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Introduction
The book 1984, written by George Orwell in 1949, describes a dystopian future world: 1984 was the future of 1949, and the novels actions were conducted this year. The main idea is a totalitarian society, where all changes are prohibited, and all peoples will is subdued by the government, controlled by the Party. The place of action is super-country Oceania, formed by merging the United States, the British Empire, and other American countries. The subsequent revolution and repressions toward all dissenting ones led to totalitarianism in the country, led by the Party and its ruler, Big Brother.
Methods of control and governorship described in the novel are extremely harsh but very effective in making people unthinking and obedient. They include oppressing the humans ability to think, speak, ask questions, and answer them (Bloom and Berg 43). The government gathers all information about each citizen using various tools, such as telescreens, which are actually CCTV surveillance cameras (Bloom and Berg 23). Propaganda is widely used to spread information useful for the government; all other data are destroyed or deliberately twisted. Secret police called the Thought Police, constantly search and catch those suspected of disobedience to the Party and re-educate them using torture (Bloom and Berg 38-40). Total control over information and human life makes the Partys cruel rulership extremely stable.
Modern governments and corporations widely use all those techniques, and the novel is excellent, despite the exaggerated example of what may result from their extensive usage of them. The main reason for George Orwell to write 1984 was, according to his words, to show that totalitarianism, if not fought against, may start to rise everywhere (Bloom and Berg 21-22). The anxiety of Orwell, as one can see, is justified, as the methods described in the novel actually exist in the world and are used there. Thus, the discussion about the oppressive techniques described in the book may be helpful to ensure that democracy will be maintained and the progress of the world, society, and technology will continue.
The Books Setting
1984 depicts a totalitarian regiment of the Party in Oceania that heavily controls its citizens by controlling their thoughts via propaganda, mass media, and secret police. They all translate the will of the Big Brother, who watches everything. An extremely hard and oppressive atmosphere is typical for the whole of the novel. Its text and style are primarily negative, as the future totalitarian world is full of negative emotions, cruelty, and injustice (Dunder and Pavlovski 580). The world is colorless, as the Party controls even the colors one may see on the street or emotions people should express (Bloom and Berg 23). Various instruments are created to control citizens minds and remove their ability to think and act consciously.
Examples are doublethink and newspeak, which seize abilities to think and speak respectively, severely limiting cognitive skills. Newspeak is the language used in Oceania: based on English, it consists of contradictions, contractions, allusions, and metaphors to ensure that one who uses it will never understand the objective reality (Bloom and Berg 23). Doublethink means simultaneously holding two contradictory thoughts together without awareness that they lead to contradiction and nonsense (Bloom and Berg 24). Those tools are fundamental in mind-controlling and utilized in propaganda, fake news creation, and forbidding acts issuing. There are no explicit laws or constitutions in Oceania, only acts that prescribe doing specific actions unfavorable for the Party: having thoughts other than official Party declarations is an example of such an action (Bloom and Berg 24). Those who show themselves as tolerant to the brainwashing and have independent thoughts are caught by the secret Thought Police and tortured in the Ministry of Love.
The novel society is divided into several castes with different duties and places in the world. The lower cast, proles, are living in extreme poverty and total ignorance about the situation in the world: they must only work for a specified number of hours and ask no questions about reality. The higher one serves the Party, which governs the country, and has a tremendous list of duties and responsibilities. Those are divided into the Outer and Inner Party members: the lower and higher castes of ruling Party representatives. Inner Party ones are seniors and live in luxury apartments, unlike proles. The Outer Party members live in relative comfort, but it is not even comparable with the luxury of their seniors. In addition, they are under constant surveillance and have a vast set of responsibilities and prescriptions they are not allowed to disobey. Big Brother is a supposed leader of the Party and the ultimate Oceania dictator, but it is not allowed to know who he is in reality and whether he actually exists.
