jaylar
O’Brien, who represents The Party, is torturing Winston Smith. He is almost joyfully explaining the ‘reality’ that exists in Oceania.
In 1984 reality is shaped by those in power and their current needs. For example:
‘When we navigate the ocean, or when we predict an eclipse, we often find it convenient to assume that the earth goes round the sun and that the stars are millions upon millions of kilometres away. But what of it?”
” Do you suppose it is beyond us to produce a dual system of astronomy? The stars can be near or distant, according as we need them. Do you suppose our mathematicians are unequal to that? Have you forgotten doublethink?’
Doublethink is a hallmark of 1984. It allows one to hold two different contrary opinions in one’s mind at the same time. It is based on the belief that nothing exists outside your own mind.
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This kind of mentality is not strange in 2020. Especially in America.
