[Opinion] “Clean Election Campaign Committee”

"War is Peace", "Ignorance is Strength," and "Freedom is Slavery.” These slogans are posted on the wall of the Ministry of Truth, where Winston Smith works. His job is to gloss over history by rewriting old newspapers. Since records are manipulated, it is not unreasonable to believe that war is peace and that freedom is slavery. In this country, the Ministry of Peace is in charge of war, and the Ministry of Love persecutes anti-establishment figures on the pretext. This is the storyline of “1984” by George Orwell

Language Determines Consciousness --

In “1984” newspeak not only makes the people believe the reversed version of truth but also makes thinking impossible. Any words that imply freedom and equality are integrated into a single word, “crimethink,” leading to the annihilation of the very notions of freedom and equality. Political control over language is not something that happens in fiction. Price increases are replaced by price adjustments. The weapons of mass destruction are called “big boy” or “little boy.” All these are newspeaks that gloss over the reality of history.

In “1984,” ideas were eliminated by eliminating language. In this market economy, a new marketing strategy is in fashion: making the people, who otherwise wouldn’t, think with a long brand name. The brand name “Vanilla Milk” was once sufficient, but it now feels more real when it is named “Milk Filled With Much Vanilla Extract.” Brand names “Dried Homegrown Laver That Has Become Crispy After Being Glazed With Perilla Oil” and “Soy Source Contains Sunshine” are P.R. stunts themselves with a humorous twist underlying the characteristics of the products.

Long brand names, albeit hard to be memorized, gives credibility. How can soy source contain sunshine? But it is the common human mindset that wouldn’t believe that milk filled with vanilla extract would include vanilla imitations or that laver, once glazed with edible oil, is coated with industrial grease oil. The Uri Party has named its election campaign headquarters Clean Election Campaign Committee probably because it fully understands this psychology. The name sums up the Uri Party’s resolution for a fair and clean election, the party explained. Solely based on the name, the Uri Party is hardly seen as having committed the most electoral irregularities as of January as surveyed by the National Election Commission in January. It will be just thankful if the name is in full correspondence with the essence.