Who controls the past controls the future:
who controls the present controls the past.

17. Falsification Of Past

The past is whatever the Party chooses to make it....
If the facts say otherwise then the facts must be altered.

The Party could thrust its hand into the past and say of this or that event, it never happened. The Party said that Oceania had never been in alliance with Eurasia. He, Winston Smith, knew that Oceania had been in alliance with Eurasia as short a time as four years ago. But where did that knowlede exist? Only in his own consciousness, which in any case must soon be annihilated. And if all others accepted the lie whith the Party imposed -- if all records told the same tale -- then the lie passed into history and became truth. 'Who controls the past,' ran the Party slogan, 'controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.'

The largest section of the RECORDS DEPARTMENT, far larger than the one on which Winston worked, consisted simply of persons whose duty it was to track down and collect all copies of books, newspapers, and other documents which had been superseded and were due for destruction. The hunting-down and destruction of books had been done with thoroughness and it was very unlikely that there existed anywhere in Oceania a copy of a book printed earlier than 1960. Books were recalled and rewritten again and again, and were invariably re issued without any admission that any alteration had been made. Even the written instructions never stated or implied that an act of forgery was to be committed: always reference was to slips, errors, misprints, or misquotations which it was necessary to put right in the interests of accuracy. But actually it was not even forgery. It was merely the substitution of one piece of nonsense for another. Statistics were just as much a fantasy in their original version as in their rectified version. A great deal of the time you were expected to make them up out of your head.

Sometimes he talked to Julia of the RECORDS DEPARTMENT and the impudent forgeries that he committed there. Such things did not appear to horrify her. She did not feel the abyss opening beneath her feet at the thought of lies becoming truths. He said, "Do you realize that the past, starting from yesterday, has been actually abolished? If it survives anywhere, it's in a few solid objects with no words attached to them, like that lump of glass there. Already we know almost literally nothing about the Revolution and the years before the Revolution. Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book has been rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street and building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And that process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except in an endless present in which the Party is always right. I know, of course, that the past is falsified, but it would never be possible for me to prove it, even when I did the falsification myself. After the thing is done, no evidence ever remains. The only evidence is inside my own mind, and I don't know with any cerainty that any other human being shares my memories.

If, for example, Eurasia or Eastasia (whichever it may be) is the enemy to-day, then that country must always have been the enemy. And if the facts say otherwise then the facts must be altered. Thus history is continually rewritten.

The day-to-day falsification of the past, carried out by the Ministry of Truth, is as necessary to the stability of the regime as the work of repression and espionage carried out by the Ministry of Love. The mutability of the past is the central tenet of Ingsoc. Past events, it is argued have no objective existence, but survive only in written records and human memories. The past is whatever the records and the memories agree upon. And since the Party is in full control of all records and in equally full control of the minds of its members, it follows that the past is whatever the Party chooses to make it. As often happens, the same event has to be altered out of recognition several times in the course of a year. At all times the Party is in possession of absolute truth. To make sure that all written records agree with the orthodoxy of the moment is merely a mechanical act.

The alteration of the past is necessary for two reasons. To be able to learn from the past meant having a fairly accurate idea of what had happened in the past. One reason is that the Party member, like the proletarian, tolerates present-day conditions partly because he has no standards of comparison. He must be cut off from the past, just as he must be cut off from foreign countries, because it is necessary for him to believe that he is better off than his ancestors and that the average level of material comfort is constantly rising.

But by far the more important reason for the re adjustment of the past is the need to safeguard the infallibility of the Party. It is not merely that speeches, statistics, and records of every kind must be constantly brought up to date in order to show that the predictions of the Party were in all cases right. It is also that no change in doctrine or in political alignment can ever be admitted. For to change one's mind, or even one's policy, is a confession of weakness.

Day by day and almost minute by minute the past was brought up to date. In this way every prediction made by the Party could be shown by documentary evidence to have been correct; nor was any item of news, or any expression of opinion, which conflicted with the needs of the moment, ever allowed to remain on record. All history was a palimpsest, scraped clean and rewritten as often as was necessary. In no case would it have been possible, once the deed was done, to prove that any falsification had taken place.

Anything large and impressive, if it was reasonably new in appearance, was automatically claimed as having been built since the Revolution, while anything that was obviously of earlier date was ascribed to some dim period called the Middle Ages. The centuries of capitalism were held to have produced nothing of any value. One could not learn history from architecture any more than one could learn it from books. Statues, inscriptions, memorial stones, the names of streets - anything that might throw light upon the past had been systematically altered.

