“Tales From The Memory Hole” a mountain of material that exposes things that we’re not supposed to know (or that we’re supposed to forget).

By Terry McMoore | February 19, 2007 |

The memory hole, as in the phrase “Going down the memory hole,” refers to a mechanism for censorship in George Orwell’s novel, 1984.

In the novel, the memory hole is a slot into which government officials deposit politically inconvenient documents and records to be destroyed. 1984’s protagonist Winston Smith, who works in the Ministry of Truth, is routinely assigned the task of revising old newspaper articles in order to serve the propaganda interests of the government.

For example, if the government had pledged that the chocolate ration would not fall below the current 30 grams per week, but in fact the ration is reduced to 20 grams per week, the historical record (e.g. an article from a back issue of the Times newspaper) is revised to contain an announcement that a reduction to 20 grams might soon prove necessary, or that the ration has in fact gone up to 20 grams from some lower number, in a deliberate example of doublethink. The original copies of the historical record are deposited into the memory hole. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Politics | No Comments