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"Winston Smith works as a clerk in the Records Department of the Ministry of Truth, where his job is to rewrite historical documents so they match the constantl
by tehwalrus 10y ago
"Winston Smith works as a clerk in the Records Department of the Ministry of Truth, where his job is to rewrite historical documents so they match the constantly changing current party line. This involves revising newspaper articles and doctoring photographs—mostly to remove "unpersons," people who have fallen foul of the party. Because of his proximity to the mechanics of rewriting history, Winston Smith nurses doubts about the Party and its monopoly on truth."
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winston_Smith https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winston_Smith
- nickff 10y agoThanks for posting this. Many are also persistently pushing to change what is 'acceptable' vocabulary to change how people think, as Orwell described in the Newspeak appendix.[1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four#The_Newspeak_appendix https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four#The_Newsp...
- joeframbach 10y agohttp://alexjs.com/ http://alexjs.com/ for example.
- sqeaky 10y agoIn 1984 they weren't trying to adjust the vocabulary to be more inclusive and make every feel more comfortable about open discourse in a fully optional way. They wanted to erase words that could denigrate the party, change the meanings of words that could be used against the party or add new words that could only say good thing about the party. Things libel laws that stop free speech, how many politicians wiggle through the truth or how people who try to mandate political correct speech like extreme SJWs seem like the problems indicated here.
- tehwalrus 10y agoMy only beef is when the law comes down hard on language, as per the Italian courts (or minitrue). People arguing about acceptable language (or, essentially, what is ethical and what isn't) is not a bad thing.