History WMG / NineteenEightyFour

[[WMG:In the world of 1984, humanity suffers from a widespread pandemic of the StockholmSyndrome.]]

[[WMG:1984 and Film/BackToTheFuture take place in the same universe, but in alternate timelines.]]

They're just toying with the Party, letting them think that they're in control just to see Big Brother's face when they take the power for themselves

Consider this: the plot of Threads is that there's a nuclear war that decimates society. Britain is destroyed, and a paranoid regime is set up to reestablish order. As time passes and nuclear winter sets in, society regresses to a medieval level, and the newest generation of children are given horrendously substandard education due to the fact ''society has been obliterated''. It doesn't take a stretch of the imagination to believe that a group of desperate fascists manage to seize power and impose their will on society. Since there are few surviving records to begin with, it doesn't take much to recreate history. The clincher? Threads was ''made'' in 1984.

Inspired loosely by an above theory stating that the party is actually an {{Eldritch Abomination}}, perhaps not just any random one, but rather one of the great old ones themselves. Nyarlethotep would fit as he's the most human one, and it's seen in many stories that he takes the form of humans, and considering that oceania seems to be pretty much what he'd want, it seems even more fitting

[[WMG: Ninteen Eighty Four is set in the same universe as Steins Gate]]
INGSOC is linked or is an offshoot of SERN in the Alpha timeline. [[spoiler: According to Suzuha she came from]] 2036, a dystopia. The world is controlled by SERN (INGSOC) where invasive surveillance is widespread and free will is suppressed. The Rounders are the Thought Police and the Valkyrie, [[spoiler: the resistant group Suzuha is a part of]], is the Brotherhood. Emmanuel Goldstein could have been the main figure of the Europe chapter of Valkyrie. In this timeline INGSOC controls the whole world and Eastasia and Eurasia does not exist even though the INGSOC says they do exist and is at war at least one country at a time.

In the Beta Timeline, INGSOC has lesser control but still governs a dystopian government. Dr. Nakabachi [[spoiler: sells the time machine paper to Russia, which will be later be known as Eurasia]]. [[spoiler: Suzuha]] lives in Eastasia where an ideology roughly translated as death worship is promoted. It is said in the book the the ideology is essentially the same as INGSOC.

But wait the book was set in 1984? Well the main character Winston said that he isn't even certain of the date and it may just be 1984, it could be actually 1985, 1999 or 2036. INGSOC just says its 1984 therefore its true.

* Okabe is tortured in one timeline by the Inner Party in some timelines. He was sent to Room 101 and was tortured and mind raped. His worst fear, [[spoiler: a video of seeig both Kurisu and Mayuri dying]] is repeated all over again until he finally [[spoiler: loves Big Brother]].

[[WMG: Ninteen Eighty Four is in-universe anti-Oceania propaganda.]]
In reality its propaganda by another super-repressive dictatorship. The reason for the absurdly effective despotism in Oceania, the grimdarkness, the ForTheEvulz {{Anvilicious}} INGSOC is all a lie to demonize the enemy of Oceania. All so the dictatorship can make them seem better in their people's eyes and as such better at controlling them. Think how North Korea demonizes America for an example. The real Oceania isn't nearly as horrible.

* Contrary to some of the more absurd Fridge Horror claims made for the Party, it can't actually bend reality. It can only bend people's perceptions of reality, and even then, it can only do so by means of propaganda and torture. It may be able to torture Winston into ''thinking'' that O'Brien can float off the ground like a soap bubble, but it can't actually make O'Brien do that (not without Kirby wires and a harness, anyway.) Party members have to be obey physical laws, the same as everyone else: Oceanian military aircraft have to be built in accordance with the laws of physics, Floating Fortresses have to be seaworthy, etc. Even if you believe that there's no actual war going on, and that the Party is bombing its own citizens (so it doesn't really need airworthy aircraft or seaworthy ships), it still needs its propaganda technology to work properly. Telescreens are on a network, and networks can be hacked. There is no reason for Winston to think rebellious thoughts about the Party, other than it occurs to him to, and if it occurs to him, it can occur to someone else.\\

[[TomeOfEldritchLore Goldstein's book]] was actually instructions for summoning the [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos Old Ones]], and the Thought Police stopped Winston and Julia just in time before they reached the critical passages. [[BenevolentConspiracy Big Brother and INGSOC]] are actually the ''good guys'', and the only thing stopping the universe from falling into madness. The only way to break the subtle hold the Old Ones have on their victims' minds is the brutal torture inflicted by the Ministry of Love--hence the name.

