Title: In 1984, what are the three sacred principles of Ingsoc? - eNotes.com
Headings: In
1984
, what are the three sacred principles of Ingsoc?

1984
In 1984, what are the three sacred principles of Ingsoc?
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Content: In dictatorial regimes, such as the Communist and Fascist countries of Orwell's own time, the rulers always attempted to obliterate the concept of objective truth. Truth, to them, becomes not what people objectively observe as occurring, but instead whatever the government or the "Party" says it is. Orwell's novel is a projection into the future of what was already happening in the nightmare world of the 1930's and 40's. The statements that "War is Peace," and "Freedom is Slavery," since they are direct self-contradictions and make no sense, are intended to negate the concept of logic. They are also examples of doublethink, the ability to hold two contradictory ideas in the mind and believe both of them simultaneously, as the Party desires people to do, including its own members. In 1984, the scene in which, in the middle of a rally, the speaker suddenly declares that Oceania is at war with Eastasia and has always been at war with it and is in alliance with Eurasia and has always been— the direct opposite of the truth—demonstrates the Party's manipulation of facts ad absurdum. To the Party, truth is whatever it declares truth to be, and people are expected to believe it in spite of what their own senses and memories tell them, just as they are expected to believe that opposites such as freedom and slavery are the same thing. This is the 1984-version of "alternative facts" being presented as reality. The third slogan, "Ignorance is Strength," is not as much of a direct self-contradiction as the first two, but it nevertheless demonstrates the same principle—that it is desirable for people not to have knowledge. If people are kept in a state of ignorance (which the Party considers strength), then they can be manipulated and controlled to whatever degree the Party wishes.