Doublethink In 1984
What is doublethink? Orwell describes doublethink as "the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them." In 1984, doublethink is the normal way of thought, and as a result everyone understands it and practices it. Doublethink is different from changing ones mind, lying, and self-deception in many ways. Doublethink involves believing in the two contradictory ideas at the same time. This is different from lying because lying is saying something that is wrong and knowing that it is wrong but still saying it anyway. For example lets say you broke a vase. When your mother asks you who broke the vase and you say the dog did it that would be lying. The reason it is not doublethink is that you do not believe in two different beliefs at one time. You don't believe you broke the vase and the dog broke the vase, you absolutely know you broke the vase and are trying to put the blame on the dog as to avoid trouble. Changing ones mind is also different from doublethink. Changing ones mind is accepting or believing one thing, then deciding to accept or believe something else different then what you thought before. An example of changing ones mind would believe the earth is flat and
Affirmative action is an excellent example of doublethink. Affirmative action is the idea of ending discrimination by basically practicing it. Affirmative action says that no matter how many qualified people there are for a job there has to be a certain number of minorities let in. Which means, in turn, if your white it will be harder to get a job due to affirmative action, because employers will have to hire a certain number of minorities even if they are not as qualified as you. This is to justify for generations of discrimination towards minorities by creating a new era of discrimination toward non-minorities. This is a clear example of doublethink in that one is led to believe that by discriminating you can justify for discrimination. Interestingly enough, this idea has gained a great deal of support. It is the normal way of thought in many social circles, and as a result, many institutions have begun to practice it. Whether or not this form of doublethink is necessary or even virtuous for society is a heated topic. It is not necessary because people should be hired based on their credentials and not what their skin color is. However because of the history of the America discrimination has been and still is a real big problem. Because of this affirmative action appeals to the morals of a lot of people in the country that makes it virtuous to society in the fact that there are minorities in the country and they feel they are treated unfairly. So in the case of affirmative action, doublethink is virtuous to some members of society because it helps their moral level to help them feel more equal even though some other people may be being discriminated against. So this shows that affirmative actions is doublethink because even though people who where once discriminated against are being let in to the workforce a lot easier people are still being treated unfairly. People think it is ok to fix discrimination by discriminating against a different group of people. Some examples of doublethink in 1984 are the principles of ingsoc. 'War is Peace' for example. To illustrate 'War is Peace' we must look at the term 'keeping the peace.' America, the world's savior, has a nasty habit of 'keeping the peace' in foreign lands. What this really means is that we send troops to these lands, armed with the latest in gun technology, and we threaten to kill everyone that goes against the interests of democracy. All in the name of 'keeping the peace'. We mourn the troops who are killed by 'friendly fire' and remember that their noble death was earned in the cause of 'keeping the peace.' And 'Ignorance is Strength',
Some common words found in the essay are:
, OJ Simpson, Religions Catholicism, Ignorance Strength, affirmative action, jury duty, changing ones mind, ones mind, changing ones, example doublethink, broke vase, 'keeping peace', virtuous society, examples doublethink, american society, mind believe earth, doublethink changing ones, doublethink virtuous society, believing contradictory ideas,
Approximate Word count = 1773
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
