The rules of the Inner Party are held together by adherence to a common doctrine. In a Party member not even the smallest deviation of opinion on the most unimportant subject can be tolerated. But it is also necessary to remember that events happened in the desired manner. And if it is necessary to rearrange one's memories or to tamper with written records, then it is necessary to forget that one has done so. The trick of doing this can be learned like any other mental technique. It is learned by the majority of Party members, and certainly by all who are intelligent as well as orthodox. In Oldspeak it is called, quite frankly, "reality control." In Newspeak, it is called doublethink, though doublethink comprises much else as well.

Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them. The Party intellectual knows in which direction his memories must be altered; he therefore knows that he is playing tricks with reality; but by the exercise of doublethink he also satisfies himself that reality is not violated. The process has to be conscious, or it would not be carried out with sufficient precision, but it also has to be unconscious, or it would bring with it a feeling of falsity and hence of guilt.

Doublethink lies at the very heart of Ingsoc, since the essential act of the Party is to use conscious deception while retaining the firmness of purpose that goes with complete honesty. To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing them and to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then, when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just so long as it is needed, to deny the existence of objective reality and all the while to take account of the reality which one denies - all this is indispensably necessary. Even in using the word doublethink it is necessary to exercise doublethink. For by using the word one admits that one is tampering with reality; by a fresh act of doublethink one erases this knowledge; and so on indefinitely, with the lie always one leap ahead of the truth. Ultimately it is by means of doublethink that the Party has been able - and may, for all we know, continue to be able for thousands of years - to arrest the course of history...

But since in reality BIG BROTHER is not infallible, there is need for an unwearying, moment-to-moment flexibility in the treatment of facts. The key-word here is blackwhite. Like so many Newspeak words, this word has two mutually contradictory meanings. Applied to an opponent, it means the habit of impudently claiming that black is white, in contradiction of the plain facts. Applied to a Party member, it means a loyal willingness to say that black is white when Party discipline demands this. But it means also the ability to believe that black is white, and more, to know that black is white, and to forget that one has ever believed the contrary. This demands a continuous alteration of the past, made possible by the system of thought which really embraces all the rest, and which is known as doublethink.

The official ideology abounds with contradictions even when there is no reason for them. Simultaneously, true to the principles of doublethink, the Party rejects and vilifies every principle for which the Socialist movement originally stood, and it does this in the name of socialism. It systematically undermines the solidarity of the family all the while appealing to the sentiment of family. Even the names of the four Ministries by which Oceania is governed are a deliberate reversal of facts:

These contradictions are not accidental. They are a deliberate exercise of doublethink. If the High are to keep their places permanently - then the prevailing mental condition must be controlled insanity.

The subtlest practitioners of doublethink are those who invented doublethink and know that it is a vast system of mental cheating. In our society, those who have the best knowledge of what is happening are also those who are furthest from seeing the world as is. In general, the greater the understanding, the greater the delusion: the more intelligent, the less sane.

Canada judge bans Christmas tree ("we celebrate Hanukka & have a menorah on the square") & Canada allows crucified Santa (says it's on private property). TorontoStar/Metro, Dec 16, 2006

Afghan poppy harvest at record level (cheap heroin for UK streets) & Police want heroin injection sites (5,000 users in downtown Vancouver). Times/CBC, Aug 19, 2006. Go to AFGHAN FIELDS & DRUG WAR & WAR BY DRUGS & EVIL PURVEYORS FEEDING ON MISERY

"Eyes on the screen -- not the road" & Watching TV while driving is okay ("all the better to watch you with"). Go to BEYOND ORWELL & Watching TV while driving is not safe (gov't pushing broadcasting technology). Korea Times, Jan 8, 2006

IN FLANDERS FIELDS November 11, 1918 - 2005. Go to IN AFGHAN FIELDS (the poppies grow)

