JOURNAL QUESTION 5
Journal question 5: WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
In the novel, these are the main slogans used by the Party to psychologically control its people. These slogans indicate an obvious contradictory paradox in themselves. The purpose of these slogans is to create the idea of "doublethink", weakening the individuality and convincing people that everything done by the Party is for the welfare of people and every policy passed by the government is naturally justified. Anyone with normal thoughts and common sense, however, can easily point out the contradictions: war is the opposite of peace; freedom contradicts slavery; ignorance means the lack of strength.
These slogans can be interpreted in another aspect: war is cruel by nature, which reminds people to cherish the peace; freedom may cause adverse effects on people since being free means that one is able to do something dangerous or irrational to restrict himself, and slavery can protect people from danger; ignorance helps to prevent people from knowing things that they are not supposed to know, which guarantees safety.
Even though these slogans are ridiculous in most situation, yet they do work in some circumstances. The nuclear weapon, for instance, known as one of the many results of World War II, the largest war in the history of mankind, is a powerful deterrent of more wars, which guarantee the peace. Therefore, a seemingly contradictory theory still works in other aspects.
In the novel, these are the main slogans used by the Party to psychologically control its people. These slogans indicate an obvious contradictory paradox in themselves. The purpose of these slogans is to create the idea of "doublethink", weakening the individuality and convincing people that everything done by the Party is for the welfare of people and every policy passed by the government is naturally justified. Anyone with normal thoughts and common sense, however, can easily point out the contradictions: war is the opposite of peace; freedom contradicts slavery; ignorance means the lack of strength.
These slogans can be interpreted in another aspect: war is cruel by nature, which reminds people to cherish the peace; freedom may cause adverse effects on people since being free means that one is able to do something dangerous or irrational to restrict himself, and slavery can protect people from danger; ignorance helps to prevent people from knowing things that they are not supposed to know, which guarantees safety.
Even though these slogans are ridiculous in most situation, yet they do work in some circumstances. The nuclear weapon, for instance, known as one of the many results of World War II, the largest war in the history of mankind, is a powerful deterrent of more wars, which guarantee the peace. Therefore, a seemingly contradictory theory still works in other aspects.
It is too bad that ignorance guarantees safety, but I think you are correct.
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