Room 101

1984 - the Epitome of Propaganda

The propaganda in 1984 is freaky. I think even Hitler's apparently fantastic master of propaganda guy (i can't rmb his name for the life of me now..) and all the other big shots in History will kowtow to the Inner Party.

The Two Minutes Hate basically creates a rage against the Brotherhood and Emmanuel Goldstein, with insults and curses that stirs up so much emotion.
The telescreens bark out the wonders of Big Brother and the brilliant Inner Party almost every second of the day.
Big Brother's face and the party slogans screamed out at you from everywhere.
Newspapers and other publications told you only what the Inner party wanted you to know.

And the scariest thing of all. Articles, reports and books can be edited in a flash, as easily as a person can cease to exist, even in memory. And no longer is there truth and lies. Only "truth".

Can you imagine? One minute, you're told something.. the next minute, you're told to believe something else, and you just HAVE to. Because after all, there's no proof anything else existed. Even if it did in memory, you have no hard evidence. And you could know this friend one day.. and the next day, he's not just no longer alive, but was never born in the first place.

If such a thing were to happen to us, there'd be no such thing as History.. or maybe there would, but it'll never be History as it really happened. I could never believe anything I read.

In this case, maybe the party's slogan "Ignorance is strength" makes sense. If you're not aware about the goings-on around you, that documents are constantly being edited and modified to suit the Party's needs, and you don't seek the truth, wouldn't that make you much safer? Well, safer from harm from the Party anyway. And that kinda makes you strong. Interesting how all the slogans seem to make sense when put in this weird world's context.

Just one more slogan left to go. War is Peace. Till then.

posted by ly*anna @ 6:57 PM