Pre-Totalitarianism? Yes, you read it right. It may seem odd living in a democratic country and yet, here I am talking about totalitarianism. Ironic as it may seem, I believe that our present generation is living in the pre-totalitarianism era where they are paving the way for the young people to live in a totalitarianism society—a utopian government, devoid of poverty and pain.
But before I let you peek at the lens I am using to look at this issue, let us first define what totalitarianism is in order to understand what I want to say. Totalitarianism, as defined by Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, is a kind of government controlled by an autocratic authority. It is a political concept that citizens should be totally subject to an absolute state authority. Famous people who were flag bearers of this were Karl Marx, Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler and Mao Zedong. Countries who once became totalitarians were East Germany, Vietnam, Russia and nearby countries (formerly Union of Soviet Socialist Republics). These countries experienced the harsh world of totalitarianism. They did not have the freedom to speak their mind and every move is calculated or else they will pay the price. Just like what the writer George Orwell wrote in his classic novel 1984, a person can be charged of what they call thoughtcrimes even though there is no evidence of the act as long as they can manipulate it.
But why did I say that this present and upcoming generation is living in the pre-totalitarianism where in fact we are now free as a bird, enjoying our democratic freedom? Even our 1987 Constitution has crafted well the Article III that tackles about Human Rights. We are already in a world where there are no royals nor slaves, Brahmins nor Pariahs, Maginoo nor Aliping Sanggigilid. All of us have equal rights and equal spaces to live our lives based on our desire.
The truth is, too much freedom is like totalitarianism. Many people are already fighting for their rights and freedom and there is nothing wrong with that. But sometimes, people are already involved in a fight that is not worth fighting for. Rights that have no boundaries, rights that are actually morally incorrect. Rights that kill other people’s ideology, dreams and self-esteem.
Nowadays, people are already afraid to do the right thing because those who do the wrong thing can manipulate things to make what they are doing look right. Since when did corruption became right? It is the moment when we allow it to become our culture and this culture dictated us to do the wrong since everybody is doing it too. You will look like the bad one if you do not do what they do. I have seen many good leaders in our society who were forced to go down from their office because they fought for their conviction of truth. These truth fighters are like stars that shine brightly and therefore, people in the darkness were exposed and so they plotted to do something to bring these good leaders down. These are like thoughtcrimes. Now, those people who have seen these scenarios were already afraid to to the right thing because of what they have witnessed. At present, we are already witnessing the bills, laws, executive orders that are crafted based on the society’s dictation of fabricated truth. Even media has a great contribution on this. Truth is slowly becoming the unpopular idea because of what the media is showing and telling us. It dictates us on what to think about, amuse us (which is the opposite of to think or muse) and sometimes inject us with wrong ideas.
There is now no difference in totalitarianism. In this utopian kind of government, they force you to think that 2+2=5, even though that the absolute truth is that 2+2=4. Rod Dreher, author of Live Not By Lies wrote, a totalitarian society is one in which ideology seeks to displace all prior traditions and institutions, with goals of bringing all aspects of society under control of that ideology. And because people would want to live in a utopian society devoid of pain or poverty, they do everything to achieve this even if it means stepping on other’s rights. We are now living in a world where either truth fighters are the underdogs or wrongdoers pretend to be the victims in order to gain the upper hand. Sad to hear this, but this is the true scenario where we are living in.
But then, we have to remember that falsehood will always be falsehood even if we try to make it our truth. And it is the same thing with the truth. The absolute truth will always be the truth even if nobody believes in that truth. There is no way that FABRICATED TRUTH will be the ABSOLUTE TRUTH.
So if we want to make this place a better place for the next generation, devoid of totalitarianism, stick to the absolute law, the absolute rule, the absolute TRUTH.
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