Totalitarianism
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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| "What totalitarian ideologies therefore aim at is not the transformation of the outside world or the revolutionizing transmutation of society, but | "What totalitarian ideologies therefore aim at is not the transformation of the outside world or the revolutionizing transmutation of society, but | ||
| - | the transformation of human nature itself. The concentration camps are the laboratories where changes in human nature are tested, and their shamefulness therefore is not just the business of their inmates and those who run them according to strictly "scientific" standards; it is the concern of all men. Suffering, of which there has been always too much on earth, is not the issue, nor is the number of victims. Human nature as such is at stake, and even though it seems that these experiments succeed not in changing man but only in destroying him, by creating a society in which the nihilistic banality of ''[[homo homini lupus]]'' is consistently realized, one should bear in mind the necessary limitations to an experiment which requires global control in order to show conclusive results. " | + | the transformation of human nature itself. The concentration camps are the laboratories where changes in human nature are tested, and their shamefulness therefore is not just the business of their inmates and those who run them according to strictly "scientific" standards; it is the concern of all men. Suffering, of which there has been always too much on earth, is not the issue, nor is the number of victims. Human nature as such is at stake, and even though it seems that these experiments succeed not in changing man but only in destroying him, by creating a society in which the nihilistic banality of ''[[homo homini lupus]]'' is consistently realized, one should bear in mind the necessary limitations to an experiment which requires global control in order to show conclusive results." --[[Hannah Arendt]], ''[[The Origins of Totalitarianism]]'' (1958) |
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| * [[Totalitarian democracy]] | * [[Totalitarian democracy]] | ||
| ==Further reading== | ==Further reading== | ||
| - | * [[Hannah Arendt]], ''[[The Origins of Totalitarianism]]'' (1958, new ed. 1966) | + | * [[Hannah Arendt]], ''[[The Origins of Totalitarianism]]'' (1958) |
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"To be GOVERNED is to be watched, inspected, spied upon, directed, law-driven, numbered, regulated, enrolled, indoctrinated, preached at, controlled, checked, estimated, valued, censured, commanded, by creatures who have neither the right nor the wisdom nor the virtue to do so .... --Pierre-Joseph Proudhon Andre: "OK. Yes, we are bored. We're all bored now. But has it ever occurred to you Wally that the process that creates this boredom that we see in the world now may very well be a self-perpetuating, unconscious form of brainwashing, created by a world totalitarian government based on money, and that all of this is much more dangerous than one thinks? and it's not just a question of individual survival Wally, but that somebody who's bored is asleep, and somebody who's asleep will not say no?" --My Dinner with Andre "What totalitarian ideologies therefore aim at is not the transformation of the outside world or the revolutionizing transmutation of society, but the transformation of human nature itself. The concentration camps are the laboratories where changes in human nature are tested, and their shamefulness therefore is not just the business of their inmates and those who run them according to strictly "scientific" standards; it is the concern of all men. Suffering, of which there has been always too much on earth, is not the issue, nor is the number of victims. Human nature as such is at stake, and even though it seems that these experiments succeed not in changing man but only in destroying him, by creating a society in which the nihilistic banality of homo homini lupus is consistently realized, one should bear in mind the necessary limitations to an experiment which requires global control in order to show conclusive results." --Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism (1958) |
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Totalitarianism (or totalitarian rule) is a political system where the state, usually under the control of a single political person, faction, or class, recognizes no limits to its authority and strives to regulate every aspect of public and private life wherever feasible. Totalitarianism is generally characterized by the coincidence of authoritarianism (where ordinary citizens have no significant share in state decision-making) and ideology (a pervasive scheme of values promulgated by institutional means to direct most if not all aspects of public and private life).
Totalitarian regimes or movements maintain political power through an all-encompassing propaganda disseminated through the state-controlled mass media, a single party that is often marked by personality cultism, control over the economy, regulation and restriction of speech, mass surveillance, and widespread use of state terrorism.
See also
- Absolute monarchy
- Authoritarianism
- Autocracy
- Dictatorship
- Fascism
- Ideocracy
- Imperialism
- Inverted totalitarianism
- List of totalitarian regimes
- One-party state
- Police state
- State collapse
- Strongman (politics)
- Total institution
- Totalitarian democracy
Further reading
