Two Plus Torture Makes Five: Difference between revisions

[[File:Madred_Picard_5306Madred Picard 5306.jpg|link=Star Trek: The Next Generation|frame|[[Armor-Piercing Question|"I asked how many lights you see."]]<br />[[Memetic Mutation|"There are four lights."]]<br />[[Blatant Lies|"I don't understand how you can be so mistaken."]]]]

{{quote|''Nazi theory indeed specifically denies that such a thing as "the truth" exists... The implied objective of this line of thought is a nightmare world in which the [[Evil Overlord|Leader]], or some ruling clique, controls not only the future but ''the past''. If the Leader says of such and such an event, "It never happened" -- well, it never happened. If he says that two and two are five -- well, two and two are five.''|'''[[George Orwell]]''', "Looking Back on the Spanish War," [[Older Than They Think|four years before]] ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]''}}

Most often used as a torture trope, probably influenced by the famous scene from ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]'', the villain has the hero in his clutches, but the hero Simply... Won't... ''Crack''. Sometimes the villain has to do more, i.e., he has to make the hero's mind break. This means making the hero [[The Treachery of Images|see things that aren't there]] or being forced to acknowledge [[Blatant Lies|things that are contradictory]] [[Logic Bomb|or illogical]], sometimes through using [[Cold-Blooded Torture]] or [[Mind Rape]].

The villain needs to make him believe that [[Two Plus Torture Makes Five|'''2 + 2 = 5]]'''. It is said that the Truth will set you Free, and when truth loses all meaning, it becomes just another method of Orwellian [[More Than Mind Control|Mind Control]].

* As shown above, George Orwell used this for ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]''. Winston Smith writes that freedom is the ability to say "two plus two is four," then later tries to make himself believe in Doublethink by changing it to five. During his torture, the torturer forces him to see [[How Many Fingers?|five fingers]] when there are only four. After Winston is released, he at one point subconsciously writes "2 + 2 = 5" on a coffee table's dust layer. Interestingly, several editions of the book list "2 + 2 = " instead, giving the impression of a [[Hope Spot]]. Alas, it's actually a typo: [[Downer Ending|Winston really did write "2 + 2 = 5"]]

{{quote| "Once it's proved to you that, essentially speaking, one little drop of your own fat should be dearer to you than a hundred thousand of your fellow men, and that in this result all so-called virtues and obligations and other ravings and prejudices will finally be resolved, go ahead and accept it, there's nothing to be done, because two times two is-mathematics. Try objecting to that."}}

* In an episode of ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'', a Cardassian [[Torture Technician]] tries to force Picard to state that there are five lights on the wall, when there are really only four (see the page pic). Every time Picard insists that there are four, he gets tortured. Picard later admits that, in the very end, he did break under torture and actually saw five lights, but he's released just in time to defiantly proclaim, "[[ThisPunctuated! IsFor! SpartaEmphasis!|There! Are! Four! Lights!]]"

* On [[The X-Files]], this is pretty much the objective of the military guards torturing Mulder in "The Truth." After breaking into a government facility and finding "the truth", as well as several other things the government was hiding, Mulder is captured and denied food, water, clothes and sleep. Whenever the guards come in, they ask him what he's thinking, and beat him for answering truthfully. What is the correct answer? They want Mulder to admit that he illegally entered the facility to obtain non-existant information and killed a man, even though none of those things are true. Why? They're holding a [[Kangaroo Court]] and are hoping to get rid of him once and for all. It appears to work, as Mulder repeats the words back. Turns out he's just saying it to get them to leave him alone.

** [[Shout-Out|Right from]] [[Older Than They Think|the book]] ''[[Alamut]]''

* Hilarious -- andHilarious—and simultaneously terrifying -- isterrifying—is the [[Shout-Out]] to this trope in ''Portal''. Midway through the struggle with [[Big Bad]] {{spoiler|[[G La DOSGLaDOS]], she}} angrily seethes, "You think you're doing some damage? Two plus two is... f-f-f-f- Ten. {{spoiler|[[Subverted Trope|...In base FOUR!]] [[Oh Crap|I'm FINE!]]"}}

* In an episode of ''[[Chalk ZoneChalkZone]]'' a horrible counselor sets out to make sure that Rudy understands what is "real" and what isn't. She straps him to a chair that shows him two pictures (generally a photo and a cartoon image) and asks him which is better. Every time he gets it wrong, it honks loudly at him. Later in the episode, we see him feebly trying to answer and getting honk after honk after honk until he says "whatever you say", which is the answer she was looking for.

* One reason for the [[Blatant Lies]] in the pronouncements of repressive regimes (like North Korea's recent{{when}} statement that their country is one of the happiest places on Earth) is that citizens wind up repeating them (to avoid being accused of disloyalty) even though they know the statements are untrue. This makes the citizens psychologically ''complicit'' in the regime's lies, and less likely to resist. That's the theory, anyway.

* Joseph Goebbels: "The principle and which is quite true in itself and that in the [[Big Lie|big lie]] there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily." In short: "The bigger the lie, the more it will be believed."

** In Germany's case the torture was economic collapse and Hitler was the one to say 2+2=5.

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