Museums were used for propaganda displays of various kinds - scale models of rocket bombs and Floating Fortresses, wax-work tableaux illustrating enemy atrocities, and the like.

Often Julia was ready to accept the official mythology, simply because the difference between truth and falsehood did not seem important to her. She believed, for instance, having learnt it at school that the Party had invented aeroplanes. And when he told her that aeroplanes had been in existence before he was born, and long before the Revolution, the fact struck her as totally uninteresting. After all, what did it matter who had invented aeroplanes?

Within twenty years at the most, he reflected, the huge and simple question, "Was life better before the Revolution than it is now?" would have ceased once and for all to be answerable. But in effect it was unanswerable even now, since the few scattered survivors from the ancient world were incapable of comparing one age with another. They remembered a million useless things, a quarrel with a workmate, a hunt for a lost bicycle pump, but all the relevant facts were outside the range of their vision. They were like the ant, which can see small objects but not large ones. And when memory failed and written records were falsified - when that happened, the claim of the Party to have improved the conditions of human life had got to be accepted, because there did not exist, and never again could exist, any standard against which it could be tested.

The past not only changed, but changed continuously. What most afflicted Winston with the sense of nightmare was that he had never clearly understood why the huge imposture was undertaken. The immediate advantages of falsifying the past were obvious, but the ultimate motive was mysterious. He took up his pen again and wrote:

I understand HOW: I do not understand WHY.


World Trade Center in NY attacked (hit by planes & blows up). BBC, September 11, 2001-2007. Go to MUSLIMS DEFY LAWS OF PHYSICS (2 + 2 = 5) & 9/11 HI-JACKS OR HI-JINKS? & LINDBERGH'S ANTI-WAR SPEECH ("foreign interests forcing USA"). delivered on Sep 11, 1941

'Bobby' movie more fiction than fact (completely distorts history; depicts lives of fictional characters interspersed with Bobby speaking) & Did the CIA kill Bobby Kennedy? (Sirhan's gun in front of RFK; fatal bullet fired from behind). CBS/Guardian, Nov 27, 2006. Go to RFK ASSASSINATION READING

PHOTOS PROVE OSWALD INNOCENT (LIFE magazine October 1964) & Oswald Magic Bullet in doubt (defies laws of physics & common sense). PittsburghTribune, Aug 27, 2006. Go to 17.Falsification of Past & JFK ASSASSINATION PUZZLE

RFK SHOT CAUGHT IN PHOTO (reader says proof is in the RFK bullet) & New film on RFK assassination (written by son of an actor whose made career playing presidents). Aug 27, 2006

Reader looking for JFK game (about lone-gunman theory). Go to JFK REALITY NOT A GAME & Abraham was the name of the man who filmed Kennedy's murder in the Lincoln & LINCOLN-JFK COINCIDENCES & JFK ASSASSINATION PUZZLE

Austria arrests British Holocaust denier (said Auschwitz gas chambers a hoax; Jews died from typhus not gas) & David Irving an acclaimed historian (accused of anti-semitism for saying Jews are enemies of free speech). CBC/BBC, Nov 23, 2005. Go to ORWELL ON ANTI-SEMITISM & ANTI-SEMITISM IN BRITAIN

America lands man on the Moon (Armstrong & Aldrin in lunar Eagle; Collins orbiting in mother ship Columbia). BBC, Jul 21, 1969 - 2005

Reader arouses curiosity with: MORE MOON HOAX QUESTIONS. Jun 21, 2005

English demand St George's Day holiday ("Our heritage is being eroded. We need a day for the English."). Scotsman, Apr 23, 2005. Go to SAINT GEORGE ORWELL DAY

Chess legend Fischer may become Icelander (most of 9-member Parliament Committee in favour of granting citizenship). Scotsman, Jan 28, 2005 & Bobby Fischer seeks Icelandic citizenship (Jap gov't illegally imprisoning him on "false & ludicrous grounds" & health worsening since arrest). NewYorkTimes, Jan 28, 2005. Go to BOBBY FISCHER IN R00M 202

"Western propaganda minimizes President Kagame's role in stopping the genocide", says reader from Rwanda, Dec 7, 2004

JFK REMEMBRANCE CEREMONY (annual Springfield observance on Nov 22 is only one in nation other than one at Arlington National Cemetery). Republican, Nov 23, 2004

KILLING JFK FOR FUN (video game of Kennedy assassination - an educational "docu-game" to help disprove conspiracy theories). Globe & Mail, Nov 22, 2004. Go to 16.Minitrue & 28.Reality Control

