Endless Wars
The ongoing Syrian Civil War is coming up on it's 10th anniversary, and the war in Afghanistan began almost 20 years ago now. While American presence in Afghanistan has steadily declined, and Syria seems to have reached a stalemate, it seems like Americans have turned sharply against the idea of foreign intervention, many saying they just want to leave the Middle East alone.
There's a similar dynamic in 1984, with the governments constantly fighting against the other powers in the Middle East. While most people act patriotic about it all, I get the impression from Winston's experience that they all realize how pointless the wars are, and how the wars will never be won. Though if they were to express those feelings, they would be arrested pretty quickly. Still, Oceania maintains that they are fighting and winning, and that the people just need to give a little more to the government, to secure victory.
I wonder if, similarly to what's happened in America in the last 20 years, the people of Oceania will eventually turn against the wars. The flip-flopping between "We have always been at war with Eurasia" and "We have always been at war with Eurasia" seems like such an obvious lie by the government, and I think it could lead to a rise in anti-war and anti-government beliefs.
At the moment, because the media neglects to document what is actually happening on the ground of the countries we have a military presence in - I believe that the American attitudes toward the middle east are misleading. The perspective on war, in contemporary America, come from a view that war in foreign countries is waste. In reality, war in foreign countries is a product of imperialism and will persevere as long as capitalist empires exist. That is why I believe that as long as Oceania exists, war will go on. Additionally, as long as the United States is around in the same capacity it is today, the United States armed forces will not leave the middle east.
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