Abuse of Power in George Orwell's 1984 and Under the Rule of Mao Zedong

Government systems are an essential role in maintaining a social environment, but enormous power from the elite can debilitate the majority population to a substandard way of living. Abuse of power is seen in George Orwell’s political fiction 1984 as well as in the Communist Party of China under chairman Mao Zedong. Both of these government systems use their superiority to control one’s way of living, whether it be a destiny of squalor or utter submissiveness. The main tactics shared between the Party and chairman Mao are their use of targeting children to fight for them, destruction of information that could lead society to an unwanted way of thinking, and forced unification of the population. Through tactical approaches that target the lifestyles of the population, totalitarian governments break down an individual’s willpower, which leads to a sense of constant helplessness. The helpless population serves as fuel for making the government stronger because once people feel helpless, they are at the mercy of their government and thus cannot formulate their own thoughts and opinions to question authority

Blind nationalism is an effective tool to control society because they are susceptible to conformity. Failure to conform to social norms may result in one's vaporization, as noted in 1984 when someone displays any irrelevant thoughts in front of a telescreen. They are constantly watched and expected to act angry during the Two Minutes Hate and to act neutral during any other meaningful social interaction. As people gather in a herd around a telescreen, Winston observes that “The horrible thing about the two Minutes Hate was not that one was obliged to act a part, but that it was impossible to avoid joining in” (Orwell 16). The Par...

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...society blurs the line between truth and lies and ultimately believes in the lies as if they were truths. This is assisted through consistent forgery of information. Since the next generation is also brainwashed by the government, one's sense of helplessness is amplified. Any clues of disobeying the selected laws of the country are seen by the children, and they would immediately and happily inform officials to condemn those people. Forgery was always done to shine the government in a higher light and make it impossible for society to know any truths. They could not question what they were taught or why, they just had to accept it. Through blind nationalism, false information, and influenced children, the government systems in both 1984 and China have controlled their respective populations through lies and fear, leaving society in a persistent state of helplessness.