1984 Propaganda Analysis

In the book 1984 by George Orwell, Oceania is constantly at war with either Eastasia or Eurasia. Whenever they are at war with Eastasia they are in an alliance with Eurasia and vice-versa, throughout the book. Oceania uses propaganda which is using biased information used to promote a political point of view to increase hate towards whichever country they’re currently at war with. Oceania also uses propaganda to increase love for Big Brother, who is the supposed leader of the party, which is the government of Oceania. Propaganda is used in real life and has been used throughout history to promote politicians, war causes, and to advertise products. Propaganda is used to increase hate or distrust towards other countries, politicians, goods, or services.

There are several instances throughout the book where the propaganda used to increase hate towards the enemy is comparable to propaganda used throughout history.

One such instance is when Oceania changes who they are at war with and then accuses the new enemy, Eastasia, of many past crimes including murders, rapes, and thefts. This is similar to the 1980’s during the cold war when Russia accused the United States of America of creating AIDS. One way these two instances are similar is the country creating the propaganda accuses the other country of heinous crimes which causes the countries citizens to either want to enlist in the army or be willing to make sacrifices of goods to help ensure their armies victory. Another thing they have in common is they try to break the opposing countries alliance with many other countries by spreading the

propaganda.
The second example of propaganda comes from Goldstein’s book. The book explains how Oceania tells its citizens that the governments of Eastasia and Eurasia are barbarous

outrages upon morality and common sense. A real world example of propaganda that mirrors this is the United States propaganda which stated death is a preferable alternative to communism. A similarity they both have in common is they portray the opposing style of government as a travesty and an unthinkable terrible. Both of these overtly promote their own governing system by pointing out how bad the opposing one is.
A third example of propaganda used in the book that is relatable to modern history is the two minutes hate. The two minutes hate is a two minute period every day where all party members are shown videos of their enemies and Goldstein which causes them to yell and scream from anger. A real life example of the two minutes hate is when the United States showed videos of Bin Laden and the 9/11 bombings. Both of these examples are ways for the country to show its citizens who the enemy is so they unite as one. They also make their citizens want to contribute money or time to help make sure their safety and their countries victory is ensured.
As illustrated above propaganda played an important role not only in the book 1984 but also throughout history. In the book the propaganda was used to promote the party as in real life and has been used to promote many things including countries, armies, causes, products, and politicians. Propaganda was used to create hate towards Eastasia as well as Eurasia. In real life, propaganda is used to make opposing countries, products, and politicians look bad. Therefore, propaganda is used to influence the population’s opinion either in a positive or negative way.