Arguing with Sean LaFreniere over the tradeoffs of totalitarianism.
The Old Lie of Totalitarianism
"Dolce et Decorum est pro Patria mori", the old lie of imperial powers, "Sweet and fitting it is to die for your Nation." Rejecting this lie has been the cause celebre for the intellectual since the end of the First World War and the exposition of the horrors of industrial warfare at stalemate.
The old lie of totalitarianism is much more prosaic, "Trade your freedom for the desired state." This is a great lie because there never is a trade, only the promise of one. The promise differs greatly by cultures and has taken the form in the last century of stability, prosperity, dignity, revenge, restoration, equality, fraternity, security, purity, and holiness. The only consistent returns on this exchange are oppression, poverty, disease, violence, misery, and death. Genocidal campaigns are the norm in totalitarian states as structurally incompetent governments try to bury their own failures with the most glaring exceptions to their rule. This is as true in Iraq as it was in Bosnia, Rwanda, China, Russia, and Germany.
Totalitarian governments are incompetent by their very nature because reposing all power in the government can only work with an administration that is omniscient and omnipotent. That those are also the qualifications for Godhood is in many cases a selling point, since any honest government admits mistakes. The basic paradox that a qualified God-government would not need a revolution usually does not survive contact with the fanatics who espouse totalitarian views. In that initial bludgeoning down of rational dissent, a pattern of suppressing meaningful feedback is emplaced. In order to obtain and maintain power, totalitarian governments must do away the ability to use power wisely.
In all of this, there are matters of degree. Josip Broz "Tito" managed to run the amalgam of Yugoslavia astonishingly well for many years as a dictator. For all his atrocities, Pinochet did amazing work to make Chile a very modern nation and he did hand over power peacefully if not totally. Franco's Spain did not make much economic progress during his reign, but it was not a bad place to live. I know this because I visited these places while the dictators were in power. I have no love of political strongmen and their ruthlessness, but there are matters of degree. At one end of the spectrum goes Tito at the other end goes Pol Pot and Stalin. The quickest measure of wickedness is the depth of blood the dictator waded in.
There is one more inconsistency that is frequently thrown around in conversations about the Old Lie of Totalitarianism and that is the presumption of efficiency. Totalitarian governments are often described as efficient because a given circumstance or measurement occurs. This is a misuse of the term because what efficiency means is a measure of work done for effort expended. Analysis of the actual condition of totalitarian states consistently displays tremendous waste of effort and inefficiency. Free and open systems that are regularly subjected to honest review are consistently efficient.
Il Duce Never Ran On Schedule
There is no link between totalitarian government and efficiency, security, honesty, purity, simplicity, or holiness. There is no trade; you do not get benefit in exchange for fascism, socialism, holy rule, or anarchy. What you trade your freedom for is chains and promises;
only the chains ever arrive.
Many survivors complain about the lack of stability once their chains are no longer there to support them. Some slaves never let themselves be freed. They insist that the promises were better than the reality they face. They will frequently try to kill the liberators, especially if they were privileged. It is much better, some feel, to be chained to the top of a mountain than walk freely as an equal.
Free people forget this. The trains never run on time, but no slave survives saying they are late.
UPDATE:
Thanks for the link Mike! I'll try to be topically pompous more often!
The Persian People Must Be Freed
Just a quick note, I'm sure that I will expand upon it later. One of the great civilizations of the world is held in chains by self idolizing, viscious, and brutal clerics. The Persians deserve better from history and they deserve better from the world. I am uncertain that freedom will come quickly. I am sure that freedom will come at a price. I am positive that freedom will come and the world will be better for it.
Blog-Iran
Everything Immortal is Compromised
I just watched a review of the movie "
Underworld" where the critic completely missed the point. Although a strong argument might be made that the critic had merely fulfilled his occupational requirements of being artistically obtuse, it still bears clarifying. The critic was disappointed that there were no thrills in the monster movie. The critic did not make the intellectual effort to realize that he was watching an allegory, not a roller coaster.
"Underworld" has a different mythology than most similar works in that both vampires and werewolves are immortal. Without divulging critical plot details, linkages exist between the two supernatural types. But in both cases, you do not live forever without blows to your integrity. Everything immortal is compromised. Over time your weaknesses will out, even if you have power, strength, and beauty. How you choose to manage that reality is important. Character is important, especially when confronting the infinite.
Every human institution is to some extent an attempt to accomplish immortality. Religion, corporation, nation, or family; all institutions seek to live beyond a single span of years. All of these institutions will eventually fail to some greater or lesser degree. How and what you choose to deal with this matters. How and what you choose to live in the future after the failure matters. Each of us who