Such a division shows the segregation in the 1984 dystopian world: unfortunately, it resembles the structure of the real world. Most of the worlds population lives in poverty and without real power to change anything. The ruling elite is usually segregated, and they use all mentioned methods to maintain the existing state of affairs, as it is beneficial for them. Newspeak symbolizes control over the political and social discourse: it allows dictating everything the ruling power wants and will be accepted with minimal resistance. Doublethink represents the control over the mind, reached by the mentioned discourse control and propaganda: it shows similarity with the popular modern concept of post-truth. In authoritarian states, direct oppression by secret police or similar agencies is also widely used nowadays. All those methods will be discussed and described more thoroughly, along with their possible consequences.
Newspeak and Controlling the Discourse
Newspeak is a language created from contractions, simplifications, and euphemisms. They make the conscious speaking processes almost impossible, let alone discussion or thought exchange (Abdu and Khafaga 426-27). For example, the names of the four ministries of Oceania, Minitrue, Minipax, Miniluv, and Miniplenty, are extremely twisted. First, they are contracted, and, thus, the initial sense of their names is harder to understand: Minipax means the Ministry of Peace. Second, their initial sense is twisted: the Ministry of Peace is occupied by war, not peace, and the Ministry of Love, despite its warmly-sound label, commits severe tortures and maintains total surveillance over the population. Those actions, obviously, are very little connected with actual love, but the meaning is the love for Big Brother, the only love permitted in Oceania. Based on those examples, one can see how greatly language influences the way of thinking.
Taking Control Over the Discourse
When the revolutionary party takes control over the state, they often seek rulership over the language, directly or indirectly. A prominent historical example is Communist Russia: after the 1917 October Revolution, made by Communist Bolshevik Party, the Party started to use extensive propaganda to hold power. They have used five-year plans to stimulate economic growth and forced people to work, mostly without even paying them: instead, they supposed that work should be done based on the workers enthusiasm. Figure 1 depicts the example of their propaganda aimed at awakening of those enthusiasm. Its slogan contains an instance of newspeak based on the Russian language, along with a contradictory expression 2 + 2 = 5 (Hutchinson, sec.4.4). Bolsheviks have used such expressions to appeal to peoples feelings, not thoughts, making them more obedient to their ideas and plans.
The caption, translated from Russian, is: 2+2=5: Arithmetic of a counter-plan plus the enthusiasm of the workers. It means that the five-yeat plan may be accomplished only during four (2+2) years when it is performed with passion. The slogan had been made to awaken the enthusiasm in workers, but it contains a contradictory expression that makes the mind less aware and critical, actually deceiving it.
The first task for the ruling force to stay in position is obtaining total control over the political discourse; controlling the language is one part of that. When all channels of information are caught, and the party has access to them, it has mechanisms to decide what the population will be allowed to know and what will not. Those parties that came to power via violent revolutions were forced to seize control to make their rulership solid and stable: examples are mentioned Bolshevik revolution and more recent 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran (Shadi 181). When Islamists took control of the Iranian government, they started a massive campaign of spreading their ideas among Iranian citizens, controlling all mass media and other information channels. Thus, when some party wants to stay in power, control over the information and language is crucial.
Doublethink: Post-Truth, Fakes, and Propaganda
Closely connected with the previous topic of newspeak is doublethink, described in 1984 as the set of paradoxes, such as War is peace, aimed at making the thinking vague and mindless. If newspeak breaks the ability to speak clearly, doublethink kills the ability to think, converting people to degenerate mechanisms without their own opinion. Its main principle is rejecting the objective reality and the possibility of finding it: everything known is presumed to be known by the Party. All reality that is not in concordance with the Party positions is considered non-existed, and those who believe in it are regarded as thought-criminals and persecuted (Bloom and Berg 32). Therefore, mind control aims to make one think only about those beneficial for those in power: tools for reaching that are propaganda and fabrication.
The term post-truth, coined in the 1990s, is associated with the world where it is better not to believe in any information, as it can be biased in favor of someone. It means that no one truth unambiguously describes reality: all truths that one may find may not be directly connected with reality at all (Grech 118). Thus, all sources which claim to tell about actual reality may be nothing more than fakes. This concept is very similar to Orwells doublethink, which also states that there is no truth at all except those provided by the Party; the difference is that the post-truth is not so authoritarian.
