Propaganda In 1984

In the totalitarian future of 1984 by Orwell the ruling party controls it’s people by means of repression, inclusive management over language and history, and utter manipulation of individual ideas and thoughts. The party’s strength is received by it’s power over the people and as a result the people believing in the party. With the depiction of extreme methods of control the story highlights what future control could become if left to flourish as well as suggesting how these forms of power tend to always be extreme. Orwell makes clear parallels between his dystopian society and the techniques used by authoritarian regimes to alert the reader how great use of propaganda and control can create a poisonous mindset. In particular, the manipulation
Constant warfare creates a fearful and hopeless feeling in a person, this will cause them to seek out a savior that is in the form of the party. To have an enemy that could be blamed for all that was wrong in the world and could be used as a scapegoat that went against all that one stood for was a way in which the party could place it’s people’s anger into one place. Hitler used this methodology by placing blame on the jews for all of Germany’s problems. Stalin similarly used capitalists as the source of all evils and to receive support for the ideals of his party. Consequently, having a person be constantly repressed makes them want to find a source to release their pent up emotions. The two-minute hate in 1984 was a way of channeling this repression into anger against the party’s enemies. This allows for the anger to placed on another target. In 1984 there is usually two enemies that the party is constantly fighting. There is a need for these two forces against the party because it creates a “Us vs. Them” mentality to surface amongst the people. This can be used so that there is the idea that every enemy must be eliminated. To publicly kill or hurt any believed enemy was a service to the people as an attack on the enemy but this was also a ritual of power to show that every enemy of the party would suffer. Foucault has pointed out how the suffering of
The manipulation of history makes it so that the ruling party is seen as faultless and the people begin to stop questioning what information is given to them which allows for the people to place more of their confidence in the the party than in themselves. With the heavy placement of symbols and slogans people are forced to interact and understand the party with little time for other thoughts to be made. With constant feelings of repression, fear, and hatred being created there is a sustained loyalty made to the party and a vicious abhorrence to any and all that stand in the way of the party. The party acting as a singular group reinforces this idea since the people can support the party and be against it’s enemies as a strong nation rather than a weak group. These methods of controlling the mind through propaganda are dangerously effective in creating a biased viewpoint of the party and as a result it’s enemies. The manipulation and repression of thoughts and ideas can influence the most divided people and take total power over any