinced of its ability to talk. So, I wonder if lunacy is just a higher degree of weird?
The most obvious contradictions presented in 1984 are war is peace, freedom is slavery, and ignorance is strength. Orwell suggests that by constantly being at war with other countries, there is no civil unrest, therefore the people are led to believe that there is peace. The Party enslaves the people by leading them to belive that the only truths that exist are the truths created by the Party. Also, the government remains strong as long as the people are kept ignorant; as long as there is no opposition to the government. The very purpose of newspeak is to narrow the range of thought and make other modes of though impossible. Another contradiction present is that, "who controls the past controls the future." The Party rewrites the past to keep it in agreement with the present, and by changing the past, the it is difficult to prove the Party wrong.
Megan brings up a good point about how we can be certain that the things we accept as truths are indeed real. Winston is faced with this dilemma time and time again: how can he be so sure of the past when it is constantly being altered?
Double think is the ability to have two opposing thoughts at once and to be able to believe or dismiss either thought when necessary. Big Brother uses this to their advantage when controlling their people. The population is so brain washed that they have no sense of memory or the ability to think. They believe everything Big Brother says without question. This sense of mind control and the idea of double think allows Big Brother to say whatever they want and get away with it. The Party claims many times that the quality of life is up and that every thing is going well, which in defiantly not the case. Most people will believe this and not think twice about it. Yet if in the past Big Brother was wrong, they can claim otherwise and still be correct in the minds of the people. People will disregard what was said earlier or just plain forget and believe the new facts of Big Brother. According to The Party, all is well, and that is that.
One of the most poignant quotations from Winston’s diary is “Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.” The Party uses contradictions as a means to assure its control over individual thoughts. If they can convince people to hold two contradictory thoughts in their minds at once, then surely they have complete control over their thoughts. The very idea of absolute truth is one of the greatest threats to the party because the search for truth inevitably causes change in the social order (think about Copernicus, Locke, and others). The Party discourages the notion of absolute truth for the same reason it discourages religion, because it wants to control every aspect of the world around it and leave no room for people to think independently. What loyal party members cannot grasp is that there are some parts of the world that cannot be controlled because they exist on an à priori basis.
To extend Will Chan’s idea, a lunatic would be one who goes against society’s beliefs in the process of seeking absolute truth, but a mentally disabled person would be unaware of the implications of this truth. Lunatics, by this definition, are absolutely essential for society to progress because they can challenge the existing paradigm and point out flaws in society’s conception of the world around it. I do not agree with Will and Megan; however, when they say that what is true is defined by what society is willing to accept. Truths exist independently even before lunatics come to challenge or uphold them. I agree that many times truth is based on existing experience, but since there are some experiences common to all human lives, this is certainly not the party’s approach to the “truth question”, since it would be to admit that absolute truth must exist outside of Party doctrine. “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears…They were wrong and he was right. The obvious, the silly, and the true had got to be defended.” Society cannot change the substance of truth any more than they can change the motion of the planets. Only by accepting absolute truth and pointing out instances where present society fails to grasp it do we move forward.
The monumental task for the Ingsoc party in 1984 is to somehow make a constant state of war and intrigue socially acceptable. Since war is not a natural condition for society, the government comes up with unnatural ways of sustaining it. The main strategy here is the manipulation of truth. Winston, along with most party members, works for this end by being fed ambiguous little chunks of information that may or not be true, and being tasked with changing or rewriting them in some way. From these little chunks, it is impossible for one person to get a full view of what the truth is - only that information comes from a hole in the wall and is transferred into another hole. Thus citizens become nothing more than functional nodes in the complex, self-sustaining party propaganda machine. In the beginning Winston detests what he is doing, because he knows it is somehow false and ridiculous. He has a childhood past that he can relate to. He is part of a dying generation, however, and as almost nothing remains of the pre-history of the world, soon there will be almost no way to relate the truth of the party to the truth of the real world. Eventually Winston has no choice but to except the omnipresent word of government for that which is true. Thus, "War" becomes "Peace" and "Internment", "Love". As a small part of a larger process, each party citizen in Oceania receives only minuscule pieces of real information - not enough to build a significant case- and literally reams of propaganda/statistics from the government. Which is true? In daily life, they must periodically experience moments in which two opposing concepts are fed to them. These short, dismissible lapses are what is termed "doublethink".
In response to Chris M.:
What you said about doublethink sums it up perfectly. Citizens of Oceania are regularly exposed to two sets of information and must accept both as true. At any given time, the citizens are expected to throw away one set if Big Brother says it is false. Thus, B.B. is "always right." Ah, but how does he get them to accept both as true? This is the clincher:
"They have no sense of memory." Collective memory is the only prevention against tyranny - its why a person like Hitler will never rule again. By feeding the party members tiny pieces of info (see my previous post) and making them manipulate them in inconspicuous ways (destroying previous "outdated" evidence), they are already given the framework for both sets of data. When the time comes for Big Brother to announce that the war with Eurasia never happened and they are now at war with Eastasia, what happens to the proof of the war with Eurasia, the momentary doubt in their minds? It is about to be thrown into an incinerator, never to be seen again.
The idea of doublethink in the government of Oceania is providing to the Party’s control of everything in the past. It is allowing the citizens to believe in slogans like “War is Peace”, “Freedom is Slavery”, and “Ignorance is Strength”, which are enabling Winston along with the other workers of the Ministry of Truth to accept the altered and inaccurate versions of records that they have changed themselves. The Party is weakening the strengths of everyone’s minds and forcing them to accept anything. Three obvious contradictions that are made by The Party are the three ministries. For example: The Ministry of Love is in charge of torturing people, the Ministry of Truth is responsible for altering history books and records, and the Ministry of Peace is in charge of wagering war. The Party contradicts everything that is true and it is leading to no one recalling past memories. Winston does not know what to think about the past. The Party’s claims that the new government has increased the literacy rate and decreased the infant mortality rate may be false. Winston suspects that they are untrue, but he has no way of knowing or proving it because history has been rewritten by The Party.
Doublethink is an obvious contradiction in the Party and is brought upon by the Party’s massive propaganda. The party changes the way you view something and phases out what you already know, rebuilding your thoughts to compromise with the Party’s beliefs. This notion carries over to the ministries as well, as their names completely contradict their functions. Doublethink is only a contradiction for those who remember what life was like before the Party and it only lasts a few seconds before the Party’s propaganda-inspired thoughts replace what you knew from before, although, as new generations rise it becomes less of a concern. Doublethink makes it easier for people to accept everything the party says. You are so used to hearing pro-Party messages that eventually when even little details are changed you automatically accept them even though you might know that it is not true. For instance when Winston changes Big Brother’s predictions he knows that Big Brother was wrong but accepts it in his mind that these new statements are what was originally meant to be said. With constant contradictions, the party is able to achieve complete control by successfully brainwashing all of its citizens.
In response to Big Brother’s second post, a society needs lunatics to change. Lunatics could be the ones looking at a society from a different angle and having different ideas. In the way Oceania functions, lunatics will destroy its structure. Winston says that the proles are the only hope and this is because they are the ones with the most different views but are unaware that they posses different thoughts and ideals because of the constant propaganda. With people of average intelligence too concerned about how they will fit into the society that has been set in front of them and those that have the ability to change the society too brainwashed to realize their own potential Oceania has all of its citizens exactly where it wants to, except for those like Winston who could lead to Oceania’s collapse.
