Newspeak compared to today

[soccerchick21]

I need help on understanding Newspeak. I'm not quite sure what exactly it is. Is it just words that have opposite meanings? I know that when Winston is talking to Syme, Syme says that people won't even be having the conversations were are today, but our language will be more advanced in the future beacuse of Newspeak. Why would they get rid of alot of words so that there will be fewer in the future? Is it to keep the people dumb?

[Dark Muse]

It is another way for the govenrment to have control, and also I think it is another way to tigten the hold on comfority and remove individuality. With fewer and fewer words, there will be even less of a way for people to express themselves, or to express any real emotions.

[Teacher]

Wouldn't today's "politcal correctness" be an example of Newspeak?

[Dark Muse]

That is a good point, have not thought of it like that before, but yes I could see how that could be, as it is the changining of words and the way we speak by the gorvenment. Good point.

[Lozenge121]

I think the objective behind Newspeak is supposed to be that if you can't think something in words, you can't think it at all. It's not just opposites, the point is to eliminate opposites, I think? Then, if all things associated with Big Brother are presented positively, you can only have positive thoughts about them.

[dakotastar]

Newspeak is the official language of Oceania and is designed to limit the meaning of words or to eliminate words altogether to diminish the range of thought possible by citizens to prevent them from criticizing the government and revolting. It becomes a significant form of control over the citizens of Oceania by the government. We might compare this type of behavior to political correctness. There is also a lot of monitoring of the citizens by the government in 1984. This could be compared to The Patriot Act. Think about it.