Misplaced Pages

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61-520: The Ministry of Peace concerns itself with war, the Ministry of Truth with lies, the Ministry of Love with torture and the Ministry of Plenty with starvation. These contradictions are not accidental, nor do they result from ordinary hypocrisy: they are deliberate exercises in doublethink . The use of contradictory names in this manner may have been inspired by the British and American governments; during

122-401: A Racket in 1935. On January 16, 1961, President Eisenhower delivered his farewell speech expressing great concern for the direction of the newfound armaments industry post-WWII. While recognizing the boom in economic growth after the war, he reminded the people of United States that this was a way of profiting off warfare and that if not regulated enough it could lead to the "grave" expansion of

183-413: A fantasy in their original version as in their rectified version. A great deal of the time you were expected to make them up out of your head. Like the other ministries, the Ministry of Plenty seems to be entirely misnamed, since it is, in fact, responsible for maintaining a state of perpetual poverty, scarcity and financial shortages. However, the name is also apt, because, along with the Ministry of Truth,

244-487: A governmental establishment called the Ministry of Information. In 1992 cartoon Batman: The Animated Series , the episode "What Is Reality?" had Batman solving one of the Riddler's riddles as taking place in "Room 101" of the police headquarters. There, Batman finds Commissioner Gordon tortured in a virtual reality simulator, and must solve riddles to free him. In the 2011 Doctor Who episode " The God Complex ",

305-546: A larger group or country. For example, in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and the beginning of the war on terror , Al-Qaeda aimed to involve the United States in a prolonged guerrilla war in Afghanistan , challenging its will to fight such a long war. Wars between ethnic or ideological groups can become forever wars, as such wars are harder to end with a negotiated peace deal due to the different interests of

366-470: A mistake (firing an official or making a grossly misjudged supply prediction), for that would imply weakness, and to maintain power the Party must seem eternally right and strong. The following are the sections or departments of the ministry mentioned in the text: The Ministry of Peace ( Newspeak : Minipax ) serves as the war ministry of Oceania's government, and is in charge of the armed forces , mostly

427-480: A new kind of evil. And we understand. And the American people are beginning to understand. This crusade, this war on terrorism is going to take a while. And the American people must be patient. I'm going to be patient. Andrew Bacevich described Bush's naming of the war on terror as a crusade as something which does not make the war separate, rather something that shows that it is part of an "eternal war." With

488-513: A prediction that turns out to be wrong, the employees of the Ministry of Truth correct the record to make it accurate. This is the "how" of the Ministry of Truth's existence. Within the novel, Orwell elaborates that the deeper reason for its existence, the "why", is to maintain the illusion that the Party is absolutely infallible, and should be trusted without question. It cannot ever seem to change its mind (if, for instance, they perform one of their constant changes regarding enemies during war) or make

549-423: A process of indoctrination in which subjects are expected to simultaneously accept two conflicting beliefs as truth, often at odds with their own memory or sense of reality. Doublethink is related to, but differs from, hypocrisy . George Orwell coined the term doublethink as part of the fictional language of Newspeak in his 1949 dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four . In the novel, its origins within

610-488: A reference to understand U.S. President Harry S. Truman 's reasoning for the continued build up the United States' nuclear arsenal and how this contributed to the Cold War . This concept is still present in today's policies as William D. Hartung states in his article "The Doctrine of Armed Exceptionalism". Traditionally, the term " war " referred to the physical and conventional act of engaging in armed conflict. However,

671-564: A self-perpetuating, or "endless", loop. He additionally argues US investment in pursuing an expanding military presence in Central America reflects an endless preparation for war. A key argument of Chace is that much of this military involvement stems from a logic of US paranoia in reaction to the Cuban Revolution . A similar argument is put forward by David Keen, political economist and Professor of Complex Emergencies at

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732-631: A set of military objectives in mind, usually because these rebel groups intend to commit war crimes against the civilian population. Thus, the lack of actual military goals can in itself be a reason that a forever war can occur. A very large defense budget may also be a factor in the transpiration of a forever war. As of 2018 , the United States has an inflation-adjusted military budget that is greater than its budget for World War II , which enables it to fight continuously in Iraq and other countries. Civil wars are prone to military stalemate which can prolong