The government has their power because they rely on contradictions to distort the truth. In reality, Winston does not know what are pure lies and what is factual and this is because he lives in a world of contradictions. The government can call black white and make two plus two equal five. Truth is contradictory in itself because no such thing exists in Oceania. The people live without peace, love, or truth but rather with war, hatred, and lies. When everything is a contradiction of the truth then who is to know a friend from a foe. Winston is struggling with this right now with the dark haired girl who he works with and who he believes to be in the thought police. But he is unsure because the truth is always hidden. In the same way that the past is unanswerable the present is corrupt. The party uses these contradictions to maintain control of the people and pull the wool over their eyes so they become incapable of discerning the truth from the lies (if there is even any truth left). The party uses the concept of doublethink to eliminate any chance of rebellion and to continue developing the unquestioned devotion to Oceania.
“He is so alone is his beliefs because he is isolated. He has no proof that he is not just crazy, no second opinion.” –Megan
This passage from Megan’s comment reminded me of our discussion of “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas.” We talked about how the people would not realize how happy and lucky they were if they did not have the comparison of the imprisoned boy. I think that the same concept could be applied to Oceania except they do not realize how bad and dire their conditions are in Oceania. The only comparison they have is to the proles but even this comparison is distorted by the government. The government controls the minds of the people so much that they make the people see the proles as inferior or even animal like not allowing them to see that the proles in fact have more freedom than the people in the party. I think Winston is beginning to realize this as he is walking around where the proles live knowing that they indeed are his only hope. Winston doesn’t know anything about the time before the revolution except the information that is in the text books and is very likely just lies from the government. So, in this way he can not compare his life now to the past and can not find out if life is better or worse off now or before the revolution. Just like Megan says he is isolated in this world and the only justification that he might have is that of the government which is actually not justification but fabrication and falsehood.
When I think about the contradictions of the book I right away think about the slogan of "War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength". These all have to do with how the government controls the people of Oceania. They lead the people to believe there is peace and freedom and strength in the party. And this is how the party grows and creates a stronger hold on the people. Doublethink satifys the needs of the party because it narrows the thinking range of the people. They no longer have their own thoughts. It is narrowed down so much, there is no room for interpretation. They think as the government wants and allows them to think.
I really liked what Megan had to say about "how do we know what we know". Its true how we often believe things we hear just because everyone else believes them and we don’t want to look crazy for being the only one to oppose the thought. This must be exactly how Winston must feel. It seems as if he is the only one having these thoughts.
An interesting contradiction I found was that the "physical ideal" set out by The Party were "tall muscular youths and deep-bosomed maidens, blond-haired, vital, sunburnt, carefree" while the actual citizens of Oceania were "small, dark, and ill-favored." It would seem that, while The Party was obviously manipulating and molding the citizens of Oceania to their will and ideal picture of a perfect society, the people themselves turned out as automatic, exact opposites. However, as long as the citizens perform their tasks and contribute to the furtherance of The Party, despite the fact that they do not fit the "ideal image" of The Party, they are kept. I couldn't help but think back to Hitler and his ideals of the perfect society, and the close relation between the two.
In response to Andrea - I, too, found it interesting that the notion of being at war brings peace to a country as a whole. The presence of a constant war suggests that if peace indeed existed, another country would inevitably find something upon which to base a reason to initiate another war. Of course, if a citizen were to object to this idea of war is peace, they would probably be vaporized. The utter control the government has over its people - down to their very thoughts - is frightening.
The purpose of the condtradictions used by The Party are solely for the control of the indiviual. The government wants to stay in power and keep its citizens unknowing of the real truths of society. Condtradictions can be seen in the different departments: the Ministry of Plenty, the Ministry of Peace, the Ministry of Love, and the Ministry of Truth. The main purpose of each of these ministries counters their name. The citizens may claim these names to be false and the government of Oceania to be wrong like Winston did, but in the end, they have no choice but to agree with the government. Citizens accept the statements "War is Peace", "Freedom is Slavery", and "Ignorance is Strength". The government has the power to rewrite the past and to change any rule. Doublethink, the idea of thinking two contradictory statements at once, is key in this aspect. The workers in the Ministry of Truth need to be able to believe that the records they wrote are true, even though they actually may be false. Through doublethink, the government has complete manipulation over its citizens and continues to strive on a daily basis.
In response to Big Brother's question, lunatics (those who contradict the ideas accepted by a majority) are actually needed in society. Lunatics provide another way of thinking and help provide a balance of power and control after they gain supporters. For instance, after 9/11 a few individuals believed that the entire situation was just a conspiracy. Now, I know we all have our different views on the topic, but these conspiracy theorists shed a new light on the subject. They believed that individuals in the U.S. government knew of the impending attacks and failed to act upon them. If they gain enough supporters, perhaps there will be drastic changes in the ways of our country. "Lunatics" allow us to question what is right and was it wrong. They open up the ways of government for discussion. That's just something to think about... Perhaps, Winston shouldn't have been seen as a lunatic.
I believe that contradictory statements often do not have any deep meaning and are nothing more than nonsensical remarks. These empty paradoxes really only serve as an "emperor's new clothes" phenomenon. What I mean by this is that "Freedom is Slavery" lacks any real meaning on its own, as it is given in the novel. And though it may look good on a gravestone without any explanation it is ridiculous. Yet surround the populace with these statements, and people will all start to believe it- the more people the better. The "no soap radio" concept is another good parallel.
On 2-
Winston is somewhat meek and paranoid (with good cause however), so he only believes that he's alone in his hatred of the Party. How does he keep his head? Well, everybody believes that they are tremendously different from those about them. This is somewhat necessary for societies to function, so in that sense, we do need "lunatics."
In response to Big Brother, I do believe that a society needs lunatics. Without lunatics, a society cannot grow and learn to integrate all different opinions and thoughts into their ideals and laws. It takes a great deal of courage to be an “open” lunatic, meaning a person that expresses its opposing opinions to the people. I believe Oceania has more people like Winston who question the authority of the government, but they are just too scared to openly discuss their thoughts as well. It only takes one person to make a difference in government. Lunatics introduce new ways of thinking and help provide balance in power. Laws and rules of government need to be discussed with the positives and negatives of the situations before a decision is made. The decisions made in Oceania by their totalitarian government are unfair to the citizens. Independent thought makes us all unique.
In response to Meredith’s post, I can agree with you that Big Brother uses double think to a controlling extent. The names they use for their ministries are all opposites of what they do. Big Brother also uses propaganda to help them use double think more often. They have brain washed people so much that they are not really allowed to think on their own. They are all guided to what is the correct answer or idea. It is hard to believe that things could be changed later in the book because of Big Brother’s strong control of their people. Winston seems to be the best bet to fight their oppressors, but he must move cautiously and it is very hard for him to do anything when he does not know who he can trust. He does though have an advantage of not being fully brain washed. He can see the lies they sell the people and even think for himself, to an extent. He is stronger minded than most and even has the will to disobey their strict laws, such as writing.
“WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH”
These are the words inscribed on the building of the Ministry of Truth. It is ironic that these words are located here because these contradictions or “truths” of the party are not really the “truths” of reality. The party of Ingsoc has brainwashed their entire population into believing EVERYTHING that is dictated by Big Brother, even though he may change is opinions over and over. They must believe him though because “BIG BROTHER IS ALWAYS RIGHT”. The words on the building of the Ministry of Truth introduce the idea of doublethink. Doublethink is when one can hold two contradictory ideas in their mind. The Party’s power uses tactics to make all independent thoughts disappear, even when the government’s new ideas disagree with their old ones. And, by making the government have control over absolute truth, they have absolute power as well. When people are constantly influenced by propaganda, their mind sets change because they are continuously reminded of how they should behave in their society. Disloyal thoughts of the government are against the law in this totalitarian government. Physical torture is also a part of the Party’s forces to sustain common truths throughout society. Every source of information in history is constantly being re-written as the status quo changes to prevent rebels. Therefore, memories of the people from the past become distorted and hard to grasp. Doublethink is the reasoning why the names of the Ministry of Truth, Ministry of Love, and Ministry of Peace are all contradictory to their functions. When the people are ignorant to the real intentions of the government, the government remains strong. Even though doublethink sounds like a horrible way to treat the participants in the party, it takes care of the Party’s needs to survive and sustain power.
The party is corrupting the minds of the people in Oceania by this notion of doublethink. Doublethink is taking over peoples minds by getting them to believe in the bogus stuff that the government is feeding them, like "war is love". With this it is making it impossible for Winston and those who believe in absolute truth to be able to continue there beliefs because doublethink contradicts everything that they believe in. Now the minds of the people in Oceania are weakening because the government can now get them to believe what ever they want. On top of that they are rewriting history, and changing the text in books, making it impossible for Winston to point out there wrong doings.
The society of oceania is based on the idea that the members of it dont think for themselves. Everything they know is what they are told by big brother. Having thoughts that don't agree with what BB is saying is a crime. Syme (on page 53) is talking about how wonderful it will be when they can obliterate the majority of language, so that one word will express several concepts. He continues by saying that this will lead to orthodoxy, not needing to think. The society of Oceania is all about brainwashing its citizens so that everyone knows, not thinks, the same thing. The philosophys of the party can be contradictions because the majority of the society doesnt actually think about the contradiction. They dont even see it as a contradiction, because big brother has told them, that is how it is. To them war IS peace. Doublethink is described as "consciously to induce unconsciousness." Which I found interesting because "orthodoxy is unconsciouness". Doublethink, as well as the partys slogans satisfy the needs of the party because they are helping to teach and take away thinking.
-Megan C
In response to Big Brothers comment, I believe that society does need lunatics. Winston is a lunatic, he understands what the party is doing and he knows it isn't right. He is also very good at disguising it, as is evidenced by how skilled he is at his job. When he had to rewrite that article; he knew what BB would have wanted him to do. The fact that Winston realizes that he can't be certain if anything is true, and that whats happening is wrong is good. The only way that the society will change is if someone stands against it and tries to change it. With bb brainwashing everybody, even having someone believe whats happening is wrong, and not fully succumbing to it is a big step. So if winston is a lunatic, then society needs lunatics. Especially if society wants to change
-Megan C.
The contradictions throughout the book have all been linked to the concept of doublethink. Doublethink in itself is a contradiction in the minds of the citizens. Doublethink is the means of psychological manipulation by the Party and Big Brother. It forces the citizens to believe whatever the Party deems correct and right. Such slogans as "War is Peace", "Freedom is Slavery", and "Ignorance is Strength", all serve as examples of the propaganda that the Party spreads. The Party possesses the power to alter the past as well, shown through Wiston's job. This concept is essential to Doublethink. One of the reasons that the citizens believe what the Party tells them is that they have no proof to direct them to believe otherwise. The proof has been erased from history.
Annie brings up an interesting contradiction that furthers strengthens the Party's control. The contradiction in physical appearance is very prominent, especially when considering every morning there are "Physical Jerks". The Party has exhausted their citizens through these early morning exercises and long grueling days at work. This physical exhaustion has made the citizens even more susceptible to being manipulated in my opinion.
To answer Big Brother's other question, I would have to agree with the majority: lunatics are necessary in society. Although they go against what is considered socially acceptable, lunatics exemplify the need for change. They have radical ideas that have potential to become revolutionary. As Meredith stated, it will most likely be the lunatics that destroy the structure of Oceania-a very accurate statement in my opinion. Lunatics are considered crazy because they contradict what society feels to be true. In Winston's case, he questions what the propaganda that the Party spreads and does not believe it to be true.
The act of contradiction is beautiful in the world of 1984 because they are a, I guess you could say, contradiction of the very definition of contradiction. For two things to contradict they must be in opposition to one another, but the wonderful thing about those found in 1984 is that they aren’t, in fact, in opposition at all. WAR IS PEACE appears to be a contradiction by our terms, but to Airstrip one and the rest of the world each is beautifully unified-one thought, one concept. The “contradictions” of the party serve as a symbol of their strength, the ability to not only revise the meaning of language but also completely alter human nature and reality themselves. WAR IS PEACE is no longer a contradiction, but a solid truth that cannot be argued by any means; so much as we cannot argue that murder brings death, that the loss of a loved one brings sorrow, or that an unbearable state of life is inherently wrong. The Party does not just take control of the human spirit, it becomes it.
Doublethink is the tool that allows the party to destroy reality. It is a process of control for the individual, but in larger terms it is the deliberate murder of the natural whims of human nature. Every act of doublethink is an attempt to destroy a beast within us that has existed since humanity first came into existence. Doublethink is not about contradicting oneself, but accepting that what you thought was true is true, so long as you believe in it as its contradiction. Doublethink is the only way the Party, a very weak force on its own, can convince humanity to commit spiritual suicide.
In response to Lincoln Holcomb Schulte’s comment, I would give a little more credit to underlying strength of the contradictions. Although I agree that the majority of the people in Airstrip One don’t understand they are surrounded by nonsensical remarks, I think it isn’t a matter of their ignorance due to desensitization so much as it is the loss of the contradiction itself. FREEDOM IS SLAVERY becomes so powerful because those two words actually become synonyms through the use of mass doublethink. A (non-newspeak) dictionary of the party would most likely read…
Freedom [free-duhm] (noun)
–the state of being free and in subjection like that of a slave.
…and this is completely fine because that is what freedom means. If you looked up Slavery in this dictionary it would say the same exact thing, though the word slavery would be abolished because synonyms are unnecessary once doublethink has successfully murdered the primal contradiction within human nature’s definitions.
I thought it clever how you said it would look good on a gravestone; that gravestone, conveniently, being the ministry of truth. The weight of your words is stronger than perhaps you meant them because that is what Minitru is-the gravestone signifying the death of truth. You could almost say that the colossal structures of the party are gravestones, each one representing a different part of humanity vanquished by “the Party.” I am starting to think the innermost sections of the Party do not exist at all, and that the whole concept represents the dark side of the human spirit. The Party is an ethereal force on a mission to destroy all that makes someone human.
