Propaganda in 1984

Propaganda in 1984 The novel, “1984” composed by George Orwell, is a dystopian fiction narrative that follows the life of Winston Smith and his encounters in his fractured society led by the inner party. Around Airstrip one, propaganda can be found all around the city, an example is the use of telescreens. When examining the propaganda poster, the words, “Don’t trust this traitor! Join the hate” can be found on it. One can determine propaganda techniques such as scapegoat, name calling, common enemy, and cherry-picking. Scapegoat is a technique that directs all the current problems on to a person or a group of people. This technique is used for eliminating negative opinions of one and directing it to someone or thing as a diversion. Scapegoat can be found in the poster by the direct words, “Blame this traitor!” written all over and the picture of Emmanuel Goldstein embed over an image of marching soldiers. This example of scapegoat had been mentioned various times around the novel, 1984, though, it is used remarkably in two minutes, when it was declared to the participants, “[Goldstein] was the primal traitor… of the party (Orwell 16).” Another technique, like cherry-picking, is portrayed on the poster. The term cherry-picking is the practice of singling out information used against a person or a group of people without context regarding the situation. This propaganda technique is used to convince an audience by not presenting the entire story leaving them misinformed. Cherry-picking can be recognized in the poster by the means of not elaborating behind the story and intentions of Goldstein, the citizens of Airstrip One are practically forced into hating Goldstein without general knowledge about him. The two minutes of hate mentions, “Goldstein was the renegade and a backslider of the party (Orwell 15)” though, being true, it never mentions what his intentions were and why he wanted to do so. Another technique used was common enemy. Common enemy is the human bond to oppose and to hate the same thing all together as a collective. This propaganda method is used to bring people together to despise someone, something, or a group of people. Other uses are to demonstrate who is the bad guy or in the wrong regarding to the situation. While inspecting the propaganda poster, one would realize that common enemy is utilized by the direct words of “Join the hate” used within the poster. That phrase is implemented to gather the masses to recognize and hate their target. One can recognize this when, “Emmanuel Goldstein, the Enemy of the People (Orwell 15)” is mentioned to entitle who is in the wrong. One can determine what impact propaganda has in the novel, 1984, with the assistance of scapegoat, cherry-picking, and public enemy.