1984: 'Doublethink' Explained

Ever wondered what is meant by 'Doublethink' in George Orwell's '1984'?

In this short video, Dr Aidan explores the concept of 'Doublethink' in 1984, and explains how and why it is used by The Party.

Have any video requests? Post them in the comments.

[dhararry]

Cognitive Dissonance + Gaslighting = Doublethink

[geraldtrudeau]

That novel, and the two movie versions of it, have haunted me my whole life. And now with each passing day I see the nightmare of ''1984'' coming true. Being forewarned does not always mean you can stop it from happening. I expect that book will be outlawed in the near future, and will be forgotten.

[Thesm]

"Can a man with a beard tell a bare-faced lie" is a classic case of Doublethink; it's neither true nor false, neither right nor wrong.
A classic case of a razor-sharp conundrum.
“Reality exists in the human mind and nowhere else.”
― George Orwell,  1984

[chokkan]

Thank you for this detailed explanation (even though I did not personally need it). It does make it even more apparent than it was previously what a complete opus this book was for Orwell. The man had spent much of his life and career prior to this as a borderline socialist, but after 'Animal Farm' showed that the scales had fallen from his eyes, he threw himself into this work with a passion. It's sobering to realize that what he saw in the '40s showed him the possibility that this was the future of mankind ('...a boot grinding a human face...") when so many simply wished to put the horrors of WWII behind them.

[denvan]

The novel _1984_ what is a reading assignment my freshman year of high school. The experience was depressing as that was my daily experience in my home. My father was (I now realize) a narcissist, and he attempted to exercise mind control over his three sons, I being the youngest. We all endured stoically (The gray rock response was reflexive).
When I became an adult, married, began a 20 year career and a marriage. My father attempted these mind control tactics on my wife. She had a genius level IQ and was too adept. But on the occasion he tried to bully her. I took him outside and told him he would not do that again, ever. I knew every one of his tactics by hard, new each one as he attempted it, and refuted it soundly.
Well, he neither apologized to me or my wife for his hostility. She never repeated it.
Because of this early experience, I have a nearly reflexive response to lies. I won’t be dominated by them, I have wrist, death rather than submit to them and endured pain for refuting lies.

[lordjambrek]

1984 is a instruction manual and a warning at the same time, depends who is reading.

[SquatterLoki]

In the novel George Orwell describes doublethink as "mental cheating" which to me sounds a lot like self-hypnotising yourself to forget things and dredge it up when the need arrives.

I can only theorize why the author didn't just simplify the concept of doublethink as hypnotism (or in some way put me in deeper confusion by stating it is not hypnotism). The book perhaps was years in the making before it was published in 1949.

At the time, crude mental treatment such as lobotomy was still a widespread practise in the medical field before it started to fall out of favor at the 1950s with the introduction of psychotheraphy medications.

And psychology study only begun in earnest at 1954. Hypnotism perhaps was regarded as a circus trick in his time. Or perhaps didn't have a proper word or detailed description for the practise.

[pierangelabarbanti]

BRILLIANT VIDEO! Thank you ever so much! 🙏

[JubileuPeum]

Great explanation and video. Surprising, good content about 1984 are really rare even being a famous book, and this one i enjoy a lot. Congrats!

[martinneumeyer]

You should also read 'Prey World' by Alexander Merow. It is more connected to our present time

[EphesiansArmor]

I’m beginning to think, that all of us think, we really really like this video. Gracias.

[stevenchampion]

Bravo, I fully enjoyed this but have never ever watched it.

[nnkk]

Too real, I was expecting this to be theoretical.

[dimitriospapageorgiou]

Amazing explanation. I've watched the video multiple times.
What's the name of the song in the background?

[JorgeEFM]

" ...a Força deixa a História mal contada... "

[brianwright]

Social media is definitely a re-education tool. Has the power to talk people out of their gender. Sky is the limit.

[daniellemclean]

great video! what is the background music?

[nicolacamposarcone]

Shortly, it is fake autotrolling but actually the group using the fake autotrolling is trolling the world by becoming the upper class and remaining in through the autotrolling. Wich means that Ingsoc originated from the Trollface meme and that he is Big Brother. Guys I solved it.

[hxmdnv]

Hiii I hope you are well could you make more revision videos on merchant of Venice like theme and character analysis tyy

[AlastairjCarruthers]

We saw a good, though scary, example of doublethink in British politics a couple of years ago when Jeremy Corbyn was leader of the Labour Party.

Corbyn is a life-long campaigner against racism and for peace, something that's extensively on record and entirely provable. Both his words and his actions reveal him to be a passionate and consistent supporter of ethnic minorities including the Jewish community, as well as someone who has worked tirelessly to try to resolve conflicts in places like Northern Ireland and the Middle East through dialogue and mutual understanding.

The British establishment and press didn't want a left-leaning politician as prime minister though, so orchestrated a smear campaign that largely focused on making him out to be, remarkably, an anti-semite and a supporter of terrorism. And it worked; despite all the evidence people bought into it and his popularity, which had been rapidly growing, began to wane. Even now, several years later, any mention of Corbyn is met with groans of "anti-semite" and "terrorist sympathiser".

Anti-racism is racism. Peacemaking is driving conflict. War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.