Brainwashing In 1984

Brainwashing is the best way to lead a successful society. At least in the novel, 1984. The Party, which was the government in 1984 was the main force that controlled the people. Not only did the society in 1984 promote brainwashing, but so did the U.S. 1984 is like today’s society in the way the U.S. government implements surveillance and censorship in order to brainwash people

There once was a warm caring leader. In fact, he possessed the traits of a guardian and a protector. This majestic figure was known as Big Brother, the leader of the Party in 1984. Big Brother had one motto in order for a successful society, war is peace, freedom is slavery, and ignorance is strength. (Orwell,26) This makes people think otherwise of his title. Instead

of being a respectful embracing leader, Big Brother was more of a control freak.

He gained his power and role by simply the Party brainwashing the people. The Party does this in two ways. The first is by Two Minutes Hate. Two Minutes Hate was a ritual where the people in Oceania would watch people who opposed Big Brother. The whole goal was to unite the public with a common enemy, so they don’t go against the Party. The ritual always ended with Big Brother and that was to show the people there was still hope. The second way the Party brainwashes the people is by propaganda. It’s almost impossible for a pedestrian to walk down the streets of their society without seeing a poster in bold that says, “Big Brother is Watching You.” It was described as, “one of those pictures which are so contrived that the eyes follow you about when you move.”They use this propaganda in order to scare the people and to prevent them from doing any crime. What is crazy is that this scare tactic actually works when people don’t even know Big Brother or if he even exists. In today's society, there is the U.S. government and inside of that, our Big Brother the president. The U.S. government brainwashes Americans all the time, especially in presidential campaigns. Throughout presidential

campaigns, presidents scare the people about concerns in America and if any candidate was elected the consequences America would be facing. They use the scare tactic like in 1984 makes Americans hesitant, but that’s when the candidates always state what they will do in order to conquer America's issues. This then gives Americans hope and they are now brainwashed into liking the candidate.
Another similarity between the society in 1984 and America’s society today is surveillance.

In 1984 there is a strong recognized force called the Thought Police. The Thought Police is a group of people selected by the government and their goal is to find anyone that has committed a crime towards the party. The scary thing is, “there was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment (Orwell,5).” These crimes include speaking out against the party, not participating in activities, or thinking badly about the activities. The Thought Police monitor thoughts by spying in on people when they are asleep and see if they sleep talk, spectate if those are hesitant during Two Minutes Hate and are not screaming at the screen, or if they see you lacking patriotism. Winston says, “A day never passed when spies and saboteurs acting under his directions were not unmasked by the Thought Police (Orwell,17-18).” Winston was explaining how the Thought Police were. Those who do the following have done what are known as Thoughtcrimes. Committing a Thoughtcrime results in intense punishments. In America we don’t have the Thought Police, but we have the CIA. They are just like the Thought Police because the CIA is a secret agency that spies on people in order to protect the government. The CIA is broken down into a few sectors one in which happen to be public affairs. Just like the Thought Police, the CIA works in watching over people of other countries or even

citizens of the U.S. to ensure the safety of our government. Therefore, the CIA stops anyone that could be a threat to our nation.
In terms of censorship, Oceania and America are similar. In 1984 everywhere you go, the Thought Police prevents bad things being said or thought about the Party. This is censorship because the Party hired the Thought Police for this exact cause. Since in 1984 it’s illegal to express thoughts about the Party, The citizens of 1984 are limited to what they can say. In both 1984 and America there is no freedom of speech. The U.S. is known as the land of the free where there is freedom of speech. This unfactual statement is illustrated when watching the TV. The TV is always stalled for 5 seconds before you can see what happens. This is because there is the FCC which is an agency that hear what they say on TV that if they hear something bad they will bleep it out or sometimes if they see something they don’t want us seeing they will put a black box over it.
We are taught that we have all these rights and privileges living in the U.S, but that is simply false. The government tells us all these things in order to brainwash us into believing it. They do this by using surveillance and censorship. Since, technology is becoming more advanced there are more opportunities for people to have access to spy on others when least expected.