Telescreen
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| - | The '''Thought Police''' (''thinkpol'' in [[Newspeak]]) is the [[secret police]] of [[Oceania (Nineteen Eighty-Four)|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 find and eliminate members of society who were capable of the mere thought of challenging ruling authority. | + | '''Telescreens''' are most prominently featured in [[George Orwell]]'s novel ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]'', although notably they have an earlier appearance in the 1936 [[Charlie Chaplain]] film [[Modern Times (film)|Modern Times]]. They are [[television]] and [[Closed-circuit television|security camera]]-like devices used by the ruling [[Inner Party|Party]] in [[Oceania (1984)|Oceania]] to keep its subjects under constant surveillance, thus eliminating the chance of secret [[Conspiracy theory|conspiracies]] against Oceania. All members of the [[Inner Party]] and [[Outer Party]] and a few [[Proles|proletarian]] settings have telescreens. |
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| - | The [[Inner Party|government]] attempts to control not only the speech and actions, but also the [[thought]]s of its subjects, labeling unapproved thoughts with the term ''[[thoughtcrime]]'', or, in Newspeak, ''crimethink''. 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 exists. The Thought Police also move among the [[Proles]], spreading false rumors and marking down and eliminating any individual deemed capable of rebellion against the Party or Independent thought. All Party members live their lives under constant supervision of the Thought Police. Every Party member has a Telescreen in his or her home, which the Thought Police uses to observe every single action, and takes note of anything that hints of unorthodox opinions 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 [[Newspeak]], who, despite his fierce devotion to the Party, simply disappeared one day. | + | |
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| - | In order to remove any possibility of creating [[Martyr|martyrs]], whose memory 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 Love]], through torture, conversations, degradation, and finally, [[Room 101]]. The methods are designed to eventually make the prisoner genuinely accept party ideology, and come to love [[Big Brother (Nineteen Eighty-Four)|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 [[Crimestop]], and all records are destroyed and replaced with falsified records by the [[Ministry of Truth]]. Their bodies are disposed of via cremation. | + | |
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| - | 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". Although Orwell described himself as a [[democratic socialism|democratic socialist]], many other [[socialism|socialists]] sympathetic to [[Marxism–Leninism]] thought that his criticism of the [[Soviet Union]] under [[Joseph Stalin]] damaged the socialist cause. | + | |
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| - | ==Other uses== | + | |
| - | In the first half of the twentieth century, the [[Tokko|Special Higher Police]] (Tokko) in Japan were sometimes known as the ''Thought Police''. | + | |
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| - | 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. | + | |
| - | ==See also== | + | |
| - | *[[Secret police]] | + | |
| - | *[[List of fictional secret police and intelligence organizations]] | + | |
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Revision as of 09:18, 31 May 2010
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Telescreens are most prominently featured in George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, although notably they have an earlier appearance in the 1936 Charlie Chaplain film Modern Times. They are television and security camera-like devices used by the ruling Party in Oceania to keep its subjects under constant surveillance, thus eliminating the chance of secret conspiracies against Oceania. All members of the Inner Party and Outer Party and a few proletarian settings have telescreens.
Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Telescreen" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.
