I have just read the book (and seen the film) "1984", by George Orwell
I would like to share a few quotes with you all. In no particular order.
The book is set against a background of an ever-ongoing war. The main character "Winston Smith" has a job working for the ruling leadership, in "The Ministry of Truth"; his job is to alter the party's publications to suit their ever changing version of world events.
One of the headlines that he has to alter concerns a "Brother Rutherford"
’Do you remember,’ he went on, ’ writing in your diary, "Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four"?’
’Yes,’ said Winston.
O’Brien held up his left hand, its back towards Winston, with the thumb hidden and the four fingers extended.
’How many fingers am I holding up, Winston?
’Four.’
’And if the party says that it is not four but five — then how many?’
It was assumed that when he was not working, eating, or sleeping he would be taking part in some kind of communal recreation: to do anything that suggested a taste for solitude, even to go for a walk by yourself, was always slightly dangerous. There was a word for it in Newspeak: ownlife, it was called, meaning individualism and eccentricity
The old civilizations claimed that they were founded on love or justice. Ours is founded upon hatred. In our world there will be no emotions except fear, rage, triumph, and self-abasement.
Everything else we shall destroy everything. Already we are breaking down the habits of thought which have survived from before the Revolution. We have cut the links between child and parent, and between man and man, and between man and woman. No one dares trust a wife or a child or a friend any longer.
A Party member is expected to have no private emotions and no respites from enthusiasm. He is supposed to live in a continuous frenzy of hatred of foreign enemies and internal traitors, triumph over victories, and self-abasement before the power and wisdom of the Party.
We don’t all have the privilege of fighting in the front line, but at least we can all keep fit.
From where Winston stood it was just possible to read, picked out on its white face in elegant lettering, the three slogans of the Party:
WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
Everything faded into mist. The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became truth. Just once in his life he had possessed — after the event: that was what counted — concrete, unmistakable evidence of an act of falsification.
He had held it between his fingers for as long as thirty seconds. In 1973, it must have been
The Party said that Oceania had never been in alliance with Eurasia. He, Winston Smith, knew that Oceania had been in alliance with Eurasia as short a time as four years ago. But where did that knowledge exist? Only in his own consciousness, which in any case must soon be annihilated.
And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed -if all records told the same tale — then the lie passed into history and became truth. ’Who controls the past,’ ran the Party slogan, ’controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.’
Then he went on: ’What I had really intended to say was that in your article I noticed you had used two words which have become obsolete. But they have only become so very recently. Have you seen the tenth edition of the Newspeak Dictionary?’
’No,’ said Winston. ’I didn’t think it had been issued yet. We are still using the ninth in the Records Department.’
At this moment, for example, in 1984 (if it was 1984), Oceania was at war with Eurasia and in alliance with Eastasia.
In no public or private utterance was it ever admitted that the three powers had at any time been grouped along different lines.
Actually, as Winston well knew, it was only four years since Oceania had been at war with Eastasia and in alliance with Eurasia. But that was merely a piece of furtive knowledge which he happened to possess because his memory was not satisfactorily under control.
Officially the change of partners had never happened.
Oceania was at war with Eurasia: therefore Oceania had always been at war with Eurasia. The enemy of the moment always represented absolute evil
The book frequently uses the term "comrade" whilst the film refers to "brother" and "sister" as a form of address.
The "outer party members" are constantly fed statistics about how the party's production has increased, at the same time as being fed statistics about how strong the enemy is. Occaisionally announcing that they have won a battle (to increase morale)
I thought it was "interesting"