Totalitarianism and Identity

in #informationwar6 years ago

All is Fair in Defense Of Us


As described by Encyclopedia Britannica, totalitarianism is:

form of government that theoretically permits no individual freedom and that seeks to subordinate all aspects of individual life to the authority of the state ... In the broadest sense, totalitarianism is characterized by strong central rule that attempts to control and direct all aspects of individual life through coercion and repression.

I hate doing the definitions game, but in this case, it is important to clearly state what totalitarianism is so I can dig into one element that isn't commonly covered, but is incredibly profound.

Whether your particular identity group has to do with race (ethnostatism), religion (theocratism), national identity (statism), or sex/sexual orientation (being an idiot), you are sewing the seeds for a dark future. An identity group seeks to do two things with political power: to subjugate dissidents and outsiders, and to maintain the control. Once your identity group achieves power, you will use it to maintain control over your rival factions. This desire will manifest itself in the form of state control which has no bounds. As examples of these trends in action, look at the Nazis and the Soviets.

In the name of German nationalism, racial purity, and cultural virtuousness, the Nazis took control and were able to mark, quarantine, and then exterminate all who were deemed unfit while simultaneously expanding their control over Europe through military domination. The Nazi government established control over the markets and established censorship statutes which the Gestapo used to silence dissenting voices. The Soviets robbed, starved, and gulaged the bourgeoisie for the supposed betterment of the proletariat in their struggle of class identity. The harsh censorship and the KGB really don't need an introduction here.

A core principle of these philosophies is that there is nothing private. You cannot house whoever you want on your private property, because they might be undesirable. You can't speak out against the group in fear of punishment for undermining their authority. All aspects of the private life will be thrust into the domain of public control because as long as it is done in the name of securing the strength and unity of your group, the oppressive laws can be easily justified. The laws only hurt the evil outsiders, so what's the problem? As Reich Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels put it:

If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear.

As history as shown us, these will end badly and they will end violently. As systems crumble, the laws and the law enforcers turn on their own to silence the voices of truth speaking out against the totality of the repression. Eventually the system collapses extravagantly.

Let history be our teacher

Do not advocate to do something against another group if you wouldn't have them do onto you. If you give that excess authority to the state, either opponents will use it on you, or you will establish a dictatorship to ensure that your group is never effected. Do not value identity over individual liberties. And most importantly, the ends do not justify the means.

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Thoughts? All thoughful responses and requests for future topics will get an upvote and reply!

-@roofcore

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"or sex/sexual orientation (being an idiot)", don't know why I laughed from that. You earned an up vote without enough power left to give you a penny.

We really need to drive the understanding through the left's skulls centralization of power is tyranny. Decentralization of power is freedom.

"If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear."
I hate people when they say this. Do you shower with the door closed? Can I have your email password and banking information? There a plenty of legit and legal reasons to hide certain aspects of life from others.

I'm glad you enjoyed it. I couldn't come up with a type of hypothetical government structure that was focused around being only one sex, so I went the humor route. The comment is more meaningful than the upvote, so not a problem at all dude.

They seem to be the most public offender of this, but I am afraid that the stance will be adopted on the right as a way to stop the left's use of it. In that case, nobody wins and I just need extremes to knock it off.

Great examples lol. My favorite somewhat related quote is this from Bo Burnham:

Those in glass houses shouldn't throw stones; or masturbate during the daytime.

It's such a widespread argument and it pisses me off so much. It really also shows how much better you have it wherever you live. Like you can speak about whatever you want here, but I would assume that isn't the case for a gay saudi. The only way that argument can ring true is in a society where you can't be persecuted for speech or private acts.

The US is the only country with freedom of speech. Shall not infringe. Not that the government follows that amendment. In the rest of the world its government granted privilege that can be taken away at any moment.

Conservatives pushed the counter culture which culture Marxist used as a vehicle to promote their agenda. It was caused by pushing their religious morals onto the masses instead of leading by example. Government can exercise force on the people and whoever controls the government controls the people. We need to get rid of the governments and centralized power.

right-o

Your post had been curated by the @buildawhale team and mentioned here:

https://steemit.com/curation/@buildawhale/buildawhale-curation-digest-05-14-18

Keep up the good work and original content, everyone appreciates it!


Want to Curate? We Are looking for people with great writing abilities that would also want to help us find and curate good pieces of original content. Curators will receive SBD for their share of work. Let us know in our #curator-application channel on Discord if you are interested.

Howdy! Have a nice moment. Gracias @roofcore

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