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I agree with Migeru, and by that definition, the West is far from totalitarian, while North Korea is indeed the only high-quality specimen left. "Totalitarian" is on its way to being an historical label and a latent threat, rather than a description of a present reality.

The reality you describe in the West is a dangerous pathology, but it needs a different name. I can't think of a good one at the moment, and that indicates a problem for rational discourse on the subject (or that I have a momentary memory hole -- oops, that term is taken...).

Words and ideas I offer here may be used freely and without attribution.

by technopolitical on Fri Dec 7th, 2007 at 03:26:42 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Propaganda regime? Manufactured-consent regime?

We have met the enemy, and he is us — Pogo
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Fri Dec 7th, 2007 at 03:45:05 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Before seeking neologisms it would be better to first define totalitarianism. Hannah Arendt who meditated at length on the matter paraphrased it as the absolutist attempt to realize an Ideal to the point that everything that happens, occurs according to the internalized logic of that Ideal. Ultimately totalitarianism seeks to create a New Humanity, the superman- and consequently reduces whatever doesn't fit into the design into naked, raw life. Humans stripped of identity and rights and confined to spaces without Justice.

Contemporary totalitarianism rejects the Ideal and substitutes it with the Object, the gimmick, the Show, yet its object is identical, complete biological control, preferably through a consensus of the majority. And if events are presently attenuated before the horrors of Stalinism and Nazism, it is wrong to make a simplified caricature of this, our past. The horrors of Nazism and Fascism enjoyed popular consensus, just as torture and Guantanamos do today. Extraordinary rendition will tomorrow be ordinary. Dissent will be dealt with in day-care centers. The show must go on.

by de Gondi (publiobestia aaaatttthotmaildaughtusual) on Fri Dec 7th, 2007 at 05:18:17 PM EST
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