Specifically, time travelers from the future of ''our world'', who were originally social democrats who genuinely wanted to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong, and to this end, arrived at the very beginning of the 20th century, proved they were from the future by showing off [[ThisIsMyBoomstick their iPhones]], and warned all the world leaders that if they did not renounce war, imperialism, corporate greed, religious fanaticism, environmental degradation, and violent revolution, then the 20th century would be one of endless suffering only exacerbated in the 21st by the destruction of the planet’s resources. At first, the world leaders appear to believe them. But HumansAreBastards, and the governments of the world continue their greedy and short-sighted ways as soon as they think the time travelers aren’t looking. Thus, the time travelers completely snap, decide that [[MaddenIntoMisanthropy every human in the world is uniformly and completely evil]] and deserves nothing more than eternal punishment, use their future scientific knowledge to build nuclear bombs, fire them at every city in the world, and rise to power from the ashes, so that they can institute the most oppressive form of government imaginable: totalitarianism ''without'' any WellIntentionedExtremist ideology like Nazism or Communism. And the leader of the time travelers, who institutes this plan in the first place after being so totally broken by the future warnings going unheeded? A young intellectual named Emmanuel Goldstein, who becomes the first Big Brother, then unpersons himself and founds the Brotherhood solely to neuter the inevitable dissenters, and lets himself be hated by the populace so that they don’t channel it towards overthrowing the regime that’s even worse than North Korea. The Inner Party members are still alive in 1984 because of futuristic medical science which, of course, they deny to uptimers.

Early on in the book, we see that Winston's writing is a certain style. He's not used to writing-few people are. A little while later, he writes "DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER." in large capitals, unconsciously. A note is specifically made that the style is entirely different.
Much later, we see Parsons has been brought in for saying 'Down with Big Brother' in his sleep. We know that the telescreen can both receive and transmit, thus keeping everyone under watch. It's also noted repeatedly that to keep war hysteria and belief going, there must be a constant parade of thought-criminals and traitors; a constant internal enemy to be crushed and beaten down. The best way to keep this going, especially as control rises, is probably to make your own.

Though I'm sure they target people who might have traces of dissent to begin with, or people they 'suspect' could possibly be a problem, at some time, in the future(Everyone is suspect, but some more than others). How did the Thought Police know exactly what was going to happen, how did they know exactly how he'd think, even what he'd say? They put it there, or dragged out things that might not have really surfaced without 'help'. O'Brien even says directly 'this drama that we have played out for seven years will continue, in ever more subtle forms.' They show they are capable of reworking a mind directly with those soft pads in the Ministry of Love. Why not more indirectly over a longer period? Thoughtcrime will never 'die', because they perpetuate it to justify their own existence. No one is safe.

[[WMG: The fall of the Party may, ironically, may start with the Inner Party.]]

Take O'Brien himself for example, he views himself as a completely loyal follower of Big Brother's ideals and a competent enough Inner Party member to put all those ideals into practice. But he might eventually suspect that his own Inner Party compatriots may not play their part exactly the same way he does. Now imagine if O'Brien thought that even one of his fellow Inner Party Members may at best just be sloppier than him at maintaining Party Policies (even if their failures were by complete accident), or at worst a would-be rebel that somehow got as far as to join the Inner Party without getting caught for a thoughtcrime? Even if he's objectively wrong on either count, He may be hesitant to Doublethink those suspicions away since it may lead to thoughtcrimes being overlooked, mistakes being disregarded, and both these things piling up dramatically. O'Brien may either simply look at his compatriots with suspicion and distrust, which may lead the other Inner Party Members to follow suit on him and/or each other, which may eventually lead to in-fighting within the Inner Party. Or O'Brien may work towards rooting out Inner Party Members he believes are guilty of 'corrupting' Party values or incompetence while accidentally ignoring some of his own Inner Party duties, which can lead to hiccups in prosecuting thoughtcrimes and possibly get him in trouble.

And if either of those things end up happening, one must wonder how O'Brien would react if his own actions put The Party in jeopardy of collapsing (assuming it doesn't outright fall within his lifetime) or how O'Brien's own efforts to protect the Party from disaster only lead to him being labeled a dangerous idiot or a traitor by his superiors and Inner Party compatriots.

