1984: Propaganda and Persuasion

A) The 5 examples of different techniques of propaganda and persuasion from 1984 are: * Glittering Generality- emotionally appealing words that are applied to a product or idea, but present no concrete argument or analysis. * Ad Hominem- Attacking one’s opponent, as opposed to attacking their arguments * Milieu Control- An attempt to control the social environment and ideas through the use of social pressure. * Bandwagon- Appeals attempt to persuade the target audience to join in and take the course of action that everyone else is taking. * Cult of Personality- when an individual uses mass media to create an idealized and heroic public image.

1) I. “WAR IS PEACE” “FREEDOM IS SLAVERY” “IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH”. (Orwell 4). II. “As usual, the face of Emmanuel Goldstein, the Enemy of the People, had flashed onto the screen. There were hisses here and there among the audience. The little sandy-haired woman gave a squeak of mingled fear and disgust”. (Orwell 11). III. “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU” (Orwell 2).

IV. “We do not merely destroy our enemies; we change them.” (Orwell 253). V. “2 + 2 = 5” (Orwell 290)

2) I. Glittering Generality
II. Ad Hominem
III. Milieu Control
IV. Bandwagon
V. Cult of Personality

3) I. The Glittering Generality quote satisfies the 4 criteria for propaganda by persuading people with catchy slogans, announcing it to all citizens, follows the Big Brother agenda, and has faulty reasoning and emotional appeals. II. The Ad Hominem quote satisfies the 4 criteria for propaganda by persuading people that Goldstein is a bad person and that they should be enemies with him, it applies to all citizens, follows the Party’s agenda by convincing people to be enemies with their enemies, and it has emotional appeals and faulty reasoning, just to gain power as a nation.

III. The Milieu Control quote satisfies the 4 criteria for propaganda by persuading people that they shouldn’t be secretly rebellion against the Party because Big Brother is always watching you, it applies to all the citizens, follows the Big Brother agenda, and has emotional appeals. IV. The Bandwagon quote satisfies the 4 criteria for propaganda by persuading people that if they have thought crime they won’t anymore once they catch them and is also saying that the Party is the best nation by changing people, it applies to all people that suspiciously look like they have thought crime or people from other unions, who they are recruiting, to change them, the quote follows the Party’s agenda, and has emotional appeals. V. The Cult of Personality quote satisfies the 4 criteria for propaganda by persuading people that no matter what history and math say, the Party is always right, it applies to all citizens; it follows the Party’s agenda, and has faulty reasoning.

B) Propaganda in 1984 that is similar to the world today.
* Beautiful people
* Demonizing the enemy
* Flag-waving
* Managing the news
* Name-calling

1) I. “We are the dead. Our only true life is in the future.” (Orwell 176). II. “As usual, the face of Emmanuel Goldstein, the Enemy of the People, had flashed onto the screen. There were hisses here and there among the audience. The little sandy-haired woman gave a squeak of mingled fear and disgust”. (Orwell 11). III. “The choice for mankind lies between freedom and happiness and for the great bulk of mankind, happiness is better.” (Orwell 271). IV. “It’s a beautiful thing, the destruction of words.” (Orwell 51). V. “I enjoy talking to you. Your mind appeals to me. It resembles my own mind except that you happen to be insane.” (Orwell 259).

2) I. Beautiful people
II. Demonizing the enemy
III. Flag-waving
IV. Managing the news
V. Name-calling

3) I. Like our world the quote of beautiful people on propaganda is persuading people that their country is the best, by saying they are thinking of their future, it applies to everyone, it follows the Party’s agenda, but has faulty reasoning. II. Similarly to our world the quote of demonizing the enemy on propaganda is persuading people to turn away from the enemy and to hate him because the party hates them, it applies to all citizens, it follows the Party’s agenda, and has an emotional appeal. III. The Flag waving quote is propaganda because it persuades people to join the Party because it is patriotic, which it isn’t, it is a dystopia, the propaganda applies to everyone, it follows the Party’s agenda, and has faulty reasoning. IV. The quote about managing the news is propaganda because it is lies made by the Party to persuade people to think Big Brother is always right, it applies to everyone, it follows the Party’s agenda, and has faulty reasoning. V. The Name-calling quote is propaganda because it persuades people to think that everyone else is wrong except Big Brother, and by calling other people names it makes them sound more powerful, this sort of propaganda applies to everyone, it follows the Party’s agenda, and has an emotional appeal.

