Totalitarianism

Totalitarianism a modern autocratic government in which the state involves itself in all facets of society, including the daily life of its citizens. A totalitarian government seeks to control not only all economic and political matters but the attitudes, values, and beliefs of its population, era sing the distinction between state and society.

Source: The Columbia Encyclopaedia

Examples of totalitarianism:Nazi Germany. China under Mao rule.1984The Handmaid’s tale.

Areas of communication that must be controlled.

Formal Interactions with other people. Information that is fed to you.

The Handmaid’s Tale

“Jannine was like a puppy that had been kicked to often, by too many people at random: she’d roll over for anyone, she’d tell anything for just a moment of approbation”

Prescribed Words.

“The Ceremony”

“Salvaging”

“Particution”

Communication

Nineteen Eighty-Four

“Don’t you see that the whole aim of news speak is to narrow the range of thought, in the end we shall make thought crime literally impossible because there will be no words to express it”

“The purpose of Newspeak was not only to provide a medium of expression for the world-view and mental habits proper to the devotees of Ingsoc, but to make all other modes of thought

impossible.”

Thought

• Thought or thinking is a mental process which allows beings to model the world, and so to deal with it effectively according to their goals, plans, ends and desires. Words referring to similar concepts and processes in the English language include cognition, sentience, consciousness, idea, and imagination.

• Thinking involves manipulation of information, as when we form concepts, engage in problem solving, reason and make decisions.

Propaganda

Propaganda is a specific type of message presentation directly aimed at influencing the opinions of people, rather than impartially providing information.

Examples:

Nazi Germany

Russian Revolution

The Cold War

This…………

Or This…………….

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Source: Progressiveliving.org

Use of propaganda in Subjugation

Nepoleon and Squealer convince the animals of the farm that Snowball (the previous ruler of the farm, who Nepolean drove out) was reasonable for the destruction occurring on Animal Farm. Eventually Nepolean abuses his power of the animals to change history in order to villainise Snowball even more.

Hotel Rwanda

Effect of the “Media” on a population limited in their movements or limited in the information they receive.

“….Used their media outlets to encourage violence against Tutsis during the 100 day long massacre instituted by the majority Hutus”

Ludwig Wittgenstein

“The Limits of my language are The limits of my world”