Ministry of Lies?

[Taberif]

:idea: I was thinking about this and began to wonder. I didn't understand the point of calling the place where Winston works the "Ministry of Truth." He works there as a propaganda officer. Now, last time I checked, propaganda was usually anything but the truth. If this is the case, then why is it called the Ministry of Truth? I was thinking it was just some clever name to keep people from knowing it was mostly lies. I am unsure though. Is there some big explanation behind this or not? Any explanations would be appreciated. Thanks! ;)

[KurtDunn]

The Party's view of truth is that it's more of a malleable thing. That you can force just about anything to be true if you repair all the records and declare it true. Who's to say it's false?

Another thing about the Ministries, is that you could say they're named for what they deal with, not what they accomplish. The Truth is a problem, so there's a Ministry of Truth to deal with it. Love is a problem, which is what the Ministry of Love tackles. Peace is a status that would lead to the downfall of all three countries of 1984, so the Ministry of Peace contends with the 'peace problem.'

[The Atheist]

It's all part of doublethink.

Have you read "Goldstein's book" yet? It's pretty well all explained in there - each Ministry is really the mirror image of its name:

War is Peace - the Ministry of Peace is concerned with war.

The Ministry of Love deals in torture and the Ministry of Truth indeed deals in lies. Inner Party members are well aware of it and must use doublethink to overcome the seeming paradox.