Re: CHAT: totalitarianism [was Re: Sexual terminology]

Quoting Anton Sherwood <bronto@...>:

> "Thomas R. Wier" wrote:
> > (I do not agree with you that there is a strict qualitative
> > difference between very authoritarian and totalitarian;
> > there is a continuum of oppression.)
>
> James Donald draws a distinction
> between `authoritarians' who merely suppress opposition
> and `totalitarians' who go further and compel vocal support.
That's really a false dichotomy, because *all* governments both
suppress opposition and compel support.  Take the United States.
Several years ago, a secessionist group in Texas unilaterally
declared Texas a sovereign republic independent of the US, and
the US Federal Marshalls (along with the Texas Rangers) immediately
set about suppressing this group.  They were opposition, and they
were quickly dispatched to the federal court system.  The state
governments also try to compel allegiance to the Federal system by
requiring all students in the public school system to recite the
Pledge of Allegiance at regular intervals, and take civics/government
classes in highschool where they are instilled with pro-democracy,
pro-capitalism, and pro-America values. It is only somewhat different
in Europe, mutatis mutandis.  If there is any distinction to be
made at all, it is not one of kind, but one of degree, and where
you draw the line is quite arbitrary.

=====================================================================
Thomas Wier <trwier@...> <http://home.uchicago.edu/~trwier>

             "...koruphàs hetéras hetére:isi prosápto:n /
Dept. of Linguistics  mú:tho:n mè: teléein atrapòn mían..."
University of Chicago "To join together diverse peaks of thought /
1010 E. 59th Street   and not complete one road that has no turn"
Chicago, IL 60637     Empedocles, _On Nature_, on speculative thinkers

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