Apollo Anniversary July 20, 1969: Moon Landing "Inspired World" (the Party line status quo). National Geographic, Jul 20, 2004. Go to MOCKUMENTARY MOON DOC

Prince Charles & sons wearing Jewish bracelets (string on wrist like Kabbalah cult). SundayMail, Jun 27, 2004. Go to 10.Rulers & 35.Brotherhood & JEWISH KABBALAH HAS BECKHAM

MOON DOC HOAX ON HOAX (CBC documentary a spoof to discredit conspiracy theorists?). May 26, 2004. Go to 16.Ministry of Truth (Lies)

GULLIVER DISCOVERS HISTORY FALSIFIED (world misled by prostitute writers). Apr 24, 2004. Go to 16.Ministry of Truth (Lies)

ORWELL'S VOICE & BLUE EYES (wish there was a recording of Orwell's BBC broadcasts). Go to 17.Falsification of Past. Mar 28, 2004

NOT JUST GERMANY GUILTY (but reader wants German apology). Mar 17, 2004. Go to 12.Minipax & 35.Brotherhood

PASSION'S CRUCIFIXION OVERKILL (Gibson's Passion of the Christ is Mad Max Meets the Messiah). National Post, Mar 9,2004. Go to Go to 25.Prolefeed

SHRINE TO ORWELL (a reader from India says Orwell's birthplace still exists and should be restored). Mar 1, 2004

MOON HOAX DARK SIDE (nothing is as it seems). Vancouver Sun, Mar 1, 2004 & The last man on the moon ('didn't just leave Earth physically'). Straits Times, Feb 29, 2004. Go to THE MOON SONG

Gloom in Saddam, Sri Lanka (Saddam double part of US/UK ploy evading issue of missing WMDs & USA's murder of Iraqi civilians). BBC, Dec 16, 2003. Go to WHERE IS OSADDAM BIN?

Queen tours fake Nigerian market (built by BBC studio producers). Telegraph, Dec 5, 2003. Go to 16.Minitrue & 28.Reality Control

New York Times spun Stalin's lies (Moscow correspondent lived good life while over 20 million in USSR starved & died as slaves in Gulag). National Post, Nov 26, 2003. Go to 16.Minitrue & ORWELL'S PUBLISHING PROBLEMS & WARTIME MINISTRY OF INFORMATION

Dark Side of the Moon documentary: MOON PHOTOS WERE A HOAX ('but we DID go to the moon' say Kissinger-Rumsfield-Haig-Helms). Passionate Eye, Nov 17, 2003. Go to 28.Reality Control & WHAT'S A CONSPIRACY THEORY?

ABC News reconstructs Kennedy assassination (computer backs up Warren Commission saying Lee Harvey Oswald lone gunman). SanFranChron, Nov 9, 2003. Go to 16.Ministry of Truth (Lies) & JFK/RFK ASSASSINATION DETAILS & GARRISON JFK MURDER TRIAL

STALIN'S LIAR IN NEW YORK (got Pultzer Prize for denying Soviet starvation & gulags). CalgarySun, May 20, 2003. Go to ORWELL'S PUBLISHING PROBLEMS

Holocaust denial's other side (vs Jewish media owners' side). Rense.com, May 20, 2003. Go to 27.Goodthink & 21.Crimestop & ZIONISM IN AMERICA

50's Reign of Terror was AGAINST not BY McCarthy. OpEds, May 17, 2003. Go to COMMUNISTS COINED "MCCARTHYISM"

US Internet giant pulls website (on orders from Canadian gov't accusing Zundel of hate-crimes). AR Online, May 15, 2003. Go to 21.Crimestop & 27.Goodthink

JFK had an intern too (& Mafia boss girlfriend who aborted JFK's baby). NY Daily, May 12, 2003. Go to THEY KEEP KILLLING KENNEDY & PLAYBOY'S JFK

Secret McCarthy papers released (investigated communist subversion). BBC, May 6, 2003. Go to COMMUNISTS COINED "MCCARTHYISM"

AN ORWELLIAN PURGE (control of all citizens' reading material, actions & thoughts). Baltimore Sun, May 2, 2003. Go to 16.Minitrue (Lies)

Textbook case of political correctness ("Founding Fathers" now "Framers"; "snowman" now "snowperson"; "devil" removed - no replacement). Fox News, Apr 30, 2003. Go to 18.Newspeak

Smoking gun stinks of spooks (documents found in Baghdad). Daily Mirror, Apr 28, 2003. Go to 20.Reality Control & SNOWBALL IS OSADDAM

