Washington State University - Chinook Yearbook (Pullman, WA)

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1984 Expressions 25

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Big Brother is Watching You lethink. It is the ability to hold and believe two contradictory ideas simul¬ taneously. With the end of independent thought and the corresponding evolution of truth, reality can be fabri¬ cated to any form and dimension the Party pleases. Man, with his insatiable need to be certain of his beliefs, be¬ comes, in an instant, ready to kill or be killed to uphold the version of truth he believes in. This belief, in 1984 , comes from the all powerful leader, Big Brother. Considering the fact that the persecution of heretics fills pages upon pages of our history books, this tendency to violently defend accus¬ tomed beliefs is not overly fantastical on Orwell’s part. Men are willing to burn others and to be burned them¬ selves over the question of whether they should cross themselves with one finger or two, or whether God is one person of various aspects, or three persons of one substance. The absolute character of religious claims, like the political claims of 1984 , emphasizes sanctions of fear — the terrifying consequences of disbe¬ lief. An eternal lot of fire and brim¬ stone awaits the non-believer after death while on earth, dissidents die as martyrs for their refusal to follow con¬ ventional lines of thought. As history shows, martyrs that die for their cause demonstrate to those left behind that the belief or refusal to believe is worth dying for. Often, this strengthens the power of persuasion. The rulers of 1984 knew that to sus¬ tain their version of the truth, and thus continue their rule, no one could kkkkkkk die a martyr. Political subversives died for their heresy, or so the Party made it seem. In reality, they died through the use of torture and brainwashing. Worse than that, they died loving Big Brother and the Party. In Oceania, one of the three world superstates, Big Brother is synony¬ mous with God. Every success, every achievement, every victory, every sci¬ entific discovery, all knowledge, all wisdom, all happiness and all virtue are believed to come directly from his leadership and inspiration. He is the focal point for all affection and devo¬ tion. The principles of Ingsoc, War Is Peace, Freedom Is Slavery, and Ignorance Is Strength, are slogans of loyalty, as far as Party congregants are concerned. This loyalty depends upon the system of thought known as Doublethink. In 1984, Doublethink training is indispensable. In an effort to join a non-existent subversive organization committed to the defeat of the Party, Winston Smith obtains from an Inner Party Member, a copy of Goldstein ' s The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism , which details the theology of the Prin¬ ciples of Ingsoc. Orwell incorporates two lengthy Goldstein extracts into 1984 in an effort to warn what he thought was incipient totalitarianism in present day English Socialism. These extracts are considered some of Orwell’s best writing and are very readable, separate from the rest of the novel. In the first extract from Goldstein’s book, Orwell outlines the modern tragedy of the industrialized world. Man’s dream, since the beginning of kkkkkkkk kkkkkkk civilization, has been to have a society where all share a common lot with plenty to eat, shelter, and functional clothing for all types of outings. The society of perfect equality was simply a technical impossibility until the development of the steam engine during the 18th Century. It was then perceived by men, such as Karl Marx and Freidrich Engels, that with the aid of automation and power-driven machinery, man could eliminate dirt, illiteracy, and human drudgery with¬ in a couple of generations if the machinery was used to that end. But man’s dream of an “earthly paradise had been discredited at exactly the moment it became realizable.” Orwell perceived that the essential structure of society throughout the ages has never failed to reassert itself, even after seemingly irrevocable changes. A high, middle, and low class has always existed and the ambitions of the three continue to remain the same. The high class simply wishes to perpetuate its social station as long as possible, while the middle and the low classes strive to replace the high class. The middle class will often enlist the low class in a concerted effort to estab¬ lish justice and equality by overthrow¬ ing the high class through revolution. Then as soon as the new high class feels confident in its position, it will re-establish a new low class, but with more determination than its prede- ssessor did. Orwell notes that this “cyclical movement of history was now intelligible, or appeared to be so; and if it was intelligible then it was alter¬ able.” Thus with human equality now kkkkkkk 24 Expressions 1984

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ft 26 Expressions 1984