Prisons offer needles to inmates (to inject illegal heroin). National Post, Nov 11, 2005. Go to 34.Ministry of Love (Torture) & DRUG WAR & PEACE & 22.Doublethink (mental condition: controlled insanity) & GOVERNMENT TOUGH ON TOBACCO & DRUG DEFECATORS NEED TOILETS

Bush said God said to him: ("George go & fight these terrorists in Iraq & Afghanistan"). Guardian, Oct 6, 2005. Go to FOUNDING FATHERS NOT CHRISTIANS

Baby hormone stops breast cancer ("a way to alter breast cells without having a baby would be really nice"). BBC, Apr 19, 2005. Go to BABIES GONE & ABORTION/BREAST CANCER LINK

IGNORANCE = FREEDOM LOST (reader asks meaning of phrases: 'slavery is freedom' and 'strength is ignorance'). Mar 25, 2005

Fischer to be deported to USA (for winning $3-million chess game against Borris Spassky in 1992 when Yugoslavia was under UN economic sanctions). Japan Today, Mar 15, 2005. Go to UNCLE SAM FINDS BOBBY FISCHER

New UK party named "Truth" (by Member of the European Parliament). The Times, Feb 2, 2005. Go to READER WINS ORWELL TODAY AWARD

Reader asks for doublethink examples: DUCKSPEAKING DOUBLETHINKERS

Epidemic among London drug users (gov't to give free needles for heroin "to reduce harm" from HIV/HepC). Guardian, Nov 12, 2004. Go to DRUG WAR & PEACE & EVIL PURVEYORS FEEDING OFF MISERY

Doctors back prison needle programs (marijuana smokers become heroin injectors where it's pushed on them in prison). Globe & Mail, Oct 28, 2004. Go to 35.Brotherhood & 34.Ministry of Love (Torture) & DRUG WAR & PEACE

NEW YORK BEAST NUMBER 666 (reader points out that NEW YORK's numbers also add up to 666)

POW flies out of North Korea (faces court martial in USA). CNS News, Jul 21, 2004. Go to 40.Electric Shock Brainwashing & 7.Systems & UNLCE SAM SAYS POW DESERTED

Finding Bobby Fischer (took on Soviet empire pawn by pawn). Bennington Banner, Jul 19, 2004. Go to 38.Cellars & 34.Ministry of Love (Torture) & UNCLE SAM FINDS BOBBY FISCHER

Email discussion about definition of words doublethink, newspeak and doublespeak

GULLIVER DESCRIBES INTELLECTUALS (heads reclined to right or left, one eye inward, the other up). Apr 24, 2004. Go to 27.Goodthink

GULLIVER DESCRIBES LEGAL SYSTEM (art of proving by words that white is black and black is white). Apr 22, 2004. Go to 21.Crimestop

PIG TOYS TALE ANTI-EUROPE (they're "environmentally enriching manipulable materials"). CNN, Apr 13, 2004. Go to 18.Newspeak & ANIMAL FARM

Ex top Christian attacks Muslims (for believing Mohammed received God's word direct from angels which scribes recorded later). London Guardian, Mar 27, 2004. Go to 10.Rulers & MOSES & SUGARCANDY MOUNTAIN

Anti-abortion med student failed (for not providing abortion option). LifeSite, Mar 19, 2004. Go to 27.Goodthink & WHERE HAVE ALL BABIES GONE? & MY ORWELL CONVERSION

CROSSWALK SAFETY POEM (newspaper refuses to print). Feb 14, 2004. Go to Ministry of Truth (Lies) & PREVENTION OF LITERATURE

Sexing up cellphone ads (camera phones being promoted for taking sneaky dirty pictures). Globe & Mail, Dec 18, 2003. Go to CAMERA PHONE PIG ADS & BEYOND ORWELL

COZY DAYS IN STALIN'S KREMLIN (moral depravity of elite men & women who enthusiastically inflicted horrors). Go to 10.The Rulers