To BB:
In 1984 there are two forces: physical strength, guided primarily by power in numbers, and mental strength, guided by the inner thoughts and tricky wordplay of Airstrip One’s citizens. It is this mental strength that guides and controls the ignorant masses, the physical strength, of the Party. At the same time though, the physical strength of Winston is powerless to overcome the physical strength of the Party, yet his convictions about a better life are continually able to cast aside the mental trickery of Ingsoc. Naturally Winston cannot overcome the Party on the physical level, but the fact that he, within his own bounds, represents resistance to the Party’s aims shows how he has conquered the unified mass. He may not be able to tell the emperor of his nakedness without fatal repercussions, but that would be unnecessary anyway considering his defiance represents his victory. To “play along” with what he must do while internally resisting the Party’s control is a spit in the face to everything they represent. The Party is not driven by physical means, it is driven by guiding metaphysical principles-doublethink, Ingsoc, newspeak. To be able to cast aside their deception, even if your physical being perishes, is to truly defeat the party.
I believe “lunatics,” or for a better definition, those who question their reality, are extremely necessary for a high-functioning society. These people act as the ultimate checks and balances over the nature of the world as defined by the current ruling party. When all others have fallen under the control of the society, these individuals alone will have the clarity to judge whether the governments definition of truth, freedom, and justice, match the definition as provided by human nature.
In response to Amy M.
I would have to agree that the government relies on contradictions to distort the truth. The truth does not exist in Oceania. The citizens of Oceania believe everything that Big Brother tells them because they are unable to distinguish what is true form what is not. They have almost lost the ability to think for themselves. (They cannot even recall past memories) Because of doublethink, no one can understand what the truth is. Even Winston is having trust issues; he believes that the dark haired girl is spying on him. The Party uses doublethink in order to ensure that the citizens will not turn against Oceania.
The roles of the contradictions which exist throughout 1984 are established in order to prove the dominance of Big Brother (BB). The Society of Oceania is no longer allowed the ability to think for themselves, they must believe anything and everything that Big Brother states. All those that attempt to think against BB are punishable by death, and as that is not an appealing ultimatum, the people are forced to believe BB. The contradictions that exist are the fundamental bases to the Party and enables the Party the psychological advantage to controlling the individuals of Oceania. The people no longer rely on their past memories but what they are told to have happened in the past. By controlling the present, the Party is able to manipulate the past. And in controlling the past, the Party can justify all of its actions in the present.
Winston is having doubts in the honesty of the Party and attempts to remember his past and the past of the Party, but can not figure out large gaps causing confusion. “When memory failed and written records falsified” anything that the Party claimed was accepted as fact. Except for Winston, he is still searching for substantial evidence that proves his theory. However, he his having trouble since all the records are always being changed in order to support the ideals of BB and also to make him appear as though he is never wrong. The Party is obsessed with control. All technological advancement is put towards watching over its ‘citizens.’ Winston is still in constant fear of being caught, either by his thoughts are some careless error, and as a result he is forced to have self-control over everything he does. As a result he is giving the Party what they want, control. Another way in which BB possess this control is through the use of Doublethink, the ability of to have two contradicting ideas at the same time in one persons mind. The ‘citizens’ of Oceania will always follow BB despite any information they might posses stating otherwise. The Party ministries names, for example, contradict their functions: “the Ministry of Truth, which concerned itself with news, entertainment, education, and the fine arts(rewriting history, making BB appear to always be correct); the Ministry of Peace, which concerned itself with war; the Ministry of Love, which maintained law and order(torture to those that did not believe BB); and the Ministry of Plenty, which was responsible for economic affairs(shortages in rations)”
In response to BB/Megan-
I would first like to sate that I agree with the distinction between a lunatic and someone with a mental disability; that was established by Will. The question was asked “If right and wrong are based on existing principles how can we asses a truly new idea?” A new idea is how principles come into being. It requires someone to challenge the normality, without people constantly exploring new thoughts the world would never keep advancing. Many people consider scientists to be lunatics simply because they do not understand what is taking place. When people are unsure about something the normal reaction is to discount it, completely ignore it and refuse that it is even plausible. We do not truly start to believe that new idea until, like Megan stated, can be proven; either by a demonstration or by hard undeniable facts. There of course is the exception of religion, but that is a little different since it is more based upon a faith, a gut-feeling, or simply the desire for it to be true and to want to hang onto that belief.
Doublethink is not an end goal of IngSoc, but rather a means with which to achieve that goal. The party’s objective is control. They want to reign over the population of Oceana absolutely. The secret to this total coercion is manipulation of thoughts and desires. It is for this reason that propaganda is so rampant in Oceana. It is for this reason that telescreens monitor the populace for even slight signs of dissatisfaction. It is for this reason that Syme works to edit the words in the newspeak dictionary. It is for this reason that doublethink exists. Doublethink is necessary to thought control. It allows party members to aid in the control of other people’s thoughts without their own thoughts being compromised. For instance, Winston’s job is to edit printed documents so that the party will look infallible. Yet, when he “corrects” information, he then must believe in that information. Doublethink functions to allow Winston to simultaneously be the coerced and the agent of coercion.
Doublethink is the ability to have two different thoughts in your head, usually contradictory to each other, at the same time. This doublethink forces the citizens (or prisoners) of Oceania to believe anything that is being told from Big Brother. The role that this plays is that the citizens don't have a mind to speak of their own because doublethink forces them to do anything. These contradictions serve to control the citizens and to create a "peaceful" utopia with any information told to the citizens whether true or false or false. The contradictions are obvious even in the title of the positions. The ministry of Truth doctors all the history of Oceania to create the positive image for Big Brother or to say that the live in Oceania is the best out of anywhere else in the world and the citizens believe that because they have no idea what real life is like outside of their own world. Which if you think about it could be done in our society today, if we look at history for example. None of us were there for the the first president, how could we even know that George Washington was in fact that president? Because someone wrote it into a text book that could easily be altered and changed because everyone from that generation no longer is around to say otherwise. Although the history that I am talking about in our society is no where near the severity of the doctored history of Oceania, it was just to prove an example. Doublethink satisfies the needs of the party in numerous obvious ways. Control over everyone in Oceania is a major one. They have the ability to change the history of their "utopia" at any moment any time. And by not allowing the citizens to keep any memorable records of the way the world was before Big Brother "O'Brien" took over, they have no true recollection of life before Big Brother and what made them happy in that time.
In response to Woody.
I disagree with you when you state: “What loyal party members cannot grasp is that there are some parts of the world that cannot be controlled because they exist on an à priori basis.” This declaration neglects the aims of the party itself. IngSoc need not control the parts of the world that exist on an a priori basis. They only need to control the people perceptions of those truths. So, it is inappropriate to say that “loyal party members cannot grasp” the parts of the world to which you are referring. The a priori basis of the world is irrelevant to the extent that the party can determine the meaning of those deductive truths.