ODDS AGAINST SARS (chances of being murdered or struck by lightning are better). National Post, Apr 24, 2003. Go to 28.Reality Control & HEALTH CRUSADERS

Newspaper doctored Iraq photo (faked on Photoshop programme). Indy Media, Apr 17, 2003. Go to 16.Minipax (Lies) & 28.Reality Control

WNV now acute flaccid paralysis (attacks healthy middle-aged). National Post, Apr 15, 2003. Go to 16.Minitrue & WEST NILE STORY

The madness of saving Jessica (an April Fools' Day joke enough to make you puke). ThisIsLondon, Apr 13, 2003. Go to POWs in KOREA/NAM/GULF

Famed Iraq museum plundered (10,000 yrs of civilization gone). Wash Post, Apr 12, 2003. Go to 7.Systems of Thought & BAGHDAD PLUNDERED

Zundel hate-hearing today (accused of revising history). Rense.com, Mar 31, 2003. Go to 27.Goodthink & ZIONISM IN AMERICA

Historians pervert USA history (teach hate of their own nation). Omaha Herald, Mar 1, 2003

History all Hitler & Henrys (damaging students' cultural knowledge). Independent, Feb 18, 2003

JFK killed Marilyn Monroe (according to Joe DiMaggio book with forward by Henry Kissinger). Scotsman, Feb 11, 2003. Go to 25.Prolefeed & JFK TRUTHS AND LIES & CRIMES OF HENRY KISSINGER

"Made In USA" a phony prop (hiding "Made In China" boxes"). ABC News, Jan 23, 2003

Beatles cigarette airbrushed off cover (smoking politically incorrect now). BBC, Jan 21, 2003. Go to DRUG WAR & PEACE

"Gangs of NY" unrelenting brutality (racism-criminality-butchery-mayhem-degradation-prostitution-thievery-cruelty). NY Post, Dec 19, 2002. Go to 25.Prolefeed

Russia's secret police on trial (Estonia first in speaking for Stalin's 60-million victims). Telegraph, Nov 26, 2002. Go to 16.Minitrue & COMMUNIST CRIMES EXPOSED & ORWELL'S PUBLISHING PROBLEMS

World's biggest telescope to prove (Americans really walked on moon)? Telegraph, Nov 24, 2002. Go to & Moon Landing - A Hoax & CONSPIRACY THEORIES

Geography lessons 'brainwash' students (teachers action wing of Greenpeace - communist ideology controls history too).Telegraph, Nov 24, 2002. Go to LENIN BEHIND ENVIRONMENTALISTS

Camelot on painkillers ("He didn't feel YOUR pain; he felt HIS"). WallStreetJ, Nov 22, 2002. Go to JFK WAS GOOD & JFK TRUTH & UNTRUTH

Newly disclosed JFK medical file (according to an "historian" who "took notes" but no copies). NY Times, Nov 16, 2002. Go to THEY KEEP KILLING KENNEDY

NASA pulls Moon hoax book (no stars; flag flaps in no-breeze). BBC, Nov 8, 2002

"Firearms rare in early America" (award winning book attests) & Anti-gun history falsified (disgraced author resigns). Wash/National Post, Oct 30, 2002. Go to GUN CONTROL

Soviet history covered up (Putin puts Stalin on coin). FrontPageMag, Sep 24, 2002. Go to 2.Big Brother

Prince William & Bush related (ancestor killed by Indians). The Guardian, Sep 19, 2002. Go to I'M A MONKEY'S UNCLE

Landmark racist web site case (Holocaust denial illegal in Australia). Yahoo! Reuters, Sep 17, 2002

"Oswald killed JFK" says gov't ($1.6M to "Texas Theater" museum). Yahoo! Reuters, Aug 24, 2002. Go to 17.Falsification of Past and MEDIA IN JFK ASSASSINATION

USA Congress rewrites history (says Bell DIDN'T invent telephone). National Post, Jun 21, 2002

Chinese beat Columbus: researcher (Chinese eunich discovered America in 1420). National Post, Mar 5, 2002

When your eyes tell you lies. Insight Magazine

I come to bury Kay, not to praise her. National Post, July 26, 2001.JFK TRUTHS/LIES

German TV full of Hitler and Holocuast. Electronic Telegraph, May 26, 2001

CIA boasts of manipulating news. Associated Press, March 24, 2001.

Death of a true radical (Doug Collins vs Schindler's List). MacLean's, Oct 15, 2001. Go to 27.Goodthink and FREEDOM FIGHTER DIES

Jackie Jura
~ an independent researcher monitoring local, national and international events ~

email: orwelltoday@gmail.com
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