Like so many Newspeak words, this word has two mutually contradictory mea nings. Applied to an oppo nent, it means the habit of impudently claiming that black is white, in contra diction of the plain facts. Applied to a Party member, it means a loyal willingness to say that black is white when Party discipline dem ands this. But it means also the ability to believe that black is white, and more, to know that black is white, and to forget that one has ever believed the contrary. This demands a continuous alter ation of the past, made possible by the system of thought which really embra ces all the rest, and which is known in Newspeak as doublethink.