2) Several uniforms of the Party police are described as being black-colored. If Mosley veered towards Fascism, but ultimately decided against going to there, it can be explained as a result of his leanings in that directions.

4) Winston also mentions at one point that Big Brother claimed he won the Battle of Airstrip One, presumably a distant memory of the real Battle of Britain in 1940 mutated by the Ministry of Truth. While it would be probable Ingsoc simply twisted the past to suit their own narrative, it might also be explained by Mosley's bitterness at Winston Churchill becoming Prime Minister when the country needed strong leadership. For a time, Mosley was probably more important in British politics that Churchill, and always thought of himself as being ready to form a "Cabinet of all the talents" to save Britain when it needed him. What would be more designed to embitter a ambitious and talented politician that to see himself sidelined and ignored, while a (relatively) upstart Tory instead formed the Wartime Cabinet from both sides of the political aisle? The emphasis placed on a revised narrative of Big Brother being the architect of the Oceanian victory in the Battle of Airstrip One might also reflect Mosley's desire to be the hero as well as Party dogma.

[[WMG: The Party tries to get it's members hooked on smoking and drinking early.]]

When Winston gets caught and taken to prison, O'Brien sees him and tells him "They got me a long time ago"; O'Brien ''was'' part of the Brotherhood, but after he got caught the Party made a deal with him that in exchange for not killing and unpersoning him, he would lure out and catch any potential future recruits for the Brotherhood before the real Brotherhood could recruit them.

The original (oldspeak) institution was the Anglosphere Socialist Alliance, originally an international alliance in the aftermath of a WW2 that's recognisable from our timeline. This grows to a one-party unitary state after the parade of miseries described.

Sure, that this implies that Literature/TheBible is historically accurate and Christianity true seems to go against Orwell's hostility to religion, but since "Winston is in Hell" is another Epileptic Tree on here, that can be handwaved. How can this be, you ask? Since it has been proven that a wooden vessel the size of the Ark could not have been built without modern technology, creationists believe that the antediluvian society had technology as advanced as our own. Creationists are stupid and there is nothing in the Bible that so much as suggests this, but since ''1984'' is a work of fiction, [[{{MST3K Mantra}} I'll let it pass]]. According to the Bible, mankind before the Flood was so universally wicked that only Noah was judged worthy of not being drowned, so if one were to accept that the antediluvians had industrial technology, their society would necessarily be a totalitarian nightmare. This fits Oceania perfectly, because ''everyone'' in it is either the sadistic mastermind behind everything (the Inner Party), an obnoxious, uncaring hedonist (the proles), or accepts the way things are without having any desire to change it (the Outer Party). Not even Winston and Julia rebel out of any virtue or principle; Winston only does so because he has realized that the Party always lies and no longer trusts them, and Julia rebels only because of her anger issues and because she really, ''really'' needs to get laid. There are literally no good people in this world. Now, a problem appears to arise that real places and history is mentioned, but it is always in a context where it could be faked. Remember, the only verifiable events in the story are what Winston personally perceives with his senses up until the point where the rats attack him. Everything else could be a lie, and he never directly sees anything that indicates any real-world history at all. Trafalgar Square? That doesn't mean the Napoleonic Wars existed, since Napoleon is never mentioned. The year being 1984? According to some calculations, the Flood happened more than 1984 years after Creation, so they could be counting from that. (And that's assuming the year actually is 1984.) Goldstein's book? You know, the thing that mentions the World Wars, Hitler, and Stalin? It was written by the Party, and if they are all {{Hollywood Atheist}}s, then they would absolutely fabricate a history different from that in the Bible. It's just that by pure coincidence, the real 20th century would have two world wars, a fascist dictator named Hitler, and a communist dictator named Stalin. Winston's childhood memories? Well, the bombings really happened, but there is no reason to assume that he lived in a country called "England", let alone that it was ever democratic. That one elderly prole who reminisces about England is senile, and note that he doesn't actually think it was freer than Oceania. This is usually assumed to be because the proles are idiots, but maybe it's true. Noah may or may not be born yet; if he is born, and working on the Ark, then Winston never finds out about it because Noah is in a totally different part of the world, and is under divine protection, so the Party (or its Eurasian or Eastasian equivalent) can't harm him. Again, the reason why Winston and Julia receive no such protection is because they aren't really any better than anyone else in this world. They certainly don't trust in or worship God. If Noah is alive, they'll die in the Flood, and really, that will be a mercy.

