Stuffs learned from Hannah Arendt 1
Dec. 9th, 2016 12:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dreamer_easy"The Origins of Totalitarianism" explores the history of antisemitism, imperialism, and the rise of the regimes of Hitler and Stalin. I'm reading it because of that series of Tweets going around which explains that fascists say not what is true, but what would have to be true for them to take the steps they plan - for example, claiming that millions of non-citizens voted in the US election, as a precursor to (further) voter suppression.
1. The difference between totalitarian governments, which aim to control every aspect of their subjects' lives, and merely authoritarian governments, which are tyrannical but allow some freedom; for example, evidence of the end of totalitarianism in the USSR was 'the amazingly swift and rich recovery of the arts', albeit underground. (pp xxxvi-xxxvii) Also, IIUC, totalitarian regimes make a 'claim to global rule' (xxi), and therefore, 'total domination is the only form of government with which coexistence is not possible.' (p xxviii) (Is this the goal of North Korea? If so, we're lucky they just don't have the means to put that claim into practice.)
2. "... the fact that totalitarian government... rests on mass support is very disquieting. It is therefore hardly surprising that scholars as well as statesmen often refuse to recognize it, the former by believing in the magic of propaganda and brainwashing, the latter by simply denying it... secret reports on German public opinion during the war... shows, first, that the population was remarkably well informed about all so-called secrets - massacres of Jews in Poland, preparation of the attack on Russia, etc - and, second, the "extent to which the victims of propaganda had remained able to form independent opinions"... this did not in the least weaken the general support of the Hitler regime." (p xxiii) My mind went at once to the general support amongst Australians for our mistreatment of refugees. Perhaps our government can drop its efforts to keep it out of sight.
1. The difference between totalitarian governments, which aim to control every aspect of their subjects' lives, and merely authoritarian governments, which are tyrannical but allow some freedom; for example, evidence of the end of totalitarianism in the USSR was 'the amazingly swift and rich recovery of the arts', albeit underground. (pp xxxvi-xxxvii) Also, IIUC, totalitarian regimes make a 'claim to global rule' (xxi), and therefore, 'total domination is the only form of government with which coexistence is not possible.' (p xxviii) (Is this the goal of North Korea? If so, we're lucky they just don't have the means to put that claim into practice.)
2. "... the fact that totalitarian government... rests on mass support is very disquieting. It is therefore hardly surprising that scholars as well as statesmen often refuse to recognize it, the former by believing in the magic of propaganda and brainwashing, the latter by simply denying it... secret reports on German public opinion during the war... shows, first, that the population was remarkably well informed about all so-called secrets - massacres of Jews in Poland, preparation of the attack on Russia, etc - and, second, the "extent to which the victims of propaganda had remained able to form independent opinions"... this did not in the least weaken the general support of the Hitler regime." (p xxiii) My mind went at once to the general support amongst Australians for our mistreatment of refugees. Perhaps our government can drop its efforts to keep it out of sight.