The principle of post-truth is widely used in politics, where each party aims to propagate its own truth without regard other parties truth as real truth. According to the principle, what is meant to be accurate, is only an agreement between parties (Michailidou and Trenz 134344). Thus, the party that will reach the most beneficial agreement for itself will be the truest compared with other parties. To do that, the party will appeal to emotions rather than the rational mind, as the publics applause is necessary to obtain a strong agreement (Grech 118). When people believe in what is presented, it will become true, Thus, the organization that offers the truth obtains more power.
The politicization of science is also an essential part of the modern world, as scientific inquiry aims at knowing the world, while the post-truth principle rejects the principal possibility of knowing it. In 1984, all existing science was totally subdued to the state and the Party, and no free scientific thoughts were available at all. There was even no single word for Science in Newspeak, considered the primary language in Oceania (Bloom and Berg 54). Science is based on motivated reasoning: searching for the evidence from the world and then finding patterns in those pieces of evidence (Iyengar and Massey 7660). Thus, science communications should be proven by experimental results. While hypotheses may be freely discussed, scientific theories should be confirmed only by observations and experimental results and not by someones political will or words (Grech 120). The world of post-truth rejects that anything may be proven at all: thus, scientific theories may lose their power and be rejected, which would stop the progress completely. In that way, the misuse of the post-truth concept may lead to all of humanitys degradation.
Deep fakes are the most terrifying example of such a post-truth world: one may never know for sure whether the presented information is true or not. It is similar to the memory holes described in 1984 when the truth may be produced based on the Partys needs and without any connections with the real world. Deep fakes are made mainly with the usage of artificial intelligence (AI), which enables the creation of content, including visual one, which seems to be accurate while having no connections with reality (Blitz 61). If one cannot see whether some content is fake or not, deep fakes may be used to twist, create and remove the information based on ones desire to control. It may lead to power abuses and be dangerous for humanity.
In that way, propaganda is actively used by all parties and organizations which seek power and influence in the world. The principle of post-truth is ideal for propaganda, as it states that the truth may be constructed instead of being searched. The construction of truth for seeking approval and applause among people by appealing to their emotions makes them more trustful and, thus, more obedient to the power which has constructed such a truth. Deep fakes are more dangerous, as they are direct lies, which may not be recognized and used to mischief people without them knowing. To conclude, both information twisting and direct fabrication may be used to make people act in a way desired by those who have access to the information channels.
Surveillance and Control
Thus, all described above methods for thought impact are widely used by organizations that seek power over others, and their ultimate goal is total control. In 1984, the totalitarian government, ruled by Big Brother and high Party representatives, had complete control over Oceanias territories and citizens. By using CCTV cameras, which are located in all homes of the Party members, the Partys higher representatives quickly see who may be dangerous for them and quickly get rid of them (Bloom and Berg 23). Proles, the lowest cast of Oceanias society, are freed from direct surveillance, but they are under the constant control of the police and are brainwashed by propaganda. The police hold full power in Oceania: they arrest everyone who is dissenting with the Party and have access to everyones apartments and even private life. Those methods, brainwashing, surveillance, and forceful oppression, are used to control the population and make it act in the desired direction.
Global Surveillance
The modern world provides new technologies, some of which were never familiar to Orwell, such as the Internet, which allows the control methods even more sophisticated than he described in the novel. The information gathered via cameras on streets and other public places may be stored in virtual servers and proceeded using technologies such as Big Data. There are modern examples of using CCTV cameras to monitor the population directly and make decisions based on that information (Haque 187). In China, for example, many cameras in cities record all citizens movements and collect information from governmental servers. Based on those data, each citizen obtains a social credit, which defines how many possibilities are open for them (Mobley and Wege 10). While the Chinese government claims that the system aims to increase social stability and prosperity, it arguably makes Chinese citizens less free and more dependent on the government.