Before Airstrip One, there were feelies, soma, [[{{Hentai}} sex]] [[ThePornomancer at every second]], eternal happiness. Yes, there is still totalitarian regime, there is still the "unperson" punishment, yes, freedom is still largely restricted, yes, it's still a dystopia. But at least you have the pleasure. But the "Savage Reservations", barbaric and primal communities where people still live with nature and its cruelties and limitations, where people are born naturally and know the full range of emotions, who were constantly bullied and tortured by the Alpha society. Until they had enough. They knew full well unhappiness is madness and they ''will'' exploit it so much happiness wouldn't reign that longer. Led by Bernard Marx and with the help from the exiles seeking revenge, they started a violent war against Mustapha Mond in which he eventually won and Mustapha Mond became the first unperson to be. Then all hell breaks loose, feelies were replaced by telescreens, sex is banned and would never come back, soma was replaced by victory gin, the Alpha society were genocidally murdered except for a few that would be chosen to become Proles (only thing that survived from ''Brave New World'' was the ban of the books). The dystopia just got FromBadToWorse. Bernard Marx proclaims himself as the Big Brother and founded the Ingsoc to keep any remaining figment of the former world shattered, even going as far as creating all sorts of violent torture to get rid of any happiness, as well as starting forever wars, to erase all happiness. Even the language was sterilised from anything related to happiness (hence, Newspeak). Director Thomas "Thomakin was brainwashed into Ingsoc's indoctrination, even changing his identity as O'Brien. While John the Savage and Linda were reborn as Winston Smith and Julia, but they're unfortunate enough to be born in an even worse dystopia.

Those words, "They're taking away the vodka" -- that'll snap them out of their stupor. All it takes is a party altruistic party member to force himself on stage during hate week and the speaking of the words, and the proles will finally rebel. It's the only thing keeping them sedated. You know how Prohibition failed, after all.

Both contain 3 superpowers, with one controlling the Americas, one controlling Europe and one controlling Asia. It's evident that areas controlled by the superpowers are renamed in both, for example United Kingdom renamed to Airstrip One in 1984, and Japan renamed to Area 11 in Code Geass, both coincidentally by Oceania and Britannia respectively.

It is stated explicitly in The Book that the three governments of the world effectively operate identical control methods: the blind unquestioning worship of a semi-divine leader, the celebrated execution of anyone deemed an impurity upon society, and the relentless digestion of information to further a dictatorship. Without any rivals to stand against him, the great Lord Kira rose in Japan and created a superpower that answers solely to his ideals, and methods of teaching. All those who discredit his power would be seen as traitors and executed (it is not outside of Kira's interests to make the cause of death a gunshot). As there are three equally-matched superpowers in unbreakable deadlock, it makes sense that all three superpowers are run by people who own Death Notes (possibly after Sidoh returned to the Shinigami realm, and other Shinigami wanted to see what happens for themselves). Whilst the Outer Party (and foreign equivalents) would understand the telescreens are necessary for defence, and the detection of spies and thought criminals, none whatsoever would know their ''true'' purpose is a {{plan}} to detect whether any more notebooks come to Earth. If there may be six operational Notes in the world at any time, obtaining these could prove all-important in ending the war and crushing the enemy states, who dared to challenge the rule of Lord Kira.

*** So Eastasia is ruled by Kira, Eurasia is ruled by L and Wanny/Mellow is Big Brother?

The "He Loved Big Brother" part was a just a delusion and a dying dream, with him actually dying due to an [[spoiler:upset liver]], which he ignored due to doublethink.

He eventually defected, and now use the Brotherhood to entrap dissents.

** Hence why the Party cracked down on them, it wasn't because they were having sex for pleasure (seriously, how can sex for pleasure be a threat to the power hunger of the Party? It's like saying playing with an old, harmless toy is a threat to your mom, or Website/TVTropes is a threat to Website/{{Wikipedia}}), it was because of the outright {{Squick}} that even the Party and Big Brother himself can't handle...

[[WMG:Syme didn't get executed -- he was promoted to the Inner Party.]]

* Going one better, if Winston's shooting himself was just a fantasy, rather than reality, then O'Brien saved him -- it was either stop rebelling or get executed. And he may survive in the long term if Oceania loses the war.