793-716: A state of perpetual war is an aid to (and is promoted by) the powerful members of dominant political and economic classes, helping maintain their positions of economic and political superiority. British journalist Robert Fisk , a critic of Western policies in the Middle East , argues that recent Western conflicts against the Middle East, after the end of the Cold War, have been part of a new perpetual war. He suggests that former U.S. President George H. W. Bush launched attacks on Iraq , Sudan , and Afghanistan to distract

854-934: A wealthy minority of individuals, such as the East India Company , the Hudson's Bay Company , and De Beers , manifest an observed relationship between a minority of individuals influencing Empire or State policy, such as the Child's War in India, the Anglo-Mysore Wars in India, the Anglo-French conflicts on Hudson Bay in Canada, and the Second Boer War in South Africa, follow a pattern where

915-540: Is a lasting state of war with no clear conditions that would lead to its conclusion. These wars are usually situations of ongoing tension that may escalate at any moment, similar to the Cold War . From the late 20th century, the concepts have been used to critique the United States Armed Forces interventions in foreign nations and the military–industrial complex such as the Vietnam War and

976-432: Is adjusting some Ministry of Plenty's figures, he explains this: But actually, he thought as he readjusted the Ministry of Plenty's figures, it was not even forgery. It was merely the substitution of one piece of nonsense for another. Most of the material that you were dealing with had no connection with anything in the real world, not even the kind of connection that is contained in a direct lie. Statistics were just as much

1037-595: Is also a large part underground, probably containing huge incinerators where documents are destroyed after they are put down memory holes . For his description, Orwell was inspired by the Senate House at the University of London . The Ministry of Truth is involved with news media, entertainment, the fine arts and educational books. Its purpose is to rewrite history to change the facts to fit Party doctrine for propaganda effect. For example, if Big Brother makes

1098-520: Is in Oceania. As well as administering "truth", the ministry spreads a new language amongst the populace called Newspeak , in which, for example, "truth" is understood to mean statements like 2 + 2 = 5 when the situation warrants. In keeping with the concept of doublethink, the ministry is thus aptly named in that it creates/manufactures "truth" in the Newspeak sense of the word. The book describes

1159-490: Is manifested in Room 101 by confronting Smith with a wire cage that contains two large rats. The front of the cage is shaped so that it can fit over a person's face. A trap-door is then opened, allowing the rats to devour the victim's face. This cage is fitted over Smith's face, but he saves himself by begging the authorities to subject his lover, Julia , to suffer this torture instead of him. The threatened torture, and what Winston

1220-547: Is misnamed, since it is responsible for the practice and infliction of misery, fear, suffering and torture. In a sense, however, the name is apt, since its ultimate purpose is to instill love of Big Brother—the only form of love permitted in Oceania—in the minds of thoughtcriminals as part of the process of reverting them to orthodox thought, before executing them. This is typical of the language of Newspeak , in which words and names frequently contain both an idea and its opposite;

1281-527: Is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare ... In war, then, let your great object be victory, not lengthy campaigns. Historian Alexis de Tocqueville made predictions in 1840 concerning perpetual war in democratic countries. The following is from Volume 2, chapter 22, "Why Democratic Nations Naturally Desire Peace and Democratic Armies, War", 18th paragraph, in his book, Democracy in America : No protracted war can fail to endanger

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1342-420: Is surrounded by barbed wire entanglements, steel doors, hidden machine-gun nests , and guards armed with "jointed truncheons ". Referred to as "the place where there is no darkness", its interior lights are never turned off. It is arguably the most powerful ministry, controlling the will of the population. The Thought Police are the outward extension of Miniluv. The Ministry of Love, like the other ministries,

1403-407: Is threatened within the region. According to Chace, US involvement in Central America worked towards resisting the domino effect of the spread of a " communist take-over ", largely through establishing the credibility of US military. Though these policies were meant to deter conflict, they themselves created the conditions for instability in the region, which furthered a US response. This resulted in

1464-436: Is willing to sacrifice to escape it, breaks his last promise to himself and to Julia: never to betray her. (Even though he had confessed to their actions, he still loved her until this point.) The book suggests that Julia is likewise subjected to her own worst fear (although it is not revealed what that fear is), and when she and Winston later meet in a park, he notices a scar on her forehead. The intent of threatening Winston with

1525-471: The London School of Economics . His book Endless War? Hidden Function of the 'War on Terror' (2006) argues that the United States' strategies and tactics in the war on terror use a "militaristic state-cased framework". This framework, though "counterproductive", has an "inner logic" and a "psychological function" of responding to the trauma of September 11 attacks . Noam Chomsky posits that

