Quote of the Week...from Christopher Hitchens

The totalitarian, to me, is the enemy - the one that's absolute, the one that wants control over the inside of your head, not just your actions and your taxes.               ---Christopher Hitchens

When I think of totalitarianism, three different images come to my mind.  One is the maniacal third-generation tyrant of North Korea, Kim Jong-un, and how utterly obsequious everyone is around him within his dominion...they all know that one slipup...even just a frown instead of a big smile in the wrong situation...can mean that it's all over for them!  Another is an image of ISIS, or Islamic State, as they prey upon the native Muslim and Christian populations of northern Syria and Iraq, imposing their own extreme ideology on all...and the people had better respond in heartfelt, grateful, and complete agreement with their "liberators"!  And the third is an old Twilight Zone episode titled It's a Good Life, adapted from the same-titled short story by Jerome Bixby.  It depicts a young boy, played by Billy Mumy of Lost in Space fame, who completely subjugates his rural American home community by getting into the minds of all around him, discerning their intentions...and then mentally sending them off dead into the cornfield if they don't meet his standards.  All three are examples of what the late intellectual giant Christopher Hitchens would call the totalitarian...and they are very different from "authoritarians"...

In an authoritarian system, the leadership...like that of the totalitarian...is unchallengable, and there are usually many limits placed on the population's freedoms, especially that of dissent.  Yet the people in general are allowed to go about their own lives and practice their own beliefs as long as they don't challenge the authorities or associate with any who do.  I'd put Russia's present ruler Vladimir Putin in the category of authoritarian, while the Soviet dictator Josef Stalin was totalitarian...as were Germany's Hitler, China's Mao, Japan's Tojo, Cambodia's Pol Pot, and our own home-grown Jim Jones, to name some of the more infamous of this lot.  Fortunately we live in neither an authoritarian nor a totalitarian society.   However...

Sometimes I get the feeling that I am being unduly pressured by others to conform to certain patterns of speech, presentation, and behavior that reflect a particular group's way of seeing things.  And it's true that, within various organizations, either political, religious, business, or otherwise, there is a collective philosophy and expectation as to how the members express and present themselves on various issues...some of them not necessarily directly related to the aims of the groups themselves.  But although there may sometimes be a feeling of totalitarianism in these situations, remember that in the final analysis these groups are the results of the voluntary free association guaranteed to us in this wonderful country by our Constitution...we're not compelled to stay in these groups if we don't want to.  It is wholly natural for folks to want to associate with each other according to common interests and beliefs as well as try to persuade others to their mindset...but if you find yourself around a bunch who seem wedded to a certain conformity pattern that goes against what you stand for, why then hang around?  Of course, underworld crime organizations and cults are two examples of groups that can have a totalitarian grip on their members...both involve isolating people from mainstream society and simultaneously placing them in a dependency relationship with their "masters" for physical needs while holding out the real threat of serious punishment for perceived disloyalty or a desire to leave...beware of these and avoid them at all costs...

So yes, I agree with Christopher Hitchens that the totalitarian is my enemy. Sometimes, though, I feel that we are too quick with our sometimes overly-sensitive natures to realize that we have a lot more power in our lives then we like to imagine...and should refrain from tacking that pejorative label on people and groups that are only expressing themselves in the context of a free, open society but who come across as too pushy or intolerant of opposing views and lifestyles...