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How many revolutionaries across history have had the courage to recognize their own motives?
They pretended, perhaps even believed, that they had seized power unwillingly and for
a limited time, that just around the corner there lay a paradise where human beings would
be equal and free.
Until then, every war and revolution they unleashed was a necessary evil in the service
of a better world.
But power ultimately fell to those who lacked such illusions.
Those who realized that no one ever seized control of the state with the intention of
relinquishing it.
Those who understood that a dictatorship is not established to safeguard the revolution,
but rather the purpose of the revolution to establish a dictatorship.
Those who now rule Oceania.
One of three super-states through which control of the world is said to have been divided,
Oceania is a totalitarian oligarchy.
Absolute power is invested in a single supreme leader, known as “Big Brother,'' who is
ubiquitously displayed across all state media.
However, it remains unknown whether this figure is a real, living person, or the invention
of the nation’s sole political party, “English Socialism” or IngSoc.
The overriding purpose of IngSoc is to maintain control over every aspect of society and indoctrinate
its populace to submit to state rule without question.
Through pervasive and degrading propaganda, citizens have been conditioned to perform
the act of simultaneously accepting two mutually contradictory beliefs as correct.
This act, known within Oceania as “doublethink” presents a complete lack of cognitive dissonance,
with citizens completely unaware of any conflict or contradiction.
For a citizen to recognize, let alone mention, any contradiction between reality and statements
made by the party would result in that person being instantly socially outcast and subject
to disciplinary action.
The act of doublethink is therefore also necessary for any citizen wishing to fit in with their
peers or gain status within the party.
Every facet of Oceania reflects this type of pervasive contradiction.
Publicly, IngSoc rejects and vilifies every principle for which the socialist movement
originally stood, doing so in the name of socialism.
Rations are reduced while announcements claim they have increased.
The lowest classes of society have been liberated and are now free, but must also be continually
subjugated.
War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength.
Government institutions are again deliberate exercises in doublethink.
The Ministry of Peace serves as Oceania’s war ministry, responsible for maintaining
a state of perpetual conflict.
With all surplus resources devoted to the war effort, citizens are forced to live lives
of constant hardship, preventing them from reflecting on the true nature of their society.
Perpetual war also helps preserve the type of mental atmosphere required for any hierarchical
society to survive.
Constant war is so completely necessary to maintain the status quo within Oceania that
the purpose of the Ministry of Peace is not to achieve victory, but rather ensure the
conflict is kept in a state of equilibrium.
The constant victories achieved by the armed forces are reported by the Ministry of Truth,
responsible for the spread of propaganda across the nation.
One of the Ministry of Truth’s ongoing efforts is the eradication of natural languages, replacing
them with the artificial “NewSpeak”.
By destroying words and reducing the vocabulary of its citizens to simple terms conveying
simple meanings, the Ministry aims to limit freedom of thought, personal identity, self
expression, and any aspect of free will that might threaten the ideology of IngSoc.
The Ministry’s most widespread efforts involve the falsification of historical events and
manufacturing new truths that better suit IngSoc.
Through their efforts, the image of Big Brother and the party remains infallible, absolute,
and without weakness.
While the Ministry of Truth might produce endless statistics purporting that citizens
are living in a golden age of prosperity, the Ministry of Plenty is responsible for
maintaining a state of perpetual poverty, scarcity, and financial shortages.
It oversees Oceania’s centrally planned economy, ensuring the public creates useless
products or weapons of war, while denying them any access to the means of production.
This department of the Ministry is charged with organizing state lotteries.
These are especially popular in the lower classes, who hope to win big prizes and then
live in luxury.
These prizes are in actuality, not awarded at all, with names of non-existent big winners
published each week.
Most feared across Oceania is the Ministry of Love.
It enforces loyalty to Big Brother and IngSoc through fear, utilizing a vast security apparatus
alongside systematic brainwashing.
It is likely the most powerful ministry, for it alone controls the Thought Police, a security
force capable of monitoring every citizen without exception.
Through omnipresent surveillance conducted by both a network of agents and telescreens
required in every home, any nonconformist elements of society can be identified and
exposed.
Only the Inner Party enjoys the privilege of turning off their telescreens, though only
for a short period of time.
This group represents the societal elite within Oceania, responsible for major policies, decisions,
and governance.
They enjoy spacious, comfortable homes, personal servants, high quality food and drinks, and
ownership over personal transportation that would otherwise be illegal.
Despite these privileges, the Inner Party is not exempt from the suppression of thought
and behavior imposed on every citizen of Oceania.
While most lies and propaganda originate from within their own ranks, any non-conformist
member of the Inner Party can be condemned, tortured, and erased from memory just as easily
as any other citizen.
The Outer Party exists as an artificial middle class.
Its educated workers are necessary for the nation’s bureaucracy and the success of
the party, but barely tolerated by the state itself.
Their combination of intellectual ability and limited power means they are the group
most likely to incite rebellion, and are therefore the primary target of the Ministry of Love.
Members of the Outer Party are expected to live in a continuous patriotic frenzy, blindly
accept every order, and completely abstain from sex other than for strictly procreative
purposes within marriage.
During a daily “Two Minutes of Hate”, its members are forced to watch footage depicting
enemies of the state, and to loudly express their derision.
The Two Minute Hate creates a hideous ecstasy of fear and vindictiveness, making any pretense
unnecessary.
Micheal!
Citizen 6074 Michael.
Yes You.
Sit up straight.
Pay attention.
This video has thoughtfully been provided for your edification and enjoyment.
We don’t all have the privilege of fighting on the front line.
Remember our boys on the Malabar front.
Just think what they have to put up with.
There we are, eyes forward, that’s better.
Let us continue.
The Proles are the lowest class of worker, performing most of the manual labor within
Oceania.
Despite living in brutal poverty, they are under far less surveillance and kept sedated
by IngSoc with steady supplies of alcohol, gambling, sport, and pornography.
They are preserved in a state of ignorance, unable to grasp a sophisticated view of their
own lives or society.
While they make up more than 85% of Oceania’s population, they lack the will or awareness
that might make them a danger to the Party, with the rare individual showing promise or
resolve eliminated by undercover members of the Thought Police.
Oceania, it is claimed, stretches across the two American continents, Australia, New Zealand,
the Southern half of Africa, and the British Isles.
The latter in particular has been re-designated Airstrip One, and it is likely every region
under Oceanic control has been renamed accordingly.
It’s territorial extent however might perhaps be just another lie spread by the Ministry
of Truth, with Oceania limited to a far smaller part of the Earth, or perhaps to just Airstrip
One itself.
The other two nations of the world, Eastasia and Eurasia, against whom Oceania is perpetually
at war, might be similar fabrications, existing only in the images broadcast on telescreens.
But for those within its borders, it is impossible to prove whether Oceania is limited only to
the British Isles, or has spread across the entire world.
The Party has nearly completed its destruction of the Old World, of human memory, and with
it, the past itself.
For who controls the past, controls the future.
Who controls the present, controls the past.
Are you tired of having to remember if Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia or Eurasia?
Are you sick of being arrested by the Thought Police and having your worst fear used to
psychologically destroy any remaining resistance you have towards loving the state?
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Make sure you’re the one watching the Telescreen, and not the other way around.