1586-570: The Soviet-Afghan War , or wars with ambiguous enemies such as the war on terror or war on drugs . Poor military planning is one of the major reasons that a forever war can occur. If the territory gained in a war is not occupied or controlled properly, this can allow a deadly insurgency to occur, potentially stretching out a conflict that never ends. Similarly, warfare that is fought irregularly, such as rebellions in Africa, do not have

1647-471: The navy and army . The Ministry of Peace may be the most vital organ of Oceania, seeing as the nation is supposedly in an ongoing genocidal war with either Eurasia or Eastasia and requires the right amount of force not to win the war outright, but to keep it in an ongoing state of equilibrium. As explained in Emmanuel Goldstein 's book, The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism ,

1708-600: The " War on Drugs ", " War on Poverty ", " War on Cancer ", Lou Dobbs 's "War on the Middle Class", the " War on Terrorism ", the " War on Women ", or Bill O'Reilly 's " War on Christmas ". The economic make-up of the 5th century BC Athens-led Delian League also bears resemblance to the economic ramifications of preparing for perpetual war. Aspects of any given empire , such as the British Empire and its relation to its domestic businesses that were owned by

1769-399: The 6th century BC about perpetual war. The following quotation from chapter 2, Waging War, of his book The Art of War suggests the negative impacts of prolonged war: Sun Tzu said: ... When you engage in actual fighting, if victory is long in coming, the men's weapons will grow dull and their ardour will be damped. If you lay siege to a town, you will exhaust your strength ... There

1830-454: The Doctor and his companions find themselves in a hotel full of their own personal Room 101s, each with their greatest fear in it. The Doctor's own room is number 11, which serves as a double entendre, alluding both to the real Room 101, and to the fact that the then-incumbent, Matt Smith, was the eleventh actor to fulfill a starring role as the Doctor . Doublethink Doublethink is

1891-461: The Empire allocates resources pursuing and sustaining policies that financially profit the Empire's domestic business's owners. The concept of a military–industrial complex was first suggested by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower and the idea that military action can be seen as a form of market-creation goes back at least as far as speeches beginning in 1930 prior to the publication of War Is

Ministries in Nineteen Eighty-Four - Misplaced Pages Continue

1952-417: The Ministry of Peace is named the exact opposite of what it does, since the Ministry of Peace is in charge of maintaining a state of war. The meaning of peace has been equated with the meaning of war in the slogan of the party, "War is Peace". Like the names of other ministries, it also has a literal application: Perpetual war is what keeps the "peace" (the status quo) in Oceania and the balance of power in

2013-399: The Ministry of Peace revolves around the principle of perpetual war . Perpetual war uses up all surplus resources, keeping most citizens in lives of constant hardship—and thus preventing them from learning enough to comprehend the true nature of their society. Perpetual warfare also "helps preserve the special mental atmosphere that a hierarchical society needs." Since that means the balance of

2074-450: The Ministry of Plenty's other purpose is to convince the populace that they are living in a state of perpetual prosperity. Orwell made a similar reference to the Ministry of Plenty in his allegorical work Animal Farm when, in the midst of a blight upon the farm, Napoleon the pig orders the silo to be filled with sand, then to place a thin sprinkling of grain on top, which fools human visitors into being dazzled about Napoleon's boasting of

2135-562: The Party line is akin to blasphemy , and could subject that person to disciplinary action and the instant social disapproval of fellow Party Members. According to Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell , doublethink is: To know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies, to hold simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them, to use logic against logic, to repudiate morality while laying claim to it, to believe that democracy

2196-788: The Second World War, the British Ministry of Food oversaw rationing (the name "Ministry of Food Control" was used in World War I) and the Ministry of Information restricted and controlled information, rather than supplying it; while, in the U.S., the War Department was abolished and replaced with the "National Military Establishment" in 1947 and then became the Department of Defense in 1949, right around

2257-577: The West for not making peace with the Middle East. As the deputy director for the Missile Defense Agency's Airborne Laser Program, Dobrot examines the hostility which has been continuous not only since 2001, but since the birth of Wahhabism . Dobrot proposed that the U.S should recognize the cultural hostility of the tribal Arabs in order to make the first steps towards progression of making peace. The Crusades arose as European expansion

