How to Detect Totalitarianism?
Do you live in a country governed by a totalitarian regime? Below are 14 points from Umberto Eco’s essay Ur-Fascism that will tell you whether you live in a totalitarian country.
Today, we bring you a guide on how to detect a totalitarian regime, in other words, how to recognize whether you live in a totalitarian country. Below are 14 points from Umberto Eco’s essay Ur-Fascism, published in The New York Review of Books on June 22, 1995.
1. The Cult of Tradition: Ur-Fascism relies on the idealization of ancient wisdom and traditional values, treating knowledge as already revealed; here progress and critical thinking are not possible.
2. The Rejection of Modernism: Despite a surface-level embrace of technology, fascism at its core rejects the Enlightenment and rationalism as sources of moral decay.
3. The Cult of Action: Thinking is seen as a weakness, action is valuable in itself, without prior reflection. Intellectuals are suspects and enemies.
4. Disagreement is Treason: Critical distinction and disagreement are seen as a threat rather than a path to truth.
5. Fear of Difference: Ur-Fascism feeds on and exploits the fear of the "other"; it is racist by definition.
6. Frustration as Fuel: The base of Ur-Fascism is a frustrated middle class, economically or politically humiliated, looking for someone to blame.
7. The Obsession with a Plot: National identity is built around an enemy (foreign or domestic). Paranoia about conspiracy is fundamental.
8. The Enemy is Both Strong and Weak: Followers must feel both threatened by the enemy and convinced they can defeat it; the contradiction is intentional.
9. Life is Permanent War: Pacifism is treason. Yet permanent war leads to a logical contradiction; every "final battle" presupposes a peace that then negates the logic of war.
10. Mass Elitism: Everyone belongs to the "best people," however, the hierarchy is strict meaning each level despises those below, reinforcing a sense of collective superiority.
11. The Cult of Heroic Death: Heroism is the norm and death is the reward. The Ur-Fascist hero craves death and more often sends others to it than dying himself.
12. Machismo: Inadequacy in war or sexuality is compensated through the cult of weapons, contempt for women, and intolerance toward anything deviating from prescribed masculinity.
13. Selective Populism: The people are not a collection of individuals but a monolithic will interpreted by the Leader. Parliament is an obstacle, and the emotional reaction of a selected group is declared the voice of the people.
14. Newspeak: An impoverished vocabulary and simple syntax limit the capacity for critical thinking - a hallmark of every totalitarian regime.
What do you think? Do you live in a country governed by a totalitarian regime?
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Source:
Umberto Eco, Ur-Fascism, 1995
