The Enemy is like a virus. He can’t leave any uninfected places. All must be touched, all must be brought under his rule.
The things we used to enjoy together, the places where gathered after putting aside differences are all infected: history, literature, music, movies, sports. The Enemy wants it all.
The essence of any Totalitarian society is the politicization of everything, as everything must be either supporting the status quo or it’s a threat to the status quo.
There is nothing innocuous, innocent or whimsical in a Totalitarian society, at least in the public sphere. In an era permeated by the cruel marriage of surveillance capitalism and the bitterly divided state, even the once-private sphere is subject to public exposure and shaming / sentencing.
Charles Hugh Smith, The Road to Nowhere: Whatever Can’t Be Politicized Ceases to Exist
I agree with Mr. Smith. As T. H. White wrote in The Once and Future King,
Everything not forbidden is compulsory.
Totalitarians do no tolerate dissent. They expect active obedience. You must wear the ribbon.
I differ from Mr. Smith in a way, because I believe that society, by definition, is somewhat totalitarian. Earlier this month, I wrote in Society is Homogeneous,
Society is shared expectations of how we behave around each other. It’s a shared morality that influences how we make decisions and treat people.
Last month in Life Is Politics, I wrote,
In the real world, we all live in groups, a.k.a. societies. In functioning societies, people generally agree on the fundamental issues of how we live our lives. We share the same morals. We agree on mores. Much of life is predictable and understandable. That makes life easier for everyone to manage. Not perfect, necessarily, or fair, but more predictable.
Certainly, some societies and people are more tolerant of different beliefs and customs than others. I think most Americans tolerate the differences among the Many Nations living in America. But, Americans shouldn’t tolerate everything, and you should know that the Enemy won’t tolerate anything.
None of these ideas are new, but they can be hard.
If we want an American or Western society, we have to get rid of the virus infecting our people.
