Memory hole

For other uses, see Memory hole (disambiguation).

A memory hole is a fictional device for destroying historical evidence in George Orwell's 1949 dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four . In the novel, the Party's Ministry of Truth systematically erases inconvenient historical documents, in effect, re-writing history to match the ever-changing state propaganda.

Origins

In Nineteen Eighty-Four, the "memory hole" is a small chute leading to a large incinerator used for censorship: ^{[1] [2]}

In the walls of the cubicle there were three orifices. To the right of the speakwrite, a small pneumatic tube for written messages, to the left, a larger one for newspapers; and in the side wall, within easy reach of Winston's arm, a large oblong slit protected by a wire grating. This last was for the disposal of waste paper. Similar slits existed in thousands or tens of thousands throughout the building, not only in every room but at short intervals in every corridor. For some reason they were nicknamed memory holes. When one knew that any document was due for destruction, or even when one saw a scrap of waste paper lying about, it was an automatic action to lift the flap of the nearest memory hole and drop it in, whereupon it would be whirled away on a current of warm air to the enormous furnaces which were hidden somewhere in the recesses of the building. ^{[3] : 34–35}

The fictional totalitarian regime of Oceania maintains complete dominance over its population through the control of history and memory, specifically by erasing the past and forging historical facts. This historical forgery enforces a collective reality onto the masses, ensuring that the Party and its ideology persists. This concept is expressed in the principle doctrine of Ingsoc: "Who controls the past, controls the future: who controls the present controls the past". ^[4]

Nineteen Eighty-Four'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. ^[4] In one instance, the weekly chocolate ration was decreased from 30 grams to 20. The next day the newspaper announced that the chocolate ration had not been reduced to 20 grams per week, but increased to 20 grams. Any previous mention of the ration having been 30 grams per week needed to be destroyed.

The memory hole is referenced while O'Brien tortures Smith; O'Brien produces evidence of a coverup by the Party, exciting Smith that such documentation exists. However, O'Brien then destroys the evidence in the memory hole and denies not only the existence of the evidence but also any memory of his actions. Smith realizes that this is doublethink in action, as O'Brien has actively suppressed his memory of both a politically inconvenient fact and his action taken to destroy the evidence of it. ^[5]

Modern usage

Don Pittis, a CBS News columnist express the worries the 2014 "right to be forgotten" decision of the European Court of Justice creates a precedent for governments to create legal mechanisms that would essentially function as "memory holes" in ephemeral electronic storage systems. ^[1] The Daily Telegraph cited Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales describing "the EU's Right to be Forgotten as deeply immoral, as the organisation that operates the online encyclopedia warned the ruling will result in an Internet riddled with memory holes". ^[6] Other commentators disagreed with negative opinions of the kind.

See also

• Novels portal

• /dev/null  – Device file that discards all data written to itPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
• Ash heap of history  – English phrase
• Bit bucket  – Lost data in computing
• Blue wall of silence  – Informal rule that American police do not report misconduct by other officers
• Book censorship in the United States  – Censorship of books in the United States
• Burn bag  – Bag used to contain classified items for burning
• Censorship of images in the Soviet Union
• Cover up  – Attempt to conceal evidencePages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
• Damnatio memoriae  – Exclusion of a person from official records and accounts
• De-commemoration
• Historical revisionism  – Reinterpretation of a historical account
• The Memory Hole (web site)  – Web archivePages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets, a website whose goal was to preserve documents which were in danger of being lost
• Motivated forgetting
• Pact of forgetting  – Political decision in Spain to intentionally ignore the political legacy of FrancoPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
• Postcolonial amnesia
• Retcon  – Revision of existing facts in succeeding works of fictionPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
• Selective omission
• Spiral of silence  – Political science and mass communication theory
• Truth-seeking

References

• The dictionary definition of memory hole at Wiktionary

1. Pittis, Don (13 May 2014). "Google's memory hole a bottomless pit: Don Pittis". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation . Retrieved 3 August 2014.
2. Stone, Brad (19 July 2009). "Amazon Erases Orwell Books From Kindle". The New York Times . Retrieved 3 August 2014.
3. George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four , first published by Martin Secker & Warburg, London, 1949. This reference, Penguin Books pocket edition, 1954
4. Finigan, Theo. ""Into the Memory Hole": Totalitarianism and Mal d'Archive in Nineteen Eighty-Four and The Handmaid's Tale". Science Fiction Studies. 38– via JSTOR.
5. Bhabha, Homi K. (2010). "Doublespeak and Minority of One". On "Nineteen Eighty-Four": Orwell and Our Future. Princeton University Press. pp. 32–33. ISBN   978-1400826643.
6. "Wikipedia founder: EU's Right to be Forgotten is 'deeply immoral'". The Telegraph. 6 August 2014. Retrieved 7 August 2014.