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Memory hole

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For other uses, see Memory hole (disambiguation).

A memory hole is any mechanism for the deliberate alteration or disappearance of inconvenient or embarrassing documents, photographs, transcripts or other records, such as from a website or other archive, particularly as part of an attempt to give the impression that something never happened.[1][2] The concept was first popularized by George Orwell's 1949 dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, where the Party's Ministry of Truth systematically re-created all potentially embarrassing historical documents, in effect, re-writing all of history to match the often-changing state propaganda. These changes were complete and undetectable.

Origins

In Nineteen Eighty-Four, the "memory hole" is a small chute leading to a large incinerator used for censorship:[3][4]

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.[5]

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. 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.[6]

See also

  • /dev/null – Device file that discards all data written to it
  • 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
  • Burn bag – Bag used to contain classified items for burning
  • Cover up – Attempt to conceal evidence
  • Damnatio memoriae – Practice of excluding and removing details about a person from official records and accounts
  • Pact of forgetting – Political decision in Spain to intentionally ignore the political legacy of Franco
  • Retcon – Revision of existing facts in succeeding works of fiction
  • Historical revisionism – Reinterpretation of a historical account
  • Spiral of silence – Political science and mass communication theory
  • Censorship of images in the Soviet Union
  • The Memory Hole (web site) – Web archive, a website whose goal was to preserve documents which were in danger of being lost

References

Notes

  1. ^ Kirk Murphy (31 May 2010). "Memorial Day Memory Hole: After Israel Forgets "Exodus", White House Forgets "Shores of Tripoli". Will Obama Remember NATO?". Firedoglake.com.
  2. ^ Weinstein, Adam, Nevada Tea Partier's Memory Hole, 9 June 2010 Archived 13 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Mother Jones.
  3. ^ Pittis, Don (13 May 2014). "Google's memory hole a bottomless pit: Don Pittis". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 3 August 2014.
  4. ^ Stone, Brad (19 July 2009). "Amazon Erases Orwell Books From Kindle". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 August 2014.
  5. ^ Orwell (1954) pp. 34–35.
  6. ^ 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.

Sources

  • The dictionary definition of memory hole at Wiktionary
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