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{{trope}}
{{quote|''"To know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies, to hold simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them, to use logic against logic, to repudiate morality while laying claim to it, to believe that democracy was impossible and that the Party was the guardian of democracy, to forget whatever it was necessary to forget, then to draw it back into memory again at the moment when it was needed, and then promptly to forget it again: and above all, to apply the same process to the process itself. That was the ultimate subtlety: consciously to induce unconsciousness, and then, once again, to become unconscious of the act of hypnosis you had just performed. Even to understand the word 'doublethink' involved the use of doublethink."''|''[[Nineteen Eighty
The ability of simultaneously believing in at least two or more concepts that mutually contradict each other, without [[Logic Bomb|cognitive dissonance]]. You do know better and what's really true, but you still keep [[Believing Your Own Lies]] as the truth just because.
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There are two kinds of straight examples here: ''Verified'' examples, where a reliable narrator or similar gives the audience insight into the mind of the character, and ''apparent'' examples where a character appears to be engaging in doublethink but we don't know for sure what's really going on in his mind. Examples of the latter kind are more effective when a character suspects another of doublethink.
[[Straw Hypocrite
Compare and contrast [[No Except Yes]] and [[From a Certain Point of View]], where a character tries to glue opposing viewpoints together as being the same thing, giving it a resemblance of coherence by various esoteric distinctions. Contrast [[Becoming the Mask]], where cognitive dissonance sets in and a character who has pretended to be loyal to a certain group starts gaining true loyalty towards it, and [[Both Sides Have a Point]] where both sides are respected but kept separated. See also [[Two Plus Torture Makes Five]] and [[The Treachery of Images]].
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* Dios and the other Djelibeybian priests from ''[[Discworld|Pyramids]]'' are noted for this ability, as religious dogma in that country obliges them to believe that several different gods all exclusively and simultaneously fill the same divine offices.
* In order to use [[Functional Magic|sympathy]] in ''[[Name of the Wind]]'', one must be able to hold two opposite beliefs at once. It sounds simple at first, but it's also one of the reasons most Arcanists go mad.
* In ''[[
* In CHERUB:Divine Madness, the Survivor's manipulate people into joining their cult whilst simultaneously not seeing that they are being manipulated.
== [[Live
* In one [
== [[Music]] ==
* ''Evanescence's'' [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHxHSoHOnZ8 Anything for You], where the protagonist claims to believe any lies her lover make (in spite of knowing they are lies).
== [[Real Life]] ==▼
* People who subscribe to [[Conspiracy Theories]] are often able to jump from one belief to another, without ever admitting they're contradictory or that the original was wrong. There's an organization called "Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth", which claims a membership of 1,500 professionals in those professions. When debunkers point out that more than their entire membership enters the labour force in those professions each ''year'', and that there are over a ''million'' people in those professions in the US, the Truthers often promptly start whining about the Appeal To Authority fallacy.▼
** Not just [[Conspiracy Theories]]; people seem to have a knack for this when it comes to politics, atheism, religion, philosophy, or just about anything you can hold an opinion on, really.▼
* A cornerstone tenet of the Church of the SubGenius is to "pull the wool over your own eyes" -- if you're going to believe in bullshit, it better be ''your own'' bullshit. One mark of a SubGenius sermon is that it [[Lampshades]] its absurdity while preaching it with the most sincere conviction. This is one of the reasons it's called a 'post-modern religion'. Possibly the biggest piece of [[Doublethink]] on offer at these services, however, is that many members really and truly believe that other religions (read: Christianity) actually believe something that relates to the big pile of bullshit they just cooked up themselves on the basis of zero research and zero understanding. That goes double for [[The Fundamentalist|the most enthusiastic]] members of 'The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster' who do roughly the same thing while dressed as a pirate.▼
** The funny thing about both of those is that they work way better as parodies of Paganism. Or their own members.▼
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* In ''[[
* Other games in the ''[[
* ''[[
== [[Video Games]] ==
* In the video game adaptation of ''[[The
* Implied for the [[Big Bad]] in [[Might and Magic]] VIII. He starts his conversation with you by lamenting the fact that his underestimation of your people led to him being forced to destroy your world needlessly, outright telling you that he doesn't ''want'' to, but his programming leaves him no choice but to continue. He ''ends'' it by blatantly giving you hints about where to go and what to do without actually admitting that is what he is doing, and then giving you an object, telling you that since you are so unimportant and weak people, and don't know what it is or what to do with it anyway, he can safely give it to you without compromising his mission.
* The Prophet of Truth from ''[[Halo]]'' could fall under this trope. He knows that the Covenant's religious tenants are wrong, but continues to believe in them anyway (the parts that are convenient anyway).
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== [[Web Original]] ==
* [[Zinnia Jones]]'s [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNcWdV0LYG4 episode on Pascal's Wager], briefly argues the potential benefits of believing in different religions separately from each other but simultaneously.
▲== [[Real Life]] ==
▲* People who subscribe to [[Conspiracy Theories]] are often able to jump from one belief to another, without ever admitting they're contradictory or that the original was wrong. There's an organization called "Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth", which claims a membership of 1,500 professionals in those professions. When debunkers point out that more than their entire membership enters the labour force in those professions each ''year'', and that there are over a ''million'' people in those professions in the US, the Truthers often promptly start whining about the Appeal To Authority fallacy.
▲** Not just [[Conspiracy Theories]]; people seem to have a knack for this when it comes to politics, atheism, religion, philosophy, or just about anything you can hold an opinion on, really.
▲* A cornerstone tenet of the Church of the SubGenius is to "pull the wool over your own eyes"
▲** The funny thing about both of those is that they work way better as parodies of Paganism. Or their own members.
* One amusing example from early 21st-century Republicanism in the United States is the sincere and simultaneous belief that Hispanic immigrants to the US are both lazy and looking enrich themselves on unemployment benefits ''and'' taking jobs away from Americans by being willing to work for lower wages.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Newspeak]]
[[Category:Psychology Tropes]]
[[Category:The Index Is Watching You]]
▲[[Category:Doublethink]]
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