I’m struck by this comment, because I have long thought that the problem with corporations is that they are not human organizational models, but insect organizational models. CEOs are queens, and all through the hierarchy you have various specialized workers, down to the common drones at the bottom rungs of the ladder. And as in the hive, only the queens are valued as individuals; the workers and drones are individually expendable. These days, corporations seem to be getting the better of the individual in so many ways. Given increasing corporate power in our society, we may not be hive creatures yet, but the trends say we’re getting there. If 1984 seems unlikely, that may just be a temporary thing.
The majority of propaganda and indoctrination in 1984 was aimed at the Outer Party, the apparatchiks necessary to keep the system running. They were required to demonstrate unceasing unthinking loyalty to the Party at all times, and ignoring reality and common sense were part of that. The Proles were largely beneath notice; they were expected only to work and to keep their mouths shut. They probably regarded Party propaganda in much the same way that Iron Curtain factory workers did during the postwar era: they mumbled under the breaths and ignored it as much as possible. Hell, the last thing Big Brother wanted from the Proles was political conciousness.
I haven’t seen any mention of one of Ingsoc’s main underpinnings, doublethink (aka “reality control”). To a Party member with a properly functioning, disciplined mind — in other words, unlike Winston’s — there is no inconsistency because reality has not changed.
Another important concept (from Orwell’s “A Newspeak Dictionary”)crimestop – Orwell’s definition: “The faculty of stopping short, as though by instinct, at the threshold of any dangerous thought. It includes the power of not grasping analogies, of failing to perceive logical errors, of misunderstanding the simplest arguments if they are inimical to Ingsoc, and of being bored or repelled by any train of thought which is capable of leading in a heretical direction. In short . . . protective stupidity.” So any “evidence” which suggests that reality has changed is discarded before it comes to the conscious mind’s attention.
There was no Internet in 1984, or in “1984,” so that’s simply not a relevant criticism.
As Giles already mentioned, North Korea is a chilling example of power unchecked. Judging from interviews, the average North Korean has a startlingly distorted view of history and world politics. When the government controls all media and you’ve grown up in this environment from birth, how are you able to distinguish propaganda from truth? And if you do question it, well then you’re just asking for trouble.
1984 is a work of fiction and I don’t think Orwell meant certain things to be taken literally…
Something else, Newspeak.
Supposing the Party succeeded in brainwashing its members into using this. This would mean that there were then 2 languages, that of the proles and that of the party members.
Communication between the 2 would have been well nigh impossible, which means that the proles, who were expected to work as Lumpy says, would have been almost unable to understand the orders/instructions given to them by Newspeak “overlords”
I didn’t get that impression. The proles might be limited to Newspeak’s “A Vocabulary” (and possibly some C, for proles employed in low-level technical jobs), while the political compound B vocabulary words like duckspeak and oldthinker will be used only in Party circles. Communication between the two will be limited but not impossible.
Yup yup. He didn’t “believe it would happen”; Animal Farm stems directly from his dismay at seeing life in the Republican (Communist, Socialist, Anarchist) side of the Spanish Civil War. In a way, Animal Farm is “what would happen if people like the Spanish anarchists got in charge” and 1984 the Communist version of the same. He came bright eyed and bushy tailed, to fight for the cause of liberty, democracy and potato omelette for all, and almost got murdered by his own side.
There is a recent thread on “ask the ex-cuban communist”. I heartily recommend it to everybody here who hasn’t read it. You don’t need to convince people that we’ve always been at war with Eurasia… you just need to convince them that saying otherwise will be Bad For Their Health.
Well even if communication was limited, as you suggest, then this itself would further hinder the production of whatever the party wanted…mostly munitions of course.
I’m sorry but I cannot subscribe to 2 languages being at all practical in this instance
Nava I’ve just read through the “ask the ex-Cuban Communist thread”.
Fascinating
I’m not claiming there would be two languages. Orwell’s A, B and C vocabularies are just subsets of the same language, which is for the most part a subset of standard English.
You’re right that production would fail eventually, though. There’s one significant passage as I recall saying that it can take up to ten year to have a broken window repaired. I figure over time, the infrastructure of Oceania will crumble and since independent and competent thinkers are routinely vaporized, there won’t be anybody around to fix it. The telescreen network alone, I figure, needs an army of electrical engineers to maintain. Eventually, some Party official who doesn’t understand electrical engineering will conclude that if he can’t understand it, it must be crimethink, and the profession will be purged. If Oceania existed in a vacuum, this wouldn’t be a problem; the tech level could slide back to the pre-Renaissance and still limp along, but there are two rival states. I think the one that will eventually conquer Earth will be the one that collapses the slowest and is able to invade the others without resistance. Of course, it’ll eventually collapse as well.