Control Techniques
Propaganda is widely used not only for spreading opinion or conquering the informational field but for direct mind control. From advertising, which aims at changing ones opinion toward buying something that should be sold, to political propaganda, which imposes the truth beneficial for the political party. As mentioned, post-truth has become a global trend in politics, and thus the truth may be constructed and imposed by using appropriate propaganda techniques. It leads to the rise of populism when the power of a politician depends not on their actions or moral qualities but on their image created in others.
What is more frightening is that the secret police are often used to destroy those who are not in line with the ruling partys politics. It is the case for most totalitarian and authoritarian states, such as Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union. Modern examples include the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is responsible for maintaining the existing political regiment in the Islamic Republic of Iran (Silinsky 12). As mentioned, the current political regime of Iran was established after the violent revolution, and, as one can see, it is guarded by elite secret police forces. Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is responsible for surveillance, catching those against the Islamic Republic, destroying both inner and outer enemies, and increasing Irans international prestige. Other authoritarian governments worldwide also use secret police of various types, such as in Egypt under President Mubarak (Mobley and Wege 45). By combining propaganda and oppression, the state may reach almost complete control over its population, blocking its development.
Thus, surveillance and control are those power mechanisms used to shape society according to the will of the ruling force. As one can see, control mechanisms are used in three main directions: by influencing ones mind via propaganda and brainwashing, by information gathering and proceeding, and by direct, forceful influence via secret police. The first two mechanisms are examples of soft power: propaganda is used to control ones mind and motivate one to act in the desired way. Surveillance allows the government to know about the population as much information as possible and use it for their own purposes. The third mechanism is direct searching and neutralizing of the elements which are not in line with the ruling force: it is the hard power.
Thought Control and Mental Health
As mentioned, all citizens described in the totalitarian Oceania country are under strict government control, which can control even their thoughts. The concept of thoughtcrime means that ones mental health is based not on their actual fulfillment and well-being but on how ones mentality is correlated with the Partys own mentality. In the modern world, widespread troubles with mental health are probably connected with the excess of propaganda and all other influences toward peoples minds. They substitute a persons own thoughts, making them thinking not about what they want to think but about those which are imposed on them. Psychiatrists and other mental health professionals are often politicized, even in democratic countries, and thus cannot help solve mental problems efficiently (Looi et al. 150). As brain control is the first and most important element of obtaining complete control over people, mental health becomes the tool for gaining power instead of helping people.
Conclusion
Dystopian literature may teach us to see the world in grim colors, but it also shows threats of all social movements, political ideologies, and technological progress. All utopian political movements, such as socialism, may become terrible totalitarian regiments in practice, such as the real-world example of the Stalinist Soviet Union (Sypnowich 669). 1984, being an extremely negative and pessimistic novel, as has been shown by Dunder and Pavlovski (580), reveals the dangers hidden in political ideologies and social movements by exaggerating their consequences.
While today the democratic movements in the world are strong, governments actively use various technologies, both hard and soft, to control citizens, arguing that they defend their safety. The secret police are still present in the modern world, mostly in authoritarian states such as Iran and former Egypt. China uses CCTV cameras to monitor its citizens and implements the social credit system, making its citizens much less free (Mobley and Wege 10). In authoritarian countries, the freedom of speech and thought is often violated and, in fact, forbidden. It limits the development of human potential, decreases their mental and emotional well-being, and closes many opportunities for them. But even in democratic countries, some elements of oppression are still present. Political propaganda is widely used in them too, and the concept of post-truth is actual today: politics often have power based on the image they construct in others minds, not their real qualities.
Thus, the analysis of 1984 is helpful to see and understand how governments and other powerful organizations may use technologies to control people. When people understand the concepts of post-truth, discourse control, and how they may be monitored, they become more aware of their lives. Understanding how ones brain may be influenced may teach one to resist those influences and stay free even under brainwashing. In that way, the novel of George Orwell reveals the oppressive sides of the world and, via exaggerating them, shows how they may be overcome.
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