* Also, he wanted to recruit Winston and Julia during their secret meeting and the whole questioning was a SecretTestOfCharacter which Winston failed as he said yes to many vile acts including throwing sulphuric acid in a child's face. O'brien wanted to test if Winston was aware of the dangers of hypocrisy as taking down an evil superpower wouldn't do much good if you just become another evil to replace it. Also, once Winston failed, O'brien was still interested in recruiting Julia, leading him to asking "the both of them" if they are prepared to separate and never see each other again.

The 3 main evil superpowers are the victorious allies of the British Empire, USA (merged with said British Empire), USSR, and China, which absorb Germany, Italy, and Japan. With the Axis vanquished the evil Allies divide up the world. This also explains the role assigned to Goldstein.
* [[DoubleBlindWhatIf So you say it's an Alternate History novel written from the perspective of an Alternate History ]]?

*** What's ''The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism'' then?

''Literature/AClockworkOrange'' takes places almost entirely in Prole Sector and the Prole-equivalent of the Ministry of Love, which is more like a typical London urban prison than Room 101, since "only the proles and the animals are free."

** This WMG sheds a new light on Winston's memory of the fallout shelter incident. It could be that he government staged a nuclear holocaust on the British Isles, to the extent of convincing their own citizens that it was about to happen, so that the rest of the world would think the island was an irradiated, uninhabitable ground zero. This way no outside forces could come snooping around and stumble upon the state, which they might attempt to liberate. Anyone who ''does'' find a way in would be thrown in with the lot of those executed in public as Eur/Eastasian war criminals.

* In Orwell's day, the idea of a country like this without an empire probably seemed as backwards as North Korea having one does nowadays, and that's understandable. These countries, by their nature, are highly industrialized, militaristic, and expansionist. And before the fall of the Soviet Union and America's spiritual conquering of the world, which took place decades later, there was little to stop these countries from simply taking over whichever country is closest and weakest, and then working they way up to an empire.

The government of Oceania is based entirely on Rule of Law; that is, there is no one at the top of the chain of command. Each members of both the Inner and Outer Party constantly watch each other and do what is dictated in an oppressive constitution. The highest ranking members of the Inner Party don't even understand why; they're just held in line by the fear that if they do anything 'subversive', they will be tortured and executed.

* I like the idea of a country without any law ''whatsoever'' to be based entirely on Rule of Law.

[[WMG: "Big Brother" ''Did'' Exist at Some Point, but Hasn't For a Very Long Time.]]

The person portrayed as Big Brother was, in fact, a founding member of the Party. However, at the time when he was alive "the Party" was just one of many in a democratic system. His actual political beliefs are unknowable, but were probably pretty normal leftists (hence "English Socialism" and the inherently contradictory idea of "oligarchical collectivism").

What if the all-watching person behind the telescreen isn't a person, but is the telescreen itself? It's not just the telescreen, but said AI can control every piece of technology on Earth. Behind all those ongoing wars between Oceania, Eastasia and Eurasia (which have exactly the same philosophy, the "Obliteration of the Self" also known to most of us as Ingsoc), all those thoughtcrimes and tortures, all those mass de-evolution of the human race, all those retcons of history to the point where "1984" is just an ambiguous date guessed by Winston, is a sadistic, highly efficient, manipulative MasterComputer.

Why didn't Big Brother go head-on against humanity with his robotic arsenal? Watch Film/TheTerminator and Film/TheMatrix for example. Humanity will fight to the end for survival, and even though HumansAreBastards who will kill each other in times of peace, when faced with a common enemy like an AI or aliens, all of mankind unites to become a super persistent highly-competent BadassArmy. Think [[Anime/CodeGeass Lelouch's]] final plan for world peace, [[spoiler:being hated by the rest of humanity as a common enemy]], for example. Big Brother exploited humans' innate bastardness, and turned them against each other through the Atomic and Perpetual Wars (analogous to [[Franchise/{{Terminator}} Skynet]]). To ensure that humanity never finds out that an Artificial Intelligence is behind the shenanigans, Big Brother appointed the Inner Party and created the philosophy of doublethink to stupefy the vast majority (and hope) of humanity, the intellectual Outer Party and the potentially omnipotent Proles.

[[folder:Theories about the The Party, Big Brother, & Society]]