Doublethink's purpose is to confuse the population, allowing the Party to remain free from scrutiny and questioning from its citizens. Consider the following contradictory ideas presented: War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Igorance is Strength. There is no chaos throughout this war--a (somewhat) constant "orderly war" causes what is war, but what, in reality, is peace, as there is no spontaneity. People are in no way free, yet they believe that they are. They work day in and day out for the government, trying to protect the virutes (what they see as "freedom") of their society. In reality, though, Oceania's citizens are actually in slavery, as they are mindlessly following this path of slavery, which they perceive as freedom, as they have no means for comparison. And most importantly, through ignorance, and doublethink, the government can function. The ability to maintin two seperate and contradictory thoughts is a necessity, as it allows for the reversal of history and constant reshaping of Oceania. It makes Oceania's citizen's believe that they have the perfect society. Through the ability to change the past, the government can function with rebellion or questioning. It is through these fundamental contradictions that the government of Oceania thrives with doublethink.
"Doublethink is necessary to thought control." -Henry
As stated in my previous post, I agree that this is the fundamental function of doublethink for Oceania. Their world is full of contradictions, such as the fact that people altering historical records must believe in the changed records. Without this essential ability, though, Oceania could not function. The society would be completely different. Individuals would question these contradictory ideas and realize the lies that the government has created.
By no longer allowing the society of Oceania to think for themselves, they have completely altered what is true for the people in their society. Through the use of contradiction, for example their belief that War is Peace, they hace manipulated the minds of the people and changed what is real to them. With Doublethink, people are not longer able to think for themselves or recollect past memories of the world. All thoughts that contradict the beliefs are BB are lost. Without past beliefs and experiences, there is no basis for what is true. Past records are even changed to support Big Brother and make it seem as if he knows what is ultimately true. But has Big Brother successfully changed ultimate truth?
In "1984" you can definitely see that the truth of what a person believes is based on what the government says. The truth is not what a person remembers but the truth is what the government tells you to believe. The government has the power erase or change information that has happened in the past to fix any problem that could hurt the government. To "doublethink" in Oceania has become like almost like a 6th sense in that whatever the government says about love, trust, hate, etc. is what an individual will believe in. It is scary to think about how such a dangerous thinking process like "doublethink" can become so natural in the society of Oceania.
Jason,
You bring up a great example of the contradictions within the names of all the ministries. I agree with you that the workers at the ministry do have to believe what they are writing is the truth even if what they are writing is false. By the use of "doublethink" the government is able to have complete control over all of its citizens.
The Party uses contradictions such as “war is peace” in order to take complete control over the minds of its citizens. By making the people of Oceania believe two contradictory ideas, the Party can decide what exactly the truth is. There is no way for the brainwashed people to distinguish for themselves what is reality and what is fiction. Because the people of Oceania believe these contradictory statements, Doublethink allows the Party to drop one side and leave just one idea for everyone to believe to be true. “For by using the word [Doublethink] one admits that one is tampering with reality; by a fresh act of Doublethink one erases this knowledge.” This statement really sums up what using Doublethink does. It reaches into the minds of the residents of Oceania and makes them forget what is real. They are so lost in what the Party wants them to believe that they forget how to make memories and how to think for themselves.
I really liked Megan's comment about "how we know what we know." It really made me think about why I believe in the things that I believe. In psychology we learn that children learning about moral reasoning begin to understand what is right and wrong based soley on punishment vs. reward and later in life it becomes based on what is socially acceptable. We learned that only some people reach a stage in life where their moral reasoning is based off what is true to them rather than doing what is right in society. I think this is true that many people may not even realize it, but base what is right off of how society responds. When you do something kind for someone is it their positive response that makes you feel good about what you did? Even if they do not have a positive response do you know you did the right thing anyway because of your own moral code or because society has told you that what you did was kind?
In response to megan…
I agree that Doublethink is reminiscent of our in class discussion on “How do we know that we know what we know?” The Party uses contradictory statements to make the residents of Oceania think that what they know is real. However, how do they know that what they know is the truth? What makes them believe what they are told? Doublethink allows the Party to control what everybody perceives as real. There is no way for anybody to know what is real because they have lost the ability to think freely and to distinguish between what is real and what is not. The people of Oceania are, because of the Party and Doublethink, becoming mindless beings.
Contradictions keep the party afloat. They make it so that the citizens are happy and do not realize that they are constantly being manipulated into gullibility. The party can convince the people of anything and they will believe it. This is one of Winston’s biggest frustrations, the fact that no one ever seems to remember anything but the present. This is why he is trying so hard to seek out those who can remember the past, so that they can tell him what the past was really like, rather than being subject to the party’s false history books. Their history books are a prime example of contradictions and doublethink. Contradictions are doublethink because doublethink is “The power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.” The party constantly is messing with people’s minds, especially Winston’s. He vaguely remembers the past, yet the history books do not state what he remembers. This really frustrates him, because everything that the party says and does is a contradiction. They say that the chocolate ration, which was decreased from 30 grams to 20 grams, has been raised to 20 grams per week. The party confuses the citizens into believing whatever they say. They also constantly change the facts of the past. Winston’s whole job revolves around changing things of the past so that the party looks “good” and accurate on their predictions. He also changes facts so that it seems as though the party is advancing, and the quality of life is also.
The whole concept of doublethink and contradictions within the Party is based on two things – thought control and rewriting the past. Exactly how this is accomplished is not explained, but the party has some form of mind control/brainwashing. Winston’s job alone is inherently ironic. He rewrites speeches and other articles from the past with the present facts. Winston, however, has a different level of consciousness. He knows that there was something before the party took over and tries to remember it. Everything that happens, the party says it is better than it was before. Don’t people realize that they are not as well off as they were? The lies told by the party are so multi-layered that they cannot be unraveled, and are therefore forced to accept them as truth. An interesting part of the book to me was the section on the proles in chapter seven. If they make up 85% of the population, but are not part of the party, how does the party survive? The proles are generally left alone, so wouldn’t something happen? Wouldn’t leaders naturally arise and make something happen, especially if conditions are bad and there are no telescreens to see their actions? How does the mind control work on the proles?
In response to George F.
You said that the people have no basis for comparison, which seems true for most of them, but there are those who “dissent” you could say, like Winston, who has a concept of what existed before. He thinks that there are others like him, who, in their heart, want change. George also said, “They are so lost in what the Party wants them to believe that they forget how to make memories and how to think for themselves.” I agree that they forget how to think for themselves, but I am not so sure about the memories part. They seem to remember what happens for a short span of time, but they are forced to rely on the government to tell them what happens outside of their own doorstep. This, of course, becomes an extremely convoluted way to find out what is happening. So I think that they have short term memories for themselves, but every time they try to confirm something, the party tells them their version of it. Think of what news we would get if the government owned all the news stations. I think a similar thing would happen here, except for the changing of the past.
Responding to Andrea:
I totally agree with your argument. The government is constantly misleading the people. The people are lead to believe that there is peace, because they know nothing but war. The people are ignorant because they blindly follow the government without opposition therefore creating strength for the party. The party is always right, they have the ability to rewrite the past therefore, they are always right that they really do control the past and the future. No comrade can challenge the validity of the party and their methods of altering the facts of the past to coincide with the present and therefore the future. So, no one is able to stand up to the party. Even if they did know of the inner workings and fact altering of the party, as Winston does, they are too afraid to speak up in revolution. They know that if they do voice their opinion, they will soon be vaporized and killed off by the party, so it is not worth the hassle.
