Manipulating Truth
The Ministry of Truth
Manipulating Truth to Rewrite History
"And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed – if all records told the same tale – then the lie passed into history and became truth" (Orwell 21).
From the beginning of times, media has been responsible for manipulating the information emitted by the government and leaders, and transmitted to society. The change that media has imposed to the actual facts in significant events has been incredibly efficient. But can we really accept that we live under the control of institutions that use technology and media to manipulate the truth?
The reality is breathtaking. We have lived summonned to the manipulation of the truth since the creation of media, and we have been exposed to untruthful arguments since the creation of communication.
In the distopian novel by George Orwell, 1984, a man named Winston struggles to live in a world under the control of a man who seems to be in charge of the present, the past and the future. Big Brother is the person that represents the institution called Insoc, which is the real leader of this society. With time, Insoc and Big Brother teared apart the people's past, through media and campaigns, and imposed a concept into society.
"In February 2003, a Florida Court of Appeals unanimously ruled for Fox News, saying no rule or law prohibits distorting or falsifying news. Just as Wall Street, war profiteers, Big Oil, Big Pharma, and other corporate favorites steal with impunity, it's OK for America's media to lie"
- Steve Lendman, "Media Manipulation of 9/11 Truth"
One of the most world-widely known events in history was the fall of the Twin Towers, on September 11th, 2001. This was one of the most catastrphic dates, and it was the "most documented event in history", accordig to the 2002 HBO film titled, "In Memoriam".
Approximately at 4 p.m., three planes crushed into the towers with 30 minutes time between each crash. Chaos, catastrophe and desperation filled the streets of New York, and the minds of the innocent victims, who jumped in panic from the windows of the buildings, to avoid burning alive. The happening was clear to the witnesses and survivors, but they were also the responsible people for distributing the manipulated truth.
The false accusations against Osama Bin Laden (with falsified evidence through technology) and the photoshopped images that appeared online and in the news on the following days after the occurence, showed that the truth was being altered with purposes of frightening the population and finding answers, but what they managed to do was to create a new reality.
The manipulation of these images was made for the control of the people, and the creation of false ideas into the expectators' minds. This is a clear example of manipulation of the truth for control. The pictures show blame on a related person or association, like George Bush being compared to Adolf Hitler (1), or the CIA being partners with Al Qaeda (2), for committing the crime of crushing aircrafts into the towers, and also show the pain of losing innocent tourists and citizens, photoshopping a plane into an old photo (3) which produces sadness in the people and the need to make someone "pay for his actions".
Hardware and Software Used to Manipulate Truth
Hardware
Software
One of the most commonly used software examples, is Adobe Photoshop, which is used to manipulate images by adding objects to it, modifying shapes, taking out objects, enhancing how it looks, and many others. These are some examples of the impressively well done images, before and after their manipulation.
Manipulated Truth: Transmitted and Communicated to Society
The most common examples of software used by these companies are social networks, like Facebook and Twitter, which provide a way to share the manipulated information with internet users in a quick way.
The hardware that these and other companies use, like newspapers and magazines, or radios and televisions, differently, provide a way to communicate information to people that do not consult social media, orthat prefer the physical copy of the details.