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

Thomas R. Wier wrote:


> But see, that's the big debate among historians of those
> regimes: were they in fact only interested in pursuing their
> ideological agendas, or were they interested in power, and
> used ideological agendas to pursue that end?

Well, all leaders (including those in liberal democratic
states) are "interested in power", I suppose.

> What I objected to originally was the notion that you can
> impose a rigid distinction between totalitarianism and
> authoritarianism.  The reality is that regimes that you
> classify as one type typically actually use methods of
> both, but in varying proportions.

Sure.  And democratic regimes have had tyrannical
leaders and have engaged in systematic terror on occasion.
Still, I think it a distinction worth making.

--
Not to perambulate             || John Cowan <jcowan@...>
    the corridors               || http://www.reutershealth.com
during the hours of repose     || http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
    in the boots of ascension.  \\ Sign in Austrian ski-resort hotel