The "War on Terror" as Defined by 1984's Emmanuel Goldstein
EXTRACTS FROM THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF OLIGARCHICAL COLLECTIVISM
by Emmanuel Goldstein
(The 'Book within a Book' from George Orwell's 1984. Emmanuel Goldstein is rumored to be a former top member of the ruling (and sole) Party who had broken away early in the movement and started an organization known as "The Brotherhood", dedicated to the fall of The Party. In a religious context, Emmanuel can be used as a representation of Satan, making of course, Big Brother a representation of God. He shares many characteristics with Beelzebub, the most obvious being the original rebel, the one who questioned authority. Goldstein is often compared to a goat in appearance, while Satan is often said to have the lower body of a goat. Also, he has a small, possibly mythical, following who can be accused of various crime or heresies and "burned at the stake." Far more significantly, however, Goldstein represents the bogeyman used by all regimes to represent the "them" who are against "us".
"The social atmosphere is that of a besieged city.. And at the same time the consciousness of being at war, and therefore in danger, makes the handing-over of all power to a small caste seem the natural, unavoidable condition of survival."
"It does not matter whether the war is actually happening, and, since no decisive victory is possible, it does not matter whether the war is going badly. All that is needed is that a state of war should exist."
"In his capacity as an administrator, it is often necessary for a member of the Inner Party to know that this or that item of war news is untruthful, and he may be aware that the entire war is spurious and is either not happening or is being waged for purposes quite other than the declared ones: but such knowledge is easily neutralized by the technique of doublethink. Meanwhile no Inner Party member wavers for an instant in his mystical belief that the war is real, and that it is bound to end victoriously, with Oceania the undisputed master of the entire world."
"War prisoners apart, the average citizen of Oceania never sets eyes on a citizen of either Eurasia or Eastasia, and he is forbidden the knowledge of foreign languages. If he were allowed contact with foreigners he would discover that they are creatures similar to himself and that most of what he has been told about them is lies."
- Ignorance is Strength - Freedom is Slavery - War is Peace
