Thought Police
Encyclopedia
The Thought Police is the secret police
of Oceania in George Orwell
's dystopia
n novel Nineteen Eighty-Four
.
It is the job of the Thought Police to uncover and punish thoughtcrime
and thought-criminals, using psychology
and omnipresent surveillance
from telescreen
s to monitor, search, find and kill members of society who could potentially challenge authority and status quo, even only by thought, hence the name Thought Police.
It also had much to do with Orwell's own "power of facing unpleasant facts," as he called it, and his willingness to criticize prevailing ideas which brought him into conflict with others and their "smelly little orthodoxies."
were sometimes known as the Thought Police.
The term "Thought Police," by extension, has come to refer to real or perceived enforcement of ideological correctness, or preemptive policing where a person is apprehended in anticipation of the possibility that they may commit a crime, in any modern or historical contexts.
Secret police
Secret police are a police agency which operates in secrecy and beyond the law to protect the political power of an individual dictator or an authoritarian political regime....
of Oceania in George Orwell
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...
's dystopia
Dystopia
A dystopia is the idea of a society in a repressive and controlled state, often under the guise of being utopian, as characterized in books like Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four...
n novel Nineteen Eighty-Four
Nineteen Eighty-Four
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell is a dystopian novel about Oceania, a society ruled by the oligarchical dictatorship of the Party...
.
It is the job of the Thought Police to uncover and punish thoughtcrime
Thoughtcrime
In the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell, a thoughtcrime is an illegal type of thought.In the book, the government attempts to control not only the speech and actions, but also the thoughts of its subjects, labelling disapproved thought as thoughtcrime or, in Newspeak,...
and thought-criminals, using psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
and omnipresent surveillance
Surveillance
Surveillance is the monitoring of the behavior, activities, or other changing information, usually of people. It is sometimes done in a surreptitious manner...
from telescreen
Telescreen
Telescreens are most prominently featured in George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, although notably they have an earlier appearance in the 1936 Charlie Chaplin film Modern Times...
s to monitor, search, find and kill members of society who could potentially challenge authority and status quo, even only by thought, hence the name Thought Police.
It also had much to do with Orwell's own "power of facing unpleasant facts," as he called it, and his willingness to criticize prevailing ideas which brought him into conflict with others and their "smelly little orthodoxies."
Operations
- The governmentInner PartyThe Inner Party represents the oligarchical political class in Oceania, and has its membership restricted to 6 million individuals . Inner Party members enjoy a quality of life that is much better than that of the Outer Party members and the proles...
(controled entirely by the Inner PartyInner PartyThe Inner Party represents the oligarchical political class in Oceania, and has its membership restricted to 6 million individuals . Inner Party members enjoy a quality of life that is much better than that of the Outer Party members and the proles...
) attempts to control not only the speech and actions, but also the thoughtThought"Thought" generally refers to any mental or intellectual activity involving an individual's subjective consciousness. It can refer either to the act of thinking or the resulting ideas or arrangements of ideas. Similar concepts include cognition, sentience, consciousness, and imagination...
s of its subjects, labeling unapproved thoughts with the term thoughtcrimeThoughtcrimeIn the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell, a thoughtcrime is an illegal type of thought.In the book, the government attempts to control not only the speech and actions, but also the thoughts of its subjects, labelling disapproved thought as thoughtcrime or, in Newspeak,...
, crimethink (both terms created in Newspeak). - It was the Thought Police that had arrested Winston and Julia.
- The Thought Police operate a false resistance movement in order to lure in disloyal Party members, before arresting them. It is unknown however, if a genuine resistance movement actually exists.
- Every Party member has a telescreenTelescreenTelescreens are most prominently featured in George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, although notably they have an earlier appearance in the 1936 Charlie Chaplin film Modern Times...
in his or her home, which the Thought Police uses to observe their actions, and take note of anything that resembles an unorthodox opinion or an inner struggle. When a Party member talks in their sleep, the words are carefully analyzed. - The Thought Police also target and eliminate highly intelligent people, since they may come to realize how the Party is exploiting them. An example of this was of Syme, a developer of NewspeakNewspeakNewspeak is a fictional language in George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. In the novel, it refers to the deliberately impoverished language promoted by the state. Orwell included an essay about it in the form of an appendix in which the basic principles of the language are explained...
, who, despite his fierce devotion to the Party, simply disappeared one day. Winston rebels against the Thought Police by writing "DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER" in his journal (which he is not even allowed to have) without knowing it. He attempts to cover up his own thoughts, but believes he will be caught quickly. - The Thought Police also move among the ProlesProlesProles is a term used in George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four to refer to the working class of Oceania ....
, spreading false rumors, identifying and eliminating any individual deemed capable of independent thought or rebellion against the Party. All Party members live their lives under constant supervision of the Thought Police. - In order to remove any possibility of creating martyrsMartyrA martyr is somebody who suffers persecution and death for refusing to renounce, or accept, a belief or cause, usually religious.-Meaning:...
, whose memories could be used as a rallying cause against the Party, the Thought Police gradually wears down the will of political prisoners in the Ministry of LoveMinistry of LoveThe Ministry of Love is one of the four ministries that govern Oceania in George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four....
, through torture, conversations, degradation, and finally, Room 101Room 101Room 101 is a place introduced in the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. It is a torture chamber in the Ministry of Love in which the Party attempts to subject a prisoner to his or her own worst nightmare, fear or phobia....
. The methods are designed to eventually make the prisoner genuinely accept Party ideology, and come to love Big Brother, and not merely confess. After being released back into society for a short while, they are re-arrested, charged with new offenses, and executed. All people who knew them forget them through CrimestopCrimestopCrimestop is a Newspeak term taken from the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. It means to rid oneself of unwanted thoughts, i.e., thoughts that interfere with the ideology of the Party...
, and all records are destroyed and replaced with falsified records by the Ministry of TruthMinistry of TruthThe Ministry of Truth is one of the four ministries that govern Oceania in George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four...
. Their bodies are disposed of via cremation.
Other uses
In the first half of the twentieth century, prior to 1984, the Special Higher Police (Tokko) in JapanJapan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
were sometimes known as the Thought Police.
The term "Thought Police," by extension, has come to refer to real or perceived enforcement of ideological correctness, or preemptive policing where a person is apprehended in anticipation of the possibility that they may commit a crime, in any modern or historical contexts.