In Part 1, Chapter 1 of 1984, Winston sees the three party slogans etched on to the building of the Ministry of Truth. These are:
WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
To the reader, these slogans may seem very strange. War and peace, for example, are opposing concepts; so too are freedom and slavery, and ignorance and strength. But this gives us an insight into a concept called 'doublethink,' whereby a person is able to take contradictory ideas and "accept them, simultaneously," as being true. It is through doublethink that the party is able to assert its control over the people of Oceania. By forcing them to accept party propaganda, its rewriting of history and its norms and values, it is able to destroy free-will and independent thought. Over time, people come to accept whatever they are told by the party. If the party says that war and peace are the same thing, for instance, the majority come to accept it and it becomes truth.
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