blog post #1

One thing that stood out to me from this reading is that the psychological manipulation necessary from the Party to ensure that the citizens are happy and submissive has no limits. The element that surprised me the most was definitely the idea that the sole purpose of Newspeak was to eliminate the mere possibility of thoughtcrime. I mean, the Party is literally constructing a reality for the people at this point-- they’re taking the wanted parts of history and what really happened and filling in the rest with what’s convenient for them. Some of the manipulation very faintly reminded me of marketing and advertising. For example, the chocolate rationing being reduced, but then it being rewritten as being more than the predicted amount for that year reminded me of a Justice scandal where they were caught raising their prices so they could always have 15% off and make people think they were saving money. Another thing that really caught my attention was when Winston thought to himself that it would only be able to be dissatisfied if there used to be  a higher standard of living-- I think it’s a really good example of how the propaganda reaches different people differently, even in a society that seems to be complacent on the outside.

What are some subtle methods of psychological manipulation that you've noticed so far?