Examples Of Totalitarianism In 1984

Fabricating Opposition: Dystopia Reveals How Totalitarianism Uses Enemies to Control

Throughout human history, generating fear has been one of the most successful methods of controlling a group of people. By fabricating an enemy, a tyrannical government can shape the population to its benefit. 1984 shows a totalitarian society where the government has total control over both the physical aspects of everyday life as well as the psychological side of it. Through methods such as extreme surveillance and the Thought Police, the party, Ingsoc, can control the people they believe have the capability to be a threat. The rest of society, the proles, are contained through psychological schemes which manipulate them to prevent them from being threats

In these societies, that fear points people away from anger toward their tyrannical leaders and towards unity against a common enemy. Dystopian novels highlight the totalitarian method of denominating an enemy to control the population by manipulating a sense of nationalism. 1984 and The Handmaid’s Tale display governments fabricating internal enemies and using them to alarm the population to gain power. In 1984, this was Emmanuel Goldstein, a possibly fictitious enemy of the state, leading an underground revolution against the party. Ingsoc uses Goldstein through Two Minutes Hate to generate anger in Oceania against a common enemy. Whether Goldstein truly exists is irrelevant to this. “The horrible thing about the Two Minutes Hate was not that one was obliged to act a part, but that it was impossible to avoid joining in” (Orwell 14). The psychological grasp the hate has on the population is used to control and manipulate them. Goldstein’s Book describes it by saying that “The discontents produced by [their] bare, unsatisfying life are deliberately turned outwards and dissipated by such devices as the Two Minutes Hate” (Orwell 211). George Orwell uses this to demonstrate how a government

In Oceania, this is done through pointless wars against either Eurasia or Eastasia. Whichever is the current enemy nation is shown by the Ministry of Truth as the nation that has always been the enemy. The Equatorial Front is used for wars that will never be won and are never supposed to be won by any nation. An interesting feature of this region is that the areas in the Equatorial Front (North Africa, the Middle East, India, and Southeast Asia) are noticeably countries heavily colonized by European powers. Most of the territory did not gain their independence until after 1984 was even written. The hate towards the enemy nation that Oceania is supposedly at war with is manipulated to distract the population from internal problems and create a wave of nationalism, where supporting their country and the brave, courageous soldiers is more important then any hardships they may face. Rulers in the past have done this as well. Leopoldo Galtieri, the leader of Argentina from 1981-1982, was criticized for his oppressive rule and economic management. He attempted to distract Argentinians from this by invading the Falklands, "the lost little sisters” of Argentina, to promote patriotism towards his regime. This failed, as the British easily defeated Argentina, but it shows a very similar tactic as Orwell displays with Oceania, even