The citizens of Oceania profoundly have faith in the three main philosophies of the party which are: War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, and Ignorance is Strength. These three lines are repeated time and time again in the book and are the main contradictions of 1984. There is not one without the other. The party commands the people of Oceania to ignore what they know and blindly accept the information that is provided by history. The people do not have anything else to believe in and therefore they follow through with the mindset of the party. However, Winston is able to remember the correct past because the party does not have total control over his memory. He says, “When there are no external records that you could refer to, even the outline of your own life lost its sharpness.” There are details in people’s lives that have become vague to them. The people of Oceania do not even recall when they were born or if major events took place in their lives. The party is always correct because that is how the past, present, and future are represented. Winston corrected the mistakes made by the party in the past. The people of Oceania are commanded to be ignorant because it provides a common strength under Big Brother, who is seen as the protector of their society. It allows them to live a comfortable life because Big Brother provides their past, present, and future. Doublethink is a way for the party to make the citizens use the three slogans of the party. It reinforces the idea that Big brother is always right and without the party’s philosophies the society of Oceania could not exist.
The society of Oceania needs contradictions in order to maintain power. These contradictions brainwash people to follow the rules of the Party, and without them, the past would not be able to be manipulated. Without this manipulation, the Party would be powerless because the past would therefore affect the future. If the past affected the future, the Party system could potentially appear as flawed. This could affect the image of perfection that society has of the Party, which is the main reason behind its trustworthiness. Why wouldn't you trust a Party of perfection? If the Party can create contradictions in order to appear perfect, society feels safe and protected by a government that can do no wrong.
In response to Dinha:
The importance of The Party’s use of Doublethink is most definitely illustrated by not only the monotonous use of the notorious slogan, but also by Winston’s urge to explore and determine his past. The noticeable difference between the young and the old is imperative. Whereas those who lived before the Revolution and the Purges of the fifties and sixties had emotions and partial connections to the past, the newer generation knows of none. It is these unknown feelings and drives the Winston experiences that move him to risk his life. Had he never experienced his own control of time and life, he would never even think of exploring the banished. It is the constant and unending contradictions that obstruct any form of resistance. The faded memories individuals in Oceania do have of the past, are only further blurred daily by the actions of the Ministry of Truth. It is almost certain that if and when no person/people exist from generations past, the government of Oceania, The Party, and Big Brother can do absolutely whatever they wish.
The present contradictions in Oceania play a crucial role in the success of Big Brother and The Party. When Winston characterized the true effects of Doublethink during one of his summaries, the importance of such variances of thought became clear. The consistent inconsistencies that the citizens of Oceania are forced to endure during every moment of their lives serve to undermine their developing of any logical mind for themselves. Similar to Winston’s argument, people become unable to discern fact from fiction because the two exist so simultaneously. As is evident with Winston’s friend, no comrade, Syme, the diction of Oceania is forever being diminished. Not only does such an alteration impede communication, but it also severely hinders the expression of thought. It is the goal of The Party and Big Brother to both quash all individuals capable of intellectual thought and dissolve any and all means and modes of supplying cognitive stimuli. Winston himself even admits to the inevitable demise of Syme. Regardless of Syme’s unbending Party loyalty, his mind is a threat to the Party. With control of its citizens’ minds (therefore behavior, opinions, and emotions) Big Brother and his government have the control to impose any and all of their wills and desires.
In response to Woody's comment:
I completely agree that the Party's contradictions are hindering independent thought. Without this independent thought, the members of Oceania will rarely think of the things that Winston thinks of, such as the truth behind the Party. However, even though Winston is thinking these things, he isn't really getting anywhere with these thoughts because he continually fails to find anything that is definite proof for either side. This is exactly what the Party works to do. They want to contradict people into believing what they believe. If people believe in the Party, then they will always believe in the Party, or at least live by their orders as Winston does.
A government that is able to amend the past in order to create a false sense of accomplishment without the majority of its citizens noticing obviously has quite the strategy. The Party’s strategy would be doublethink, and allows the government of Oceania to govern with little rebellion. “Freedom is Slavery,” “War is Peace,” and “Ignorance is Strength” are the examples of doublethink phrases that Big Brother expresses. As these phrases are embedded into the mind of the citizens of Oceania they begin to lose their sense of judgment. The government is destroying the ability for its citizens to think for themselves; which in the end makes it easier for it to take more control of the country with even less rebellion. And even if there is a person who feels that the Party has manipulated the population, like Winston, they have no way of proving their assumptions because all of the ministries are constantly destroying evidence or adjusting “facts” to make sure no citizen could possibly prove that he/she is correct.
Big Brother bases his society off of double think. The party's slogan's difine this. Big brother protes war as bringing peace, freedom being slaveriy, and ignorance bringing strenth. These are all true only if you are Big brother. War brings peace to Oceania because in a sense it keeps it's society together. Since they are in war with other nations it allows for peace in Oceania. His last two slogans are tied togther in a way.Big brother makes his society believe that by being inslaved they are actually free. Free of worries because he thinks for them. He makes them believe that their ignorance is strength. But this strength is guided towards him. It gives him even more power. By making them feel dependent to him they lose their freedom of thought. These three slogans define double think. They relate two complete opposite ideas that are only favor and are true to big brother. His society is just too dependant on his ways to even realize it because that is all they know.
In response to big brother I think a high-functioning society does not need lunatics. One or two may not make a difference but a portion may tear apart a society from functioning the way it is desired to. If a large group of people thought like Winston a revolution movement would start in Oceania. All of big brother's ideas would fall apart and his society would have other options of thought other than his. They would wake up from the communist cloud they are in. I think the only reason why big brother's society funcions is because all the people in it are ignorant. All they know is what they are told to do. I think that if Winston were the one to step up and bring forth new ideas people would see a new light and possibly see that they have a mind of their own.
Although I agree that a majority of the citizens of Oceania are becoming “mindless beings,” I also feel that it is important to acknowledge the efforts of Winston. He works in a job that demands him to cover up countless flaws of the past that the party has made and he is aware that the party is not reliable. His courageous efforts of trying to find out the past through his journey to visit the proles show that he strongly believes in his cause and is willing to take risks in order to get closer to a solution. With an example like Winston as the main character I find it impossible to generalize the population and refer to them as mindless beings. I feel that there are other people in Oceania who are on the same page as Winston, and are just searching for the appropriate way and time of dealing with their feelings of disagreement with the Party. However if the few citizens that are still able to view the government as deceitful are not able to act quickly, their dream will die with them since the young people who follow will have only lived under the power of Big Brother and know no reason to doubt their government.
