The Inner Tactics of Political War

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The idea of a society where there is no freedom and the people have no rights, can be described through the warning foresights of a dystopia. In the novel, 1984, a country has lost all liberties to their government and war is commonly used as a political tool, as our government has done in the past. As our country continues down the path to becoming the dystopia described by George Orwell, it is seen that war is used as a political tool to help the government’s own agenda. By using wars to control the social views of the people, the products and wealth of the country, and the opinions of politicians and government officials, the governments of the United States and the country of Oceania can promote their own ideologies on others. As a reference for comparison, the military state of Oceania controls the Outer Party, wealth, and Inner Party through the use of war. In their society the citizens of the Outer Party were described as “a nation of warriors and fanatics, marching forward in perfect unity, all thinking the same thoughts and shouting the same slogans, perpetually working, fighting, triumphing, persecuting - three hundred million people all with the same face” (Orwell 64). They only had the thoughts that the government gave them, which created no possibility of the people revolting. The only thing the Outer Party knew was how to love the government. They had no entertainment, everything was made for war, and if not then it went to antique shops which were illegal to go to (Orwell n.pag). The main focus of the country was war, and everything else was considered nonsense. This creation of non-war shops also helped the Party trap people who were resilient, because they were able to catch them buying non-war goods from illeg... ... middle of paper ... ... towards the goals of the country from a sense of nationalism (McEnaney 21; Orwell n.pag.). The resentment the people hold for the enemy comes from the government’s war which distracts the people from the government’s actions towards themselves. The ploys the government uses the war for help them achieve their goals by controlling the citizens. The government of the United States and of Oceania use war as a political tool to control the social views of the people, the products and wealth of the country, and the opinions of politicians and government officials. The ways in which war is used as a political tool includes controlling citizens, and products of a country. Both the country in 1984 and the United States use war in similar ways. When comparing the current time with the story of 1984 it is easy to see the similarities in how war is used as a political tool.

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