Memory hole

A memory hole is any mechanism for the deliberate alteration or disappearance of inconvenient or embarrassing documents, photographs, transcripts or other records, such as from a website or other archive, particularly as part of an attempt to give the impression that something never happened. The concept was first popularized by George Orwell's 1949 dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, where the Party's Ministry of Truth systematically re-created all potentially embarrassing historical documents, in effect, re-writing all of history to match the often-changing state propaganda. These changes were complete and undetectable.

In Nineteen Eighty-Four, the "memory hole" is a small chute leading to a large incinerator used for censorship:

Nineteen Eighty-Four's protagonist Winston Smith, who works in the Ministry of Truth, is routinely assigned the task of revising old newspaper articles in order to serve the propaganda interests of the government. In one instance, the weekly chocolate ration was decreased from 30 grams to 20. The next day the newspaper announced that the chocolate ration had not been reduced to 20 grams per week, but increased to 20 grams. Any previous mention of the ration having been 30 grams per week needed to be destroyed.

The memory hole is referenced while O'Brien tortures Smith; O'Brien produces evidence of a coverup by the Party, exciting Smith that such documentation exists. However, O'Brien then destroys the evidence in the memory hole and denies not only the existence of the evidence but also any memory of his actions. Smith realizes that this is doublethink in action, as O'Brien has actively suppressed his memory of both a politically inconvenient fact and his action taken to destroy the evidence of it.

• /dev/null – Device file that discards all data written to itPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
• Ash heap of history – English phrase
• Bit bucket – Lost data in computing
• Blue wall of silence – Informal rule that American police do not report misconduct by other officers
• Burn bag – Bag used to contain classified items for burning
• Cover up – Attempt to conceal evidencePages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
• Damnatio memoriae – Practice of excluding and removing details about a person from official records and accounts
• De-commemoration
• Motivated forgetting
• Pact of forgetting – Political decision in Spain to intentionally ignore the political legacy of FrancoPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
• Retcon – Revision of existing facts in succeeding works of fictionPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
• Historical revisionism – Reinterpretation of a historical account
• Selective omission
• Truth-seeking
• Postcolonial amnesia
• Spiral of silence – Political science and mass communication theory
• Censorship of images in the Soviet Union
• The Memory Hole (web site) – Web archivePages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets, a website whose goal was to preserve documents which were in danger of being lost
• Book censorship in the United States – Censorship of books in the United States

Notes

• Phelps, Richard P. (2020, Summer) Down the Memory Hole: Evidence on Educational Testing, Academic Questions.

Sources

• The dictionary definition of memory hole at Wiktionary