Constant War

War is Peace
Throughout 1984, Winston questions who it is that Oceania is really fighting and is allies with, and it also changes in the middle of a speech during Hate Week, but all the people do is rip down the posters and streamers and go back to raging along with the speaker. How come no one even questioned this change or thought about it after this, sure they were brainwashed, but for being the more intelligent Party members how come they didn't miss a beat when the speaker changed courses midsentence? It was noticed, but nobody seemed to care. Are the people really so loyal to BB that they would blame this on Goldstein and automatically accept that they had always been at war with Eastasia and allied with Eurasia so blindly? Why?

I think the main reason why they just accepted this change is because of fear. They may or may not be loyal to Big Brother but either way, fear overcomes. Propaganda might also play a role in this.

The eternal state of war is just what the leaders of each of the super-states of the novel want. War is a very convincing means of controlling the actions of the general population. First of all, it invokes a great sense of nationalism within each of the people. This nationalism can be very dangerous. It creates a blind loyalty and trust to those in charge, creating an opening for the government to tell people whatever, and then have them believe it. They could pass new laws, taxes, along with who knows what else, and it won't even phase those who it is effecting. War can also create a fear for that certain enemy, allowing the government to further "brainwash" the people. A third thing is that war has a uniting effect on the people of those countries. People will get all worked up about how evil their enemy is, and the government can use this to its advantage. Propaganda about the opposing countries can be used, and the opposing countries can also be used as a scapegoat. The inner party uses this when they bomb the prole section to strike fear into the population, and blames it on East-Asia.

The constant state of war is used by Big Brother to try and distract the general public. If the citizens of Airstrip One, and all of Oceania at that are constantly worried about who is friend and who is foe, then they are completely oblivious to the corruption within their government. Big Brother uses this to instill nationalism in the citizens of Oceania. This unites the people in a way. Also, the constant fear of annihilation makes sure that the citizens are too afraid to rebel. Big Brother uses the constant state of war to keep the people in chains.

Winston's job is to erase any trace of "false" information about Big Brother. He has to change and modify articles to benefit the government. However, the people seem to be too loyal to Big Brother to realize that the information is always changing. BB keeps his people distracted with fear of what might happen, that they don't notice anything else.

I believe the constant change of war is used to distract people and keep them loyal to Big Brother. Do to the constant change people have stopped questioning the propaganda. All the people need to know is they are at war and Big Brother is they head of government.

In 1984 the people blame Goldstein and either Eastasia or Eurasia because Big Brother uses the constant war to distract the proles and the other classes from their worsening lives because of Big Brother. The people of Oceania are being controlled by Big Brother every single day and control what happens in their lives. So when the government says there is a new enemy, the public ( no matter what) agree Big Brother because the population believes whatever Big Brother says without question. Next the population of Oceania don't really know who they are war at, whoever Big Brother says the enemy is, the population will still be mad and in turn still be distracted from what is happening in Oceania. Also the constant war is also unify Oceania. Because of the constant war with either Eastasia or Eurasia the public will want to stop them no matter what happens. And because of that what they become unified with Nationalism. And if the public becomes to nationalistic, they become blind to other events happening.

I believe much like us now we're so accustomed to blindly accepting new "enemies" that when it had changed so quickly the people agreed and unified through not only fear but also the fact that people are so used to not knowing who the real enemy is that whenever it's said they have one they just go with it because they know no better. Oceania is unified through the fear of not knowing and the fear of rebellion- the mixture of the two only deepens the unification of the country. While Goldstein is a figurehead for that fear of enemy. Hate week is only a way to remind the people of their fear to keep them from realizing and rebelling therefore keeping them occupied through their emotions.