Broken Government

[Solly Mack]

37. I'll borrow a phrase from Chomsky & Herman

The people must consent willingly to the authoritarian state - but that consent can be (and almost always is) manufactured. This doesn't mitigate the responsibility of people to be aware and informed, but it can help explain those who do almost preclude understanding.

Admittedly though, even when I know what is driving a person, I still have moments of I just don't get people. The magnitude and complexities of how people have been manipulated into embracing the very worst and calling it a good thing is just so exhausting, that sometimes I just want to look at it from afar, as if it really doesn't have an impact on my life. A comforting lie. One of many people tell themselves.

Authoritarian states depend on comforting lies, as well. Be wary of them. Humans might not be able to go a day without some kind of rationalization, but be aware of what you're explaining away. Could very well be your rights.

I know some don't think it a complex issue, but simply telling someone the truth or a fact, or providing evidence that they're wrong doesn't work. People become more entrenched. More defensive. Just that much more sure that they're right. Because their entire being, their whole identity, is tied up in needing what they believe to be true to be actually true. Give them a person to follow, someone espousing the same views, who shares their same fears and prejudices, and they will tie their identity to that person. The authoritarian state needs that level of devotion.


I don't possess the structural mechanisms to retrain how people think. Governments do. Alas - another chapter, though integral part of an authoritarian state.


Which isn't to say I am helpless. I'm not. None of us are at this point. Behind, yes. Way behind. All is lost? Not yet. But we have to decide that merely dodging a bullet isn't enough. We gain nothing that way. Not even time. And we don't gain time because people have the propensity to let the bad things slide into the past as if they've never happened, or are so long as to not be relevant today. They move on to the next thing, until they are abruptly reminded that it's all connected. Some even appear shocked. Shock wears off.

I digress...sort of.


Like you said, the people can hate the tyrant as long as they obey and never go against the tyrant - be it with words or actions. The motivation is easily recognized and accepted. The people have no choice. Obey or die. They live in terror.


But the authoritarian state I'm speaking of (as you suggest, and I am, in fact) needs active compliance from those who agree, and passive compliance from the indifferent (because they're not affected). It needs those soft citizens you describe to maintain power. The goal isn't to terrorize the population. That would be counter-productive to maintaining the illusion that all is well.

And all is not well.

Thanks for listening. Thank you for your kind remark.