Hannah Arendt, in her brilliant analysis "The Origins of Totalitarianism", traced in exhaustive detail how European totalitarianism was created. Over the years,that totalitarianism ate democracies and grew in popularity, dragging much of the world into the horrible war of World War II and its atrocities.
How did this happen and what signs are present that the pre-conditions for totalitarian rule are being createdin this country? Could we be just one election away from the likelihood that totalitarianism, American style, could completely eclipse democracy in this country, as we have known it?
Most of us are familiar with the (14 Defining Characteristics of Fascism) It is equally important to understand the social pre-conditions that lead to totalitarianism and fascism...........(follow below the fold, grasshopper)
Arendt discussed the fact that as human beings we will never come to a complete understanding of totalitarianism. The form that totalitarianism takes adapts itself to the country and culture that hosts it. I will list some of the pre-conditions she provides.
- Propaganda.
Disseminating propaganda derived from an ideology through the media of mass communication, totalitarianism relies on mass support. It crushes whoever and whatever stands in its way by means of terror and proceeds to a total reconstruction of the society it displaces---Jerome Kohn, The Hannah Arendt papers, Library of Congress, Manuscript Division
The propaganda should focus on 1) the mysterious (conspiracies, secret organizations, myth)-- 2)pseudo-science or "ideological scientificality" over science 3)predictions of disaster if totalitarian beliefs are not followed---
-Using these principles they construct a world of lies into which they invite their true believers. (Beck University) Also, education is politicized and designed to render the populace incapable of making informed decisions, instead of more capable of critical thinking.(Texas School Board, are you listening?)
- Anti-intellectualism. Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty. True intelligence, scientific methods are held in contempt if they do not support the lies of the movement. (Sound familiar?)
- Lies. Totalitarian movements conjure up a lying world of consistency which si more adequate to the needs of the human mind than reality itself. In a situation where the dividing line between fiction and reality is blurred byhe monstrosity and the inner consistency of the accusation. In other words, the lie becomes more comfortable and consistent than reality to its believers. It is important to remember that one of the key qualities among the inner circle is their ability to maintain internal consistency of their fictional world by consistently lying. Outer members will be the most gullible, inner members will be cynical,or even silent unbelievers, but maintain the lie. (Check!)
- Front Organizations. The next development, is the creation of front organizations designed to give outward, institutional credibility to the lies. This development begins to create a separate world in which the sympathizers can belong and move in without being challenged by "facts" that conflict with the believed lies. These organizations are usually created with a great deal of anonymity and obscurity. These organizations serve as the facade of the totalitarian movement to the nontotalitarian world and as the facade of this world to the inner hierarchy of the movement. (Can you say Dick Armey?)
- Factions. The front organizations will then split into two factions, the inner purists and the outer followers and not-fully indoctrinated. The reason why the movements in their prepower, revolutionary stage can attract so many ordinary "philistines" is that their members live in a fool's paradise of normalcy. They are surrounded by the normal world of sympathizers and the elite formations. (Palin v Gingrich, Rove vs Palin)
- Duplicates. The totalitarian movement will also create duplicate organizations that mirror already existing social and governmental entities. This duplication does not directly overthrow government, but undermines existing institutions and in the decomposition of the status quo. This is preferred by totalitarian movements over force, in the early days. Because of this duplication, power can be changed overnight because of this strategic organization.
- Atomization. The power of totalitarianism also rests on the "atomization" of the masses. The more of the populace that is unemployed, homeless, poor, discontent, cynical and distrustful of the existing order, the more open they are to the order, lies and direction of the totalitarian movement. They will claim that everything outside of them is "dying" and only their movement, their organization can "save" the masses from disintegration and disorientation. (No more unemployment benefits for YOU!)
7. Loyalty. As time passes, loyalty must be proved. It is not unusual to find suicidal loyalty among totalitarian movements. The loyalty of the outer cadres is not the same as the loyalty of the inner circle. The inner circle is loyal because it believes in their own omnipotent power, supremacy and divinely ordained destiny to rule, the outer members believe in the lies. (Neo-conservatives, neo-liberals)
- The Leader. In America, a new type of Leader has emerged. The Leader only must have the appearance of being the Leader. The real leader in America is the power outside of the Leader. However, the Leader must appear to be
a) infallible b)prophetic c)charismatic d) cynical e) misanthropic---in other words...a sociopath, who has the movement's best interests at heart, (without having a heart) You betcha!
