Examples Of Doublethink In 1984

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George Orwell’s 1984 is a grim vision of the future where the high class has figured out a way to maintain complete control over the middle and lower classes by eliminating free thought. This is done by maintaining a constant state of war with other nations, thereby maintaining undiminishing devotion for Big Brother and his ability to protect Oceania. This is all built on a series of continuous lies about the war, history, and a constantly increasing standard of living which the people blindly believe due to being conditioned to do so for decades. The Party uses language as a way of altering history and psychologically manipulating people’s minds to gain absolute power. One of the main ideas demonstrated in 1984 is that …show more content…

Doublethink is the ability to retain two contradicting beliefs in one’s mind at the same time. Every citizen in Oceania has become disciplined to presume anything that the Party tells them is veritable, even while possessing information that counters to what they are being told. This is because the Party’s techniques of sophisticated mind control disintegrates an individual’s capacity for independent thought. We witness this happening at the Hate Week rally, when the Party shifts its diplomatic allegiance, from being allies with Eustasia to enemies. In a couple of seconds, the nation Oceania has been at war with has always been its ally, and its former ally has always been its enemy. With no hesitation, the Party speaker switches the ally nation he refers to as the enemy in the middle of his speech, but the crowd accepts his words instantly. Instead of being confused or being truly aware of what just happened, everyone is simply ashamed to see the wrong signs for the event. This illustrates how easily the people accept what they are told, with no denial whatsoever. Nowadays, with many social media outlets posting the news, more and more of the younger generation are starting to get involved in political debates with one another. However, it is difficult for anyone to know the actual truth due to “fake news media” and because it is incredibly easy to create elaborately photoshopped documents and images and claim they are real. For instance, one Google search of “Donald Trump fake stories” and you will get thousands of lies, conspiracy theories, and photos. It is almost impossible to determine which are false and which are not. The most shocking thing about this, however, is that like the citizens of Oceania, so many Americans simply accept everything they see and hear from propaganda as the

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