1984 Brainwashing Research Paper

What exactly is brainwashing? One may say it is the manipulation of the mind. As a matter of fact, “brainwashing is a non-scientific concept that the human mind can be altered or controlled by certain psychological techniques” (Wikipedia). The concept of brainwashing was highly debated in the 20th century regarding if reconditioning the brain was possible; many argued that it was possible due to the incidents in the Korean War. However, there is no scientific proof that brainwashing (a theoretical form of mind control) exists or is even possible. The concept of mind control is quite evident in the novel, 1984. 1984 follows the life of Winston Smith, an undeceived Outer Party member in Oceania, and his attempts to retaliate against the manipulative

In other words, they are doing what the government wants them to do; they want the people to become mindless zombies in order to check if there is any rebellion and avoid it. In an event that the individuals realize that the government is being/becoming unethical, it will lead to anarchy and the overthrow of the government. In the same manner, we see this in the 21st century. Edward Snowden, a former Central Intelligence Agency employee, released top secrets about the U.S. and the amount of data they collect on its citizens. The NSA’s, the thought police of the 21st century, average data collection of the U.S. for a month (emails and Skype calls. Not including telecom company), is 3.1 billion. Judging from this number, you can see how many personal thoughts that a government agency has access to use. The ministry can use these personal thoughts against you. For instance, the NSA made a banker extremely drunk by telling him things that his daughter was doing online in order to recruit the banker. As you can see from this, the government used personal information for their own sake and gain. Even if the authorities have control over your thinking, to ensure that they are manipulating you, they use

It’s quite evident the novel due to the fact that the party is constantly using a plethora of propaganda such as the Two Minutes Hate. “He could never see the face of Goldstein without a powerful mixture of emotions.”(Orwell 14) The government uses Two Minutes Hate to antagonize their citizens and create this extreme hatred for the enemy. As Joseph Goebbels said, “the best propaganda is that which, as it were, works invisibly, penetrates the whole of life without the public having any knowledge of the propagandistic initiative.” When you compare Mr. Goebbels’s quote to the Two Minutes Hate, you can see that the Big Brother is achieving this through the event. The citizens of Oceania are fearing and hating a person, Emmanuel Goldstein, that is supposedly the enemy of the state. The problem with this is that the people don’t even know why they are hating the person but they are unconsciously detesting Goldstein. In the same fashion, it happens in the real world as well. Many individuals don’t notice it that they are being manipulated into doing something. Propaganda is everyone from advertisements to social media, we are attracted to doing what the manipulator wants. For instance, the iPhone X ad. Apple made their ad appear attractive and techy to appeal the masses and highlighted on key features of the phone to make consumers even more attracted to the product. Furthermore, Apple is not the only that does this, it is the same for