- Lawlessness. The totalitarian state will deliberately confuse law and ethics. Eventually, they will commit crimes that are so large, that they overwhelm the state's ability to prosecute them. Thus, the state becomes a criminal enterprise. The governement becomes powerless as power is actually held outside of the government, in other organizations controlled by the totalitarians, often secretive and out of sight of the masses. Power is held by the Leader and the external apparatus outside of government that supports the Leader. The bureaucratic power of lower levels of government becomes less and less potent. (Shrink government until we drown it in a bathtub)
- The police. The police become more and more powerful as they implement the policies of the unseen totalitarian organization. More and more people are imprisoned and more and more people are victims of random, overwhelming violence. Many totalitarian regimes have rival organizations "secret police" who have different targets. These groups are useful as formal means of terrorizing the masses. The informal thugggish groups are useful to hide the activities of the police behind. (The United States has the highest rate of incarceration in the world and more prisoners in prison than China)
- Scapegoats. Scapegoats are used as examples of the "rot" from which the totalitarian power is saving the masses from......Groups who are the chosen scapegoats are publicly dehumanized, convicted in public opinion and demonized by propaganda. People become afraid to contradict or support those who are chosen for punishment. Stalin used to pick random victims from various groups to execute as enemies of the state. That was effective because there was no discernible pattern. The every day individual then began to realize that they could be next. (Whose head will be stomped next?)
The victims of these organizations are first, those who oppose the totalitarian lies and policies. Next, an objective enemy is chosen. This enemy is a group or groups that can be blamed for some undesirable pattern of activity. (Insert a group here)
- Prisons. Prisons become places where large numbers of the masses are mixed in with criminals. Once in prison, it is as if the individual has disappeared, is no longer living. Once in prison, especially in large numbers, the majority of people outside of the prison, because of their discomfort about thinking too deeply on this issue, relegate those people in prison to the ranks of the guilty. After all, they must have done something wrong....they are in prison! Over time, in addition to criminals, then political prisoners, are added people who have committed no crime at all, political or illegal, but who just incurred the wrath of someone in authority. While in prison or in prison camps, the goal is to break the person of any sense of justice existing in the world, and second to break the person of any persistent sense of morality. Last, but not least is to rob the person of their life.
- Terror. The only law in totalitarian government is the survival of the fittest and the destruction of the "weak". This is done by using force, propaganda, strategic destruction of institutions, family life, etc., to make people afraid that they are going to be annhillated...to terrorize them. This fear should be inescapable in the general populace in order to maintain totalitarian rule. It is "natural law", not mediated by compassion, protective laws that value human life, or love. It is cold, it is hard, it is efficient.
- Loneliness. For the confirmation of our identities we depend on other people. The lonely person finds himself surrounded by others with whom he cannot establish contact or to whose hostility he is exposed. Human beings need at least one person whom they can trust. What prepares man for totalitarian domination is that loneliness becomes an every day experience of the "evergrowing masses" by which one is surrounded. Arendt says "Organized loneliness is considerably more dangerous than the unorganized impotence of all those who are ruled by the tyrannical and abrbitrary will of a single man. Its danger is that it threatens to ravage the world as we know it---a world which everywhere seems to have come to an end---before a new beginning rising from this end has had time to assert itself"
In World War II, as Hitler's hordes were marching, a Hungarian composer wrote a haunting song called "Gloomy Sunday". These are the orginal words below.....this song eventually was banned because so many people committed suicide after hearing it. It was recorded later by others including Billie Holiday, but with different lyrics. I think we have yet to see full night in this country, but the shadows are growing. I am embedding the original words to the song in hope none of us will ever feel these things. However, I want all to remember it----and take time to watch events in this country for the signs I have listed. Peace.
s z o m o r ú v a s á r n a p
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r e z s ő s e r e s s l y r i c s
Ősz van és peregnek a sárgult levelek
Meghalt a földön az emberi szeretet
Bánatos könnyekkel zokog az öszi szél
Szívem már új tavaszt nem vár és nem remél
Hiába sírok és hiába szenvedek
Szívtelen rosszak és kapzsik az emberek...
Meghalt a szeretet!
Vége a világnak, vége a reménynek
Városok pusztulnak, srapnelek zenélnek
Emberek vérétől piros a tarka rét
Halottak fekszenek az úton szerteszét
Még egyszer elmondom csendben az imámat:
Uram, az emberek gyarlók és hibáznak...
Vége a világnak!
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LITERAL ENGLISH TRANSLATION:
It is autumn and the leaves are falling
All love has died on earth
The wind is weeping with sorrowful tears
My heart will never hope for a new spring again
My tears and my sorrows are all in vain
People are heartless, greedy and wicked...
Love has died!
The world has come to its end, hope has ceased to have a meaning
Cities are being wiped out, shrapnel is making music
Meadows are coloured red with human blood
There are dead people on the streets everywhere
I will say another quiet prayer:
People are sinners, Lord, they make mistakes...
The world has ended!
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Arendt, Hannah, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 1948,Harcourt, Inc., San Diego, New York, London