Contradiction is the basis of the Utopia in which Winston lives. The Party’s own slogans contradict themselves, which show that the Party wants people to be confused as to what they really mean and what is really true. Almost everything that the Party ingrains into the minds of Oceania’s people contradicts what was common belief before the revolution. While thinking for one’s self is a quality that was once praised, after the revolution it became one of the worst evils imaginable. The concept that replaced this, Doublethink, serves the needs of the Party well in that it causes everyone to think alike. Once everyone is thinking alike, the Party can control the masses much more easily. With nobody forming thoughts and opinions of their own that contradict those of the party, there are no mutinies, no riots, no uprising. Nobody can band together against the Party, because by doing so they would promptly be revealed as committing a crime of Doublethink, and exterminated. So the Party is able to remain in power, with complete control, because of the crime of Doublethink. Even if people do not buy into the Party’s policies, they are unable to identify themselves, and therefore have to keep their thoughts to themselves. And since they themselves are not subject to being punished for Doublethink, the Party’s leaders are able to think freely and intelligently, as well as have large masses of people to do the work for them.
-Lela D
In response to Big Brother-
I believe that it is essential for a high-functioning society to have these “lunatics,” as one might call Winston. Without people that do not buy into the common beliefs of a society, no social progress will take place. For a society to survive, it is essential for there to be people that choose to go against the grain by contemplating the society’s rational and its demerits. A high functioning society cannot become that way without people thinking about how to improve it and putting those plans into action. That being said, it is very difficult to maintain those thoughts that might go against society. One needs to find a source to confide to, whether it is by dictating thoughts to another person, or by writing thoughts down, as Winston does. Without a source to confide to, it is difficult to maintain thoughts that go against what is constantly being ingrained in one’s mind.
-Lela D
War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength, any rational human being would scoff and instantly denounce these statements as the product of lunacy and yet while they are all but physically forced down the throats of the people, the public is at the same time only too willing to gobble them up. What need are bars and cuffs when you own a person’s mind? The Party need not forcibly intoxicate the people with these lies when they are already accepted as being truths. Doublethink is the method through which this voluntary brainwashing occurs. The acceptance of contradictions enables the Party to succeed in supressing the desire or want for rational thought by replacing what it means to be rational. Indeed doublethink is the manifestation of the contradiction, it is the paradox through which one percieves a falsehood but accepts it as being irrefutably true. And why shouldn’t the public accept the truths when no evidence of their falsehood exists. Winston’s very job is a personification of doublethink, he creates the past, knows he is engaged in fabricating and is supposed to willingly submit his entire being to a lie that he helped to create. The inherent contradictions of the society found in "1984" illustrate the omnipotent position of the Party. By equating War to Peace, the ability to distinguish between the two is destroyed, in addition later on when Syme lectures Winston on the evolution of " Newspeak" he claims the need for the opposite of a word-his example being the word "good"- is unnecessary because one could just tack an "un-" or an "in-" onto the beginning of a word and express the duality of both opposing concepts in a singular word or phrase.
Society, whether it needs them or not, will have lunatics who either do not accept the doctrines or aggressively denounce them. In Winston's case he is accepting his insanity as rational, undiluted thought, clarity even. In a way he is still adhering to the philosophy of doublethink, at once accepting what is believed to be heresy as truth. If a society remained solely comprised of the uniformed masses then they could at once be declared lunatics as well as being completely sane. There is a duality of the being insane just as there is to being sane. One cannot be absolutely sure of one not being the other or more likely that we are somehow both at the same time. “How do you keep your head when all others around you seem to have lost theirs?” Do you assimilate and remain faithfully mad but in the company of other madman who think themselves sane or do you resist and alienate yourself truly becoming a minority of one: both crazy and lucid at once? Society has lunatics in order to measure the validity of our own convictions against what is accepted and what is known as being true. Society may make progress by acknowledging the ideas of lunatics: indeed it has.
As the sidebar of the blog indicates, contradiction is the foundation of Doublethink. I find that Doublethink satisfies the needs of The Party by further establishing the framework begun by Newspeak within which The Party can control the most primitive and natural aspects of humanity: emotion, feeling, and expression. Doublethink doesn’t just limit language, like Newspeak does – it completely redefines semantics. By conditioning people to hold, accept, and finally believe these contradictory thoughts, the contradictions lose their contradictory label. It is when the people can hold contradictory thoughts simultaneously that The Party has won, and the individual destroyed. Knowing the three slogans of The Party, one can easily imagine further contradictory statements, such as “Love is Hate” and “Pleasure is Pain”, becoming common instances of doublethink. With this progression, concepts that we normatively declare as good or bad become synonymous. The Party’s will is done because the individual does not know how to think any longer. With several instances of doublethink firmly entrenched, the people become dependant on the party foreknowledge, for truth. Unfortunately, they no longer have any way to determine whether this truth is true, so they are forced to blindly accept what they are told. Combined with the vocabulary restricting nature of Newspeak, we have an individual who cannot think for himself, nor express or even begin to comprehend his own emotions. Ingsoc Prevails.
@Woody, and maybe a bit of Henry too,
You have to explain whom you are referring to when you say that, “What loyal party members cannot grasp is that there are some parts of the world that cannot be controlled because they exist on an à priori basis.” Does that refer to the inner Party members who control Oceania? In that case, I agree with Henry’s critique that any à priori knowledge is indistinguishable from à posteriori knowledge since knowledge isn’t really knowledge anymore. It doesn’t matter whether conclusions are induced or deduced. Either way, the interpretations and very meaning of those conclusions are monopolized by The Party. Now, if by “loyal party members”, you are referring to any general loyal Party Member who is subject to the horrors of Doublethink and Newspeak, your claim holds weight. The members of the party naturally feel that society is controlled by Big Brother. In fact, your typical Ingsoc Party Member would probably deduce that every part of everything can be controlled. And that’s the marvelous danger of Newspeak and Doublethink. They allow à posteriori truths to be misconstrued as à priori lies. I’m pretty sure that doesn’t matter with regards to your comment, though, because I think your intent is consistent with the first interpretation, which Henry and I take issue with. But the alternate does provide food for thought, if my conclusion makes any sense (which I’m beginning to doubt…)
The role of double think and its consistent ‘contradictions of thought’ throughout its government is one of the fundamental reasons why the people of Oceania have no real clue as to what is going on. All though be it the ones that really do have an understanding are often smart enough to keep their mouths shut or, invariably, they are killed or ‘disappear’. Winston’s friend, Syme, is the one who lectures on about Newspeak, the only language that regularly loses words instead of gains them, effectively narrowing the range of thought. This apparent shortening of the language to better understand each other is the Party’s chief way of brain washing its people. If the people do not know what is going on or have no conscience thought, then in the Party’s eyes they have no reason to rebel.--
Kurt S
To respond to Christopher’s comment, I firmly agree with the thoughts that once the Party is able to control the thoughts and consciousness of its people, it can basically do whatever it likes. I especially agree with the part about doublethink not just changing the way people think, like newspeak, but also their feelings and emotions. If the people do not know how they truly feel, then Oceania can develop a new form of hate. The children, I believe, are effected the most as they have no previous knowledge besides doublethink. This becomes prevalent as there are many instances where children are turning over their parents to the thought police or like that Parson’s daughter did, just follow a man because he wore a different kind of shoes. It is also obvious where the Party is capitalizing on newspeak: the media. Winston’s entire job is to dig up archives and change the news stories to make all of the Party’s predictions correct, that way the people will always believe that whatever the Party says is the truth, since it cannot be proven otherwise.--
Kurt S
Contradiction is doublethink. I can think of only one way that it satisfys the party's needs. They can rightfully explain or give reason to any of their actions. Why are we at war? Because war causes peace. Why are we at peace? Because peace causes war. Thats a bad example but it gives them grounds on which to back up their actions. They are doing what is in our best intrest no matter what they actually do, because both of hem are true, they cant lie. Doublethink is possible but lying in doublethink is impossible. I guess that would mean that telling the truth is also impossible in Doublethink
-Matt Sulikowski
Doublethink is founded upon contradictions, to know one thing, but believe the opposite. Because the people are trained to believe what The Party tells them, what is beneficial to the party; even if they know it is not true, even if they have seen contrary evidence first hand, The Party has incredible power. Who would be able to create a rebellion when everyone, knowing that the party is wrong, says its right?
