Response 7

War is Peace.  Unlike everyone else in the class, I actually found this excerpt from Goldstein's book to be quite interesting.  To me, it really was the point when I became aware of the Party's true colors.  I must admit that some of their tactics are actually quite intelligent.  Their war tactics are very well thought out and accomplish their task very effectively.  The war is necessary for the Party to maintain their strength and control that they have over the people.  The war itself is not the important part.  The fighting, the bloodshed, and the science behind it the war are of small importance when compared to the psychological hold that it places on the people.  The war must be fought in order to keep the people under control and give them a common enemy.  I couldn't help but think of the 9/11 conspiracy theory when I read about the way that Oceania fights war.  People believe that Bush ordered the bombs just as Julia stated that the Party possibly bombed its own people.  The bombs may cause physical destruction, but the emotional gain from the bombs is what the target is.  The party is able to unite its people under a common enemy and that is what holds their system of governing together.  The strategy of the Party is to fuel the hatred of the population against the enemy through the state of constant war.  In my opinion, this is a very clever strategy.   I feel like the saying War is Peace also applies to our military system here in the United States.  Our country has military stationed in countries that are considered war torn or of a threat.  The purpose of our troops there is to maintain the peace.  In this sense, war is peace even in today's society.