Who is Emmanuel Goldstein?

Could it be you?

If you are reading this, you may be Emmanuel Goldstein. If you consider yourself a conservative or libertarian, there is a good chance you are Emmanuel Goldstein. If you believe in small government with limited power, it is highly likely that you are Emmanuel Goldstein. If you are a heterosexual white male, in all probability, you are Emmanuel Goldstein. If you believe power belongs to the people, you most definitely are Emmanuel Goldstein. 

If you are unfamiliar with the name Emmanuel Goldstein, allow me to shed a little light. Emmanuel Goldstein is a character in George Orwell’s 1984. He is a fictitious character, not only because the book is a work of fiction, but he is a fictitious character within the book. He was a personage invented by the Party to be the focus of the anger of the people. He was devised as a tool for manipulation, because by focusing the outrage of the people on Goldstein, their attention was distracted from the Party’s tyranny. Goldstein was the common enemy that united the people behind the Party. Does this sound at all familiar?

While Goldstein was a fixed locus for the people’s indignation, our government’s Goldstein is a bit more fluid. One day he is the face of white supremacy. The next day, he is the face of transphobes and Islamophobes. Yet another day, he is the face of “MAGA Republicans.” Do you see a pattern?

Creating a common enemy unites disparate groups behind the government, even when that same government wields power abusively over them. Consider the minority groups who are routinely used for their votes, but to whom promises are routinely broken. But the promise doesn’t matter; look over there - it’s Emmanuel Goldstein. He’s the cause of all your dismay! It is he who is holding you back. It is he who is discriminating against you. It is he who is destroying the economy. It is he who is responsible for all the evils plaguing our society.

Emmanuel Goldstein is the enemy, the one to be despised, the one who wants to destroy the government that is so benevolent toward you. He is the enemy of the State, and the enemy of the individual. He alone bears the guilt.

A corrupt government needs a scapegoat, and a gullible and willfully ignorant people will gladly direct their dismay toward whomever is deemed the devil for the day.

This is why different groups or ideologies are routinely demonized. The ones who will not go along, who see through the subterfuge, must play the part of the foil. In the book, Emmanuel Goldstein (allegedly - since he is a  fabricated figure) left the Party and is now considered a traitor. This is how politicians (particularly, though not exclusively, on the left) beguile their devoted drones to pull the proper lever at the polls. Politicians can then dupe those drones into believing they have always been fighting the one enemy, while they also continually present a new enemy. In 1984, the ongoing war was, at any given time, either with Eurasia or Eastasia, and at the same time, the war had always been with the current aggressor. This is what we see today.

Goldstein is a common foe that galvanizes the voter base. Anything else happening fades into the background so long as Goldstein is kept before their faces. And just like the Two Minutes Hate sessions in Orwell’s book, wherein the proles were made to watch video of Goldstein while hearing about all of his horrible crimes against the state and the people, the media holds up the government’s Goldstein to keep the masses angry and abstracted.

Thus, anyone who thinks for themselves, anyone who bucks the system, anyone who won’t go along with the current narrative, becomes Emmanuel Goldstein. Some might cite Trump as the penultimate Emmanuel Goldstein, but he is too tangible; he is not ubiquitous enough. No, Emmanuel Goldstein needs to be more ordinary. He needs to be more generic. He needs to be conceptual, yet still personal. He needs to be someone capable of critical thought, someone who knows the Constitution and sees how it is used by politicians as little more than toilet paper, someone who won’t bow to party, someone with the lowest intersectionality score. He needs to be you and everyone who thinks like you. You are Emmanuel Goldstein.