2318-801: The act of hypnosis you had just performed. Even to understand the word—doublethink—involved the use of doublethink. Orwell's doublethink is also credited with having inspired the commonly used term doublespeak , which itself does not appear in the book. Comparisons have been made between doublespeak and Orwell's descriptions on political speech from his essay " Politics and the English Language ", in which "unscrupulous politicians, advertisers, religionists, and other 'doublespeakers' of whatever stripe, continue to abuse language for manipulative purposes." Other concepts derived from Nineteen Eighty Four : Complementary pages Perpetual war A perpetual war , endless war or forever war

2379-520: The advent of perpetual war, communities have begun to construct war memorials with names of the dead while the wars are ongoing. The Northwood Gratitude and Honor Memorial in Irvine, California was dedicated in 2010 to American troops who lost their lives in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, with space for 8,000 names (approximately 4,500 used at time of construction) and the intention to update it yearly. Ancient war advisor Sun Tzu expressed views in

2440-454: The armaments industry. For his warning of the thirst to profit from warfare through weapon production, Eisenhower coined the term "military industrial complex". He said, "The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist." Eisenhower feared that the military–industrial complex could lead to a state of perpetual war as the big armament industry will continue to profit from warfare. Additionally, NSC 68 can be used as

2501-452: The citizenry is unclear; while it could be partly a product of Big Brother 's formal brainwashing programmes, the novel explicitly shows people learning doublethink and Newspeak due to peer pressure and a desire to "fit in", or gain status within the Party—to be seen as a loyal Party Member. In the novel, for someone to even recognize—let alone mention—any contradiction within the context of

Ministries in Nineteen Eighty-Four - Misplaced Pages Continue

2562-504: The communist revolution in nationalizing the people. The concept was used by Trần Văn Đôn , a general in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam , in his book Our Endless War: Inside Vietnam (1978). American historian James Chace argues in his book Endless War: How we got involved in Central America (1983) that US policy in Central America is based upon the assumption that US hegemony

2623-425: The concept of "Room 101", in which Karl Pilkington has to decide what things he dislikes enough to put in Room 102. This would result, according to their game, in these things being erased from existence. In Terry Gilliam ’s 1985 film, Brazil , the alternate dystopian world in which the film is set bears immense similarities to that of Nineteen Eighty-Four , including following an anxious bureaucrat who works at

2684-437: The country rests in the war, the Ministry of Peace is in charge of fighting the war (mostly centred around Africa and India), but making sure to never tip the scales, in case the war should become one-sided. Oceanic telescreens usually broadcast news reports about how Oceania is continually winning every battle it fights, though these reports have little to no credibility. As with all the other Nineteen Eighty-Four ministries,

2745-503: The doctoring of historical records to show a government-approved version of events. Winston Smith , the main character of the novel, works at the Ministry of Truth. It is an enormous pyramidal structure of glittering white concrete rising 300 m (980 ft) into the air, containing over 3000 rooms above ground. On the outside wall are the three slogans of the Party: "WAR IS PEACE", "SLAVERY IS FREEDOM", and "IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH". There

2806-596: The economy of Oceania is very important, and it is necessary to have the public continually create useless and synthetic supplies or weapons for use in the war, while they have no access to the means of production . This is the central theme of Oceania's idea that a poor, ignorant populace is easier to rule over than a wealthy, well-informed one. Telescreens often make reports on how Big Brother has been able to increase economic production, even when production has actually gone down (see § Ministry of Truth ). The Ministry hands out statistics which are "nonsense". When Winston

2867-497: The farm's superior economy. A department of the Ministry of Plenty is charged with organizing state lotteries . These are very popular among the proles, who buy tickets and hope to win the big prizes—a completely vain hope as the big prizes are in fact not awarded at all, the Ministry of Truth participating in the scam and publishing every week the names of non-existent big winners. In the Michael Radford film adaptation ,

2928-447: The freedom of a democratic country. Not indeed that after every victory it is to be apprehended that the victorious generals will possess themselves by force of the supreme power, after the manner of Sulla and Caesar; the danger is of another kind. War does not always give over democratic communities to military government, but it must invariably and immeasurably increase the powers of civil government; it must almost compulsorily concentrate

2989-509: The implications of what war entails has evolved over time. The war on terror has often been cited as a perpetual war, being a war with "no specific battlefield and the enemy isn’t an army." The war on terror has been directed at countless "enemies," as it has no clear target. Georgetown University Historian Bruce Hoffman describes traditional war as a war that "ends with the vanquishing of an opponent, with some form or armistice or truce- some kind of surrender instrument or document." In contrast,