C) Essay
1984 was written by George Orwell in 1949. Orwell presents a vision of the world and how it would appear in 1984, and this vision is frightening. He predicted that people would have no rights, freedom, or privacy whatsoever. The two main characters are Julia and Winston Smith who live in an authoritarian society and rebel against the lone and omnipotent political party. Winston even wrote “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER” (Orwell 18) in his diary. Since the Party and Big Brother, the ruling party dictator, have all authority and literally never lose sight of the citizens, Winston and Julia’s plan does not work out and they are eventually caught and separated from each other. The world today may not seem as bad as Orwell predicted, but people have different opinions. Still, we are left with many questions. One of which being: will our world ever look like Orwell’s 1984 or, is American society already approaching a time when the government watches our every move? At the end of the novel, the main plot conflicts are resolved and the resolution is successful. Throughout the Big Brother was omnipotent and could always watch what the citizens were doing from the telescreen.

Posters all around the city reminded citizens, “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU” (Orwell 2) and no one had the right to speak out against this tyrannical Party. Winston and Julia according to the law, were guilty of thought crime even before they began kindling a romance and collecting illegal “artifacts.” The Party even had thought police to search for such people. Winston and Julia were lovers and despised the Party because they had no freedom to have a relationship. The two would elope and meet at an old antique shop on the second floor, in a room away from all the telescreens… at least they thought so. They even thought that O’Brien, a main leader of the Party, exemplified thought crime and tried to draft Winston into the anti-Party Brotherhood. Winston was drawn to O’Brien because he seemed to share the same distrust and freedom of thought, but all along O’Brien was an agent for the thought police. He was only confirming Winston’s guilt. The room Julia and Winston would stay in had a telescreen but it was hidden. The telescreen popped out and said in an iron voice “you are the dead” (Orwell 221).

The two were terrified when they saw and heard the telescreen as the police broke in through the door and window, captured, and separated them. At this point in the novel, O’Brien interrogates and tortures Winston in an effort to cure him of rebellious thoughts. He is given these outrageous doublethink analogies like; “2 + 2 = 5” (Orwell 290). At first Winston refuses. Then he even tries desperately to accept the fallacy, but still O’Brien tortures him. It is only after they drag him to room 101 to confront him with his greatest fear, rats, that he is “cured” of any impulse to doubt the party. Julia goes through the same process and after the seemingly endless brainwashing they endure, the relationship they shared is impossible. At the end Winston loves big brother. “He loves Big Brother” (Orwell 297). In conclusion, the ending was successful and the conflicts were resolved even though it was in a wicked and depressing way. It was a sad ending, Winston and Julia suffered more abuse because of their planned rebellion.

Winston did not truly love Big Brother, he was brainwashed into liking the Party. This novel was based on a prediction made by Orwell, illustrating what our world would be like in the future. For modern Americans, the idea of one supreme party in the United States that hunts down any opposition as effectively as Orwell’s Big Brother seems impossible, but that is just an opinion, not a known fact. Others have opposing opinions, but the world is definitely not like that in the present era, and the year 1984 has passed. A good technique to keep our world from turning into “Oceania” is to respect civil liberties, try to stay away from too much power in the central government, and turn away from communism because it led to the establishment of an authoritarian regime that did resemble Orwell’s Oceania, the Soviet Union. If we pursue these values we will never approach Orwell’s vision.