-------SPOILER ALERT BELOW--------
Spoiler Alert
In a nation, where The Party, not only fakes the truth for those who are patriotic and follow The Party, but also create a well-known and chastised rebellion, none are able to express contrary views without being found out. It's insidious, whether you like the party or not, you are doomed to either complacency or failure.
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I agree with lhs' statement.
The contradictions inherent mean nothing without context. The Party's slogan is just gibberish, and the contradictions of Ministry of Love dealing with hate, seem not so much contradictions as a redefining of words. (possible spoilers)
However, in The Book, The Party's sinister contradictions are made more permeable. Where before there was contradiction for the sake of contradiction, now there is seemingly no contradiction at all, just an explanation of paradoxical ideas.
The philosophy of War is Peace refers to the fact that the people of Oceania have been kept in peace because they are in a constant war with either Eastasia or Eurasia. By being at constant war, the bare minimum of the population's needs are met, while allocating the rest of the goods produced the the war effort. Because all goods are used but only a small part go the people, everyone is kept in a lower standard of living. Even Winston, a Party member, has few personal possesions and (if I remember correctly) slept in his underclothes because the pajamas were too expensive. Because the population is kept in such poor condition, there are not educated and thus will never rise up against the Party, the ultimate goal of Big Brother.
Doublethink satisfies the needs perfectly of the party because it requires the person to know the truth but also know when to blindly follow orders, although they may be against their fundamental beliefs. A person using doublethink will follow orders directly because they believe exactly what the Party wants them to believe, while still holding on to a piece of reality.
Responding to BB:
Lunacy has not proven to be genetic or inherited, but it is in fact bread from the environment. A high-functioning society does not NEED lunatics, it breeds them. There will always be and there has always been lunatics in every society from Mesopotamia to Rome to Modern America. Lunatics are an essential part of a large group; bring a big enough group together, there is no doubt there will be a lunatic amongst them. The question then becomes what the lunatic should do. How does one keep their head when all others seem to have lost theirs? The lunatic almost has an obligation to the society to voice his opinion. He looks at society at a different angle than other people and he may be able to profoundly change the way that society functions, and who knows? Maybe he’s not the only loony.
Oceania and its government are based off of contradictions. If we just look at their slogan “War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength” we can determine that. The contradictions bring order to Oceania. The government are the only ones able to explain these contradictions which makes the citizens trust the government. Ignorance brings strength to the government because the people do not understand the contradictions. Some of Newspeak is based off of contradictions. For example, the term “blackwhite”. It is the ability to believe whatever the government says even if it contradicts itself. This causes loyalty which causes strength. Truth is unknown in Oceania because the government does not allow it. Wilson is one of the few who begins to question the government and the concept of truth. He is determined to find answers which is most likely going to get him in trouble. Someone finding out truth brings instability especially in a world based off of lies. Criticisms in the government are not able to be proven due to the social isolationism and the inability of citizens to consult with each other in order to find truth. Doublethink is contradiction. It’s two thoughts brought together though they may make no sense. It is brainwashing that causes the people to believe anything and everything in order to maintain control of each individual citizen. There is truth, but the ability to find it is greatly limited.
I agree with Megan’s statements regarding truth and sanity. Majority brings truth, and Winston is alone with no one else able to help him prove what he believes is true. Her comment really reminded me of the Matrix in a really strange way. The main theme in the Matrix is “how do we know what is true?” and it seems that Oceania is almost the same way…minus the actual alternate reality. Everything the citizens know is a lie and Winston is one of the few actually questioning this. Unfortunately, he is alone in his beliefs. Everyone is so brainwashed that they don’t even know how to question the government. There are second thoughts in peoples minds, but due to doublethink (the brainwashing) people are able to push these thoughts aside and tell themselves that the government explains everything and there’s nothing left the question.
It is hard for American citizens like us to ponder the extent of the mental infiltration of the Ingsoc government. If we are to say that thought is an individual process that yields individual ends, then it is indisputable that the Ingsoc government has eliminated the thought of its people. Syme obviously understands this concept when he tells Winston, “Orthodoxy means not thinking—not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconscious.”
The many contradictions inherent in the Ingsoc government further fuel the inability of people to think. The party takes advantage of its citizens and uses doublethink to strengthen there beliefs. Contradictions in what Big Brother predicts are found frequently, and the simple reporting of how many boots were produced are examples of how ridiculous the contradictions are. These contradictions skew the Oceania people’s views of the past and of the present. Truth in Oceania is no longer truth it is the words of the government. This will not affect the people who believe strongly in the government, but for people, like Winston, who are still questioning it, it will eat away at a centerpiece of life. What is life without real truths or the ability to find truths? Without truth there is nothing to believe in and nothing to live by, except for the entity preventing the search for truths.
In response to Will,
I strongly agree with your idea that what is love, what is peace, and what is truth is what the government says it is. In response to your question about why they would use this to fuel a war machine:
In a government that is constantly oppressing its people, violence and terror is necessary. In Chapter IV, Winston wonders why Comrade Withers disappeared, “Perhaps—what was likeliest of all—the thing had simply happened because purges and vaporizations were a necessary part of the mechanics of government.” Showing outward force towards other nations helps the government intimidate its people further. Intimidation scares people away from thought and rebellion. War Is Peace holds true for their oppressive regime until someone, perhaps Winston, can overcome the terror. Unfortunately a rebellion would not only have to overcome the terror but also deal with the Though Police.
The use of doublethink is necessary to the party's power because it robs the individual of the sense of rational conclusions. Truth in itself becomes relative to what the government says. This completely brainwashes the people because they have no ability to use their own reason to make a decision about reality, they have complete reliance on what the government says, and this leads to the eventual disappearance of "thought crime," and any chance of revolt against the government.
Lunacy is a necessity in a utopia. They achieve unity through a common enemy. A utopia will thrive better with that motivation. Orwell questions the idea of sanity. He asked what the truth really is, if it was what we know or if what the government tells us is the truth. A lunatic will also serve to keep the government of the utopia in check. The lunatic will see what the government is doing and will fight against it to keep balance. If the utopia is not kept in check, then other nations will see this and think it's a renegade and unethical society and take it out like the "Eurasians" were doing.
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