This is the Party enforcing its power by requiring the people repeat lies that everyone knows are untrue as a test of loyalty to the Party. It's a feature, not a bug.
It is very totalitarian. Who would have thought that we would see this in the United States?
I've read that in the 1930's-'40's, Mussolini insisted that the common familiar 2nd person singular "tu" had to be shunned and replaced by "vos" (or it might have been other other way around) because "tu" was supposedly effeminate and unworthy of manly patriotic Italians.
It made no sense grammatically, but it had the effect that all Italians labeled themselves as for, or against, Mussolini whenever they opened their mouths. It was simply a way for the Fascist Party to instantly label "unreliable citizens" --- opponents of the regime.