Ministry of Truth
A world where lies are true, and truth is a lie!
Manipulating truth to rewrite history
Technology, manipulation, and Orwell
George Orwell had a vision in 1946, a vision that would in part end up becoming true. In his novel "1984", he creates a futuristic dystopia in which a government essentially lies on a daily basis to the people and those lies are the only thoughts they can elaborate on, without being able to give their own opinion unless it is supporting them. The government rewrites history, alienating the population from any truth that has ever happened in the past before this dictatorship occurred. Today, we a see a similar example of such manipulation in North Korea.
North Korea's Manipulation of History
The most relevant example is what is being taught in school to children regarding the Korean War of the early 1950's. What the rest of the World knows is that it was North Korea began this war when the army forced itself through the 38th Parallel, or the Demilitarized Zone, attacking their Southern counterpart. What North Korea claims and what all North Koreans are taught is that South Korea attacked first and their attack was simply a response. With the United Nation intervening, North Korea began stepping back from their assault on Seoul and quickly began using professional to rewrite the events. These scholars began writing of a heroic North which since the beginnings of the nation only attempted to unify it and maintain peace.
According to the North, the fighting also ended differently. Although it ended after the signing of a stalemate, the information in the country is that it ended in a "glorious victory" for them thanks to the unity of the people. Also, about 400,000 US soldiers were killed in the battle, although the US Military claims the number to be around 30,000. There are currently no mentions of how many North Koreans died during the fighting, but outside it is known the number was about 1.5 million.
US sign marking the beginning of the 38th Parallel
United States offensive in North Korea
Map of invasions
Hardware and Software Used to Manipulate Truth
Photograph Manipulation
The goal, of course, can be to produce beautiful works of digital art, that like painting, have absolutely no barriers other than one's imagination, exemplified in the picture beside.
Unfortunately, images can easily be distorted with the objective of making them unrecognizable as false, convincing the public they are original. An example of this occurs in 2006, from the infamous Lebanon War Photograph Controversy. Adnan Hajj was a freelance photographer working for Reuters at the time, who during the conflict between his country Lebanon and Israel, "photoshopped" various images of Israeli attacks, misrepresenting their after effects. Hajj was then fired from the company, but his images came close to becoming accepted.