The Powers of Propaganda

The Powers Of Propaganda

Propaganda can be used in many ways and for many purposes. Although it is often associated with the songs, banners and posters created by the government during war, it actually has a much broader application. It does not only refer to the government trying to get people to believe in certain things or to have certain attitudes, but also the way in which businesses try to get you to buy their products. So what is the definition of propaganda? Put broadly, any organised effort to persuade the public about the truth of an idea, the value of a product or the appropriateness of an attitude can be labelled as propaganda. In this essay I will be discussing the importance of George Orwell’s ideas in the broader context of the use and meaning of propaganda as it is understood today, with direct references to his novel, 1984 and to his essay Politics and the English Language.

George Orwell’s novel, 1984 warns us what will happen if propaganda is allowed get out of hand. It pictures a government that makes lies true and brainwashes people into believing contradictory things simultaneously. The newspeak word for it: doublethink. Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind together, and accepting both of them simultaneously, ...to say that black is white...to believe that black is white...to know that black is white and to forget that one has ever believed the contrary...the prevailing mental condition is controlled insanity. When a party member recognises an unorthodox thought or memory he always puts it aside, and makes himself believe that what he is thinking is false, even though clearest fact could state it right. This has to be done with a conscious effort, otherwise it would not be really sufficiently precise. However at the same time it also has to be unconscious otherwise it would produce a feeling of falseness and of guilt. Language can also be used for certain purposes e.g. to make the meaning of what one is trying to say unclear or dressing up brutal facts in pretty words in an effort to justify something that is unjustifiable, in the novel however it is shown to be used as a further method to establish total control over a population. The weapon being used is called Newspeak. It is the official language of Oceania and the only existing language whose vocabulary is drastically and intentionally being reduced. Verbs and adjectives are being thrown out as well as nouns, synonyms and antonyms, what justification is there for a word which is simply the opposite of some other words? A word contains its opposite in itself. The opposite of good for instance could be, instead of bad, ungood. It is also an exact opposite, making it more suitable than bad, because it contains the original word in itself whereas bad is a totally different word with no physical connection to good at all. This would make the language simpler but vaguer and give it the feeling of it being covered by a thin white material through which one can only just see the outline but not fully recognise what is lying underneath. The reason for this is that the words bad and ungood, while having exactly the same meaning, bring two totally different pictures into ones mind. When you compare these two images, I am sure that the image that pictures the word bad, when it is heard, is by far much worse that the image you get when you hear the word ungood.

The inner purpose of both Newspeak and Doublethink, as I mentioned earlier, is to establish absolute control over the country’s population. In the book, at that moment in time the party still uses telescreens and thought police combined, to monitor every party member day and night, but their ultimate objective is that by manipulation of the mind and of the language, to make the people that are under their control literally unable to commit thoughtcrime (the newspeak word for the act of thinking something that is politically unorthodox or unacceptable by party standards), because the people will be trapped within their own minds, by which time it will no longer be theirs to control. The reason this method can be successful is because between the mind and the language there is a definite connection.

When we think, our imagination and thoughts are in form of pictures and words and if our language, the only language we know, would be tampered with, the words and vocabulary so much reduced and changed, that we could not express ourselves properly even to ourselves and the words would not evoke the right pictures in our minds, then the ability to think clearly for ourselves or to fully grasp the reality of what another person is saying would be eliminated, then we would become somewhat like machines, accepting anything that is fed into our minds and believing everything that is said, without question. This is exactly what the party