I have always thought that the most enlightening aspect of 1984 is its commentary on the ephemeral nature of rationality, and it disappoints me how often overlo

I have always thought that the most enlightening aspect of 1984 is its commentary on the ephemeral nature of rationality, and it disappoints me how often overlooked this theme throughout the novel is. There is an overwhelmingly mainstream misconception that our modern western use of rationality and empiricism is inherent to human thought- in reality, it isn't even universally applicable to our own "enlightened society". One of the climaxes of the novel is when Winston finally believes that 2+2=5, and he does so because Big Brother says it is so. In general, we tend to believe that belief is something which must inherently rise out of empiricism; all of us reading this believe 2+2=4 because we have seen and understood the mathematical and logical reasoning behind this. However, the spectrum from daily emotional irrationality to politics to religion tells us that human beings do not base a large number of their beliefs in empirical reasoning, but in something unscientific entirely. Thus, the most important part, in my opinion, of 1984 is not about authoritarian censorship or surveillance, but rather the creation of a delusional society. This is also, even in light of the recent scandals, far more applicable to our society today, when modern conservativism is both willing to be ignorant of scientific and social evidence, and willing to lie to the degree that they have believed their own lies.