What does totalitarianism look like?
In the 20th century, it took the form of secret police violently silencing anyone who spoke out against the government.
Now, it is being presented to us with a different face — But one we should be very wary of just the same.
Rod Dreher, author of Live Not By Lies, explains in this PragerU video.
Transcript
Here’s the good news:
The secret police are not coming with guns to take you away to a prison camp in a frozen wasteland for speaking out against the government. They did that in Communist countries in the twentieth century. It’s not going to happen here in America or in Western Europe.
Here’s the bad news:
The secret police aren’t coming for you because they don’t have to. There are ways to shut you up and keep you quiet that don’t involve physical force. The powers that be—and that now includes major corporations, the educational establishment, the media, and the government—can just kick you off the Internet, put you on a no-fly list, and bar you from using the banking system.
We can describe scenario number one as hard totalitarianism and scenario number two as soft totalitarianism.
There are big differences between them, but in the end, you arrive at the same place—submission and silence.
To grasp the threat of totalitarianism—hard or soft—it’s important to understand exactly what it means.
According to the famous political scholar Hannah Arendt, a totalitarian society is one in which an ideology seeks to displace all prior traditions and institutions, with the goal of bringing all aspects of society under control of that ideology.
The state literally defines and controls reality. Truth is whatever the rulers decide it is.
These rulers might say something like…
Men can have babies.
Or,
Skin color is more important than character.
Or,
The American Revolution was fought not for freedom, but to protect the colonists’ slave interests.
Or,
Those who resist a vaccine mandate are enemies of the people.
And insist that you not only believe it but affirm it.
If you don’t, you might lose your job, your business, and your good name.
That dystopian future, of course, is now. And, we’re only at the beginning of this process.
Where does it lead?
To less freedom—that much we know.
Again, no guns, no violence—we just go along. Nobody kicks the door down. We open the door and invite them in.
The more information the government has about you, and the more the tech sector can see what you’re doing and saying online, the easier it is to monitor your behavior.
How long before the government creates a digital profile of each citizen?
And how would the government use that profile?
It might go like this:
If you do socially positive things—as defined by the government—nothing really changes. You can do whatever you want. Maybe you’re even rewarded for good behavior—a faster internet connection, preferred medical treatment, or even the best seats at a concert. If you do socially negative things—again as defined by the government—you lose privileges. You’re pushed to the margins of society. You become a non-person.
Sound far-fetched?
It shouldn’t. It’s happening right now in China.
It happened in Russia and Eastern Europe not that long ago. Talk to anyone who lived behind the Iron Curtain, and they will tell you we are headed down a dangerous road.
“No,” you say, “It can’t happen here—in the land of the free and the home of the brave.”
I wouldn’t be so sure.
Ronald Reagan famously observed that freedom can be lost in a single generation. That’s because the human inclination is not toward liberty, but security.
Freedom is a value, not an instinct.
It entails personal responsibility and risk. Security requires little risk and little personal responsibility. So, it comes with little freedom.
That’s why every new generation must be taught the supreme importance of freedom and develop the strength of character to maintain it.
Of course, the people who want to take away our freedom say they’re doing it in the name of compassion—for the many victims of oppression.
Unlike the Bolsheviks of the old Soviet Union, the left of today’s America gets its way not by shedding blood, but by shedding tears.
Don’t be fooled. The objective is always the same—submission and silence.
So, how do we stop the drift toward soft totalitarianism? This is not an easy question, but we can create a base from which we can start to act.
Let it be this:
You may not have the strength to stand up in public and say what you really believe, but you can at least refuse to affirm what you do not believe.
You cannot overthrow this soft totalitarianism on your own, but if enough of us find within ourselves, our families, and our communities the means and the courage to live in the dignity of truth, no matter what it costs, we can keep America free.
Otherwise, we will learn how easy it is to become a totalitarian country—soft or hard.
I’m Rod Dreher, author of Live Not by Lies, for Prager University.
