Washington State University - Chinook Yearbook (Pullman, WA)

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CLINT EASTWOOD STEVEN MIKKELSEN Big Brother is Watching You BOY GEORGE JOHN OTOOL GEORGE SCHULTZ HISAO SHITN1ZU items in the London Times, using the official language of the state, News- peak, so that no one will ever know the party line has changed, or that the current version of historical fact is a “rectification.” The language of Newspeak is designed to prevent peo¬ ple from thinking independently by limiting the language to a few official¬ ly approved words with reduced and precise meanings. In as much as peo¬ ple think in language, the diminished vocabulary makes it virtually impossi¬ ble to think a heretical thought. Today’s distressing trend is to an expanded, fanciful language, em¬ ploying large words and dead metaphors, which prevent thought LYNDON B. JOHNSON BRIAN LITTLE PAUL NEWMAN SABARINAH SH. AHMAD. rather than promote it. This techni¬ que allows the government to morally justify unjustifiable actions. “For as any self-respecting bureaucrat knows, it is bad form indeed to use a single, simple word when six or seven obfus¬ cating ones will do.” Orwell warns that by using cloudy images, worn out euphimisms, and large words, the reality language attempts to picture becomes muddled and confused. Bill Moyer, commentator for the CBS Evening News, reported that the United States State Department had eliminated “killing” from its vocabul¬ ary. “The unlawful or arbitrary de¬ privation of life” is used, instead. Lan¬ guage of this type smothers the reality CHEVY CHASE JEFF SCHAUB 22 Expressions 1984

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RICHARD NIXON MARCEL DESRANLEAU DENG XIAPENG JIMMY J. LEE dominated by three interchangeable superpowers who are continually at war. All three battle with each other in order to keep their subjects in a state of political frenzy and to insure per¬ petual rule over them. Humanity is caste in fear and distrust, characte¬ rized by probing two-way telescreens, truth erasing “memory holes”, and brutal thought police. The official language, Newspeak, fabricates real¬ ity to suit the party platform. The masses dwell in unthinkable poverty and constant terror, always under the thoughtful eye of their loving and omniscient leader, “Big Brother.” George Orwell, born in India and schooled in England, wrote his novel in 1948 and published it in 1949, dur¬ ing which time he was severely ill. Be¬ fore dying, one year after the publica¬ tion of 1984 , he said the book “would not have been so gloomy if I hadn’t been so ill.” Many will not read the book because it is so grim; others dare not read it a second time. Still others, perusing till the depressing end of the story, realize the book is worth a look even after the passing of the prophe¬ tic year. Historically speaking, the world during Orwell’s life should have seemed relatively safe from the boot of totalitarianism. The Alliance had recently crushed the imperialistic fascism of the Axis to end World War FIDEL CASTRO LEE FENTON BALD EAGLE MEGAN CAMPBELL ABRAHAM LINCOLN IAN YOUNG II. And with the end of the war, the United States rose to global military superiority, trumpeting its pledge to fashion a world safe for democracy. During World War II, however, Orwell saw an irresistible energy in the kind of sadism displayed by the Nazis that made totalitarian regimes, founded solely on power for their own sake, believable. Orwell also per¬ ceived, with brilliant clarity, the fu¬ ture costs, in security and in wealth, that the atomic billows over Japan would create for our generation. 1984 ' s protaganist, Winston Smith, works in the ministry of truth, which is the doublethink title of the ministry of propaganda. His job is to alter news JOAN CRAWFORD TR1CJA ELLIO ' IT 1984 Expressions 21

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MICHAEL JACKSON BAIO FATIREQUN ALEXANDER HAIG TEE YEU TAN YARI ANDROPOV JEFF DAHLQUIST of killing as vicious and brutal, and links it with a petty or “arbitrary” act, affecting no one. The next time Larry Speaks refers to the U.S. bombing of defenseless vil¬ lages, in search of Salvadorian rebels, as “accidental bombings”, maybe the American people ought to know what accidental means. Is he saying that the bombardier accidentally tripped the lever reaching for his cocktail or does “accidental” mean the bombings were unfortunate but necessary? Could it be that the wrong harbors are being mined after all? It seems that the real danger lies in the mass of distortions that the government, with the help of language, passes off as truth. In Orwell’s 1984 , the Party uses organizations, such as the Junior Anti-Sex League, The Spies, and the Youth League, to effectively sever all loyalty between members of families and their lovers. This is in order to obtain complete commitment to the Party and its dogma. Even sex be¬ tween husbands and wives is control¬ led by indoctrinating women against the pleasures of sex. Copulation is a monthly duty to the Party members and nothing more. The only breeding done in 1984 is the breeding of a complete loyalty to an idea. Similar to religion, Party opinion is expressed in absolute claims. Doubt cannot exist because it is the fruit of reflection. To keep a cor¬ ner on the truth, dissent cannot be tolerated. Religious truth, or in 1984 , political truth, is absolute and its pos¬ session makes everything else unim¬ portant. Hence, religion never preaches the duty of critical thought or of searching or investigating sup¬ posed facts. Often the opposite is taught; we experience a narrowing of our perspective. In a certain sense, stupidity becomes a necessary condi¬ tion for life and growth. The spirit of truth-seeking dies from deprivation. The will to believe contrary to demon¬ strative evidence is often lauded as a religious virtue; in the Orwellian world of 1984 this is known as Doub- RONALD REAGAN JASEM AL-AMEERI JOHN F KENNEDY JEFFREY J. RYAN DAN MOON STING 1984 Expressions 23