3050-408: The ministry is renamed the Ministry of Production, or MiniProd. The novel's popularity has resulted in the term "Room 101" being used to represent a place where unpleasant things are done. Writer Josh Wilbur proposed a "Ministry of Truth" to combat internet deepfakes and misinformation . In The Ricky Gervais Show , Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant play a game called "Room 102", based on

3111-417: The orthodox party member is nonetheless able to resolve these contradictions through the disciplined use of doublethink . Room 101 , introduced in the climax of the novel, is the basement torture chamber in the Ministry of Love, in which the Party attempts to subject a prisoner to their own worst nightmare, fear or phobia, with the objective of breaking down their final resistance. You asked me once, what

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3172-447: The population from his domestic political problems. In addition, he claims that despite victorious claims after the first Gulf War that Saddam Hussein had been "defanged", he was again the target of Western attacks until his execution in 2006. Similarly, Ted Koppel described the war on terror as "Our Children's Children's War". Critics of Western policies have used the term "perpetual war" in reference to non-military "wars" , such as

3233-543: The rats was to break his spirit by forcing him into betraying the only person he loved, thus eliciting his compliance. Orwell named Room 101 after a conference room at Broadcasting House of the BBC where he used to sit through tedious meetings. The Ministry of Plenty ( Newspeak : Miniplenty ) is in control of Oceania's command economy . It oversees rationing of food, supplies , and goods . As told in Goldstein's book,

3294-437: The time that Nineteen Eighty-Four was published. The Ministry of Truth ( Newspeak : Minitrue ) is the ministry of propaganda . As with the other ministries in the novel, the name Ministry of Truth is a deliberate misnomer because in reality, it serves the opposite: It is responsible for any necessary falsification of historical events. However, like the other ministries, the name is also apt because it decides what "truth"

3355-608: The two sides. An additional barrier may arise in the case of religious wars if one or both parties believe that the other must be destroyed. The concept of a perpetual war has been used since opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War . James Pinckney Harrison argues in The Endless War: Fifty Years of Struggle in Vietnam (1981) that the Vietnam War was "endless" due to the success of

3416-473: The war indefinitely. A lack of democracy is associated with an increased risk of civil war. Forever wars can occur in order to keep money flowing into institutions, such as the military–industrial–congressional complex (MICC). Thus, forever wars can serve as domestic political engines, as policy makers promote policies of continuing and expanding wars. Forever wars can be to the benefit of small armed groups, who may achieve political goals by wearing down

3477-525: The war on terror continues with no end in sight. The war on terror was declared in 2001 by President George W. Bush , following the September 11 attacks , but as early as 1996, Osama bin Laden of Al-Qaeda made a threat to the United States, by making a declaration of war. The growing tensions of the Middle East are suggested by Laurence Andrew Dobrot to be very wide cultural misunderstandings and faults

3538-450: The world, and since the other major powers also use perpetual warfare as a means of maintaining the status quo, the two concepts are functionally identical. The Ministry of Love ( Newspeak : Miniluv ) serves as Oceania's interior ministry . It enforces loyalty to Big Brother through fear, buttressed through a massive apparatus of security and repression, as well as systematic brainwashing . The Ministry of Love building has no windows and

3599-411: Was growing at the peak of unified Islamic dominance. On September 16, 2001, in a speech, President Bush referred to the war on terror as a crusade. He said: No one could have conceivably imagined suicide bombers burrowing into our society and then emerging all in the same day to fly their aircraft - fly U.S. aircraft into buildings full of innocent people - and show no remorse. This is a new kind of --

3660-403: Was impossible and that the Party was the guardian of democracy, to forget whatever it was necessary to forget, then to draw it back into memory again at the moment when it was needed, and then promptly to forget it again, and above all, to apply the same process to the process itself—that was the ultimate subtlety: consciously to induce unconsciousness, and then, once again, to become unconscious of

3721-414: Was in Room 101. I told you that you knew the answer already. Everyone knows it. The thing that is in Room 101 is the worst thing in the world. Such is the purported omniscience of the state in the society of Nineteen Eighty-Four that even a citizen's nightmares are known to the Party. The nightmare, and therefore the threatened punishment, of the protagonist Winston Smith is to be attacked by rats. This

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