Facts and Sources:
Totalitarianism led to the deaths of more than 100 million people over the last century.
Over the course of the last century, totalitarian regimes caused the deaths of over 100 million people. In the Soviet Union alone, more than 20 million Soviet citizens were put to death by the communist government or died directly as a result of its repressive policies.
A U.S. report on the internal workings of the Soviet Union details the degree to which Joseph Stalin’s communist regime used totalitarian tactics to control citizens: “By the time the Great Terror ended, Stalin had subjected all aspects of Soviet society to strict party-state control, not tolerating even the slightest expression of local initiative, let alone political unorthodoxy. The Stalinist leadership felt especially threatened by the intelligentsia, whose creative efforts were thwarted through the strictest censorship; by religious groups, who were persecuted and driven underground; and by non-Russian nationalities, many of whom were deported en masse to Siberia during World War II because Stalin questioned their loyalty.”
Related video: “Is Communism Moral?” – Dennis Prager
Totalitarian society seeks to displace all prior traditions and institutions to bring all aspects of society under control of one ideology.
As renowned political scholar, Hannah Arendt explained, a totalitarian society is one in which an ideology seeks to displace all prior traditions and institutions, with the goal of bringing all aspects of society under control of that ideology.
The totalitarian Chinese government has suppressed its citizens since the Chinese Communist Party seized control in 1949. The government is now creating a digital profile of individuals and companies for its “social credit” system. Those deemed by the government to have engaged in socially “negative” behaviors are to be placed on various blacklists and lose important privileges.
Russia and Eastern Europe during Joseph Stalin’s totalitarian regime saw similar oppressive systems.
Related reading: “Live Not by Lies” – Rod Dreher
Soft totalitarianism controls people through political and cultural institutions rather than physical force.
In the U.S., major corporations, the educational establishment, the legacy media, and the government are using soft totalitarianism to control society, including limiting the ways people are able to voice their views and distribute information on the internet. Big Tech is increasingly blocking access to social media platforms, marginalizing and silencing individuals and entities.
Big Tech has partnered with banks to bar people for their views. The Heritage Foundation highlights a few notable examples: “Wells Fargo made the ‘business decision’ to close 2020 Republican Delaware Senate candidate Lauren Witzke’s account. Two of the more prominent digital payment services, PayPal and Stripe, have also become active cancel culture participants. PayPal has admitted to closing accounts flagged by the Southern Poverty Law Center in 2019, now, PayPal has announced a partnership with the left-leaning Anti-Defamation League to focus on ‘further uncovering and disrupting the financial pipelines that support extremist and hate movements.’”
Airlines have also blocked people from flying based on their views and alleged behavior. In January 2021, Alaska Airlines banned 14 supporters of former President Trump for what the airline deemed “unacceptable” behavior.
Ronald Reagan famously observed that freedom can be lost in a single generation because the human inclination is not toward liberty, but security. Freedom is a value, not an instinct, and it entails personal responsibility and risk, while security involves little of either.
Leftist institutions in the U.S. use soft totalitarianism to enforce left-wing ideology and political agendas.
Leftwing ideology is increasingly dominating the culture, promoting and enforcing radical views, including about sex and gender.
Radical leftist racial theory teaches that skin color can be more important than character.
The New York Times’ “1619 Project” seeks to rewrite American history to make slavery and racism its defining elements. For example, the project claims that the American Revolution was fought not for freedom, but to protect the colonists’ slave interests. That claim and several other central claims in the leftwing project have been discredited by distinguished historians.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, left-leaning media policed what kinds of information about the virus and mitigation strategies, like mask-wearing and vaccines, were allowed on the internet.
Those who resisted mask and vaccine mandates were villainized, silenced, and even threatened with the potential of losing their livelihoods.
Political leaders and activists in the U.S. pushing to trade freedom for more government control claim they are doing it in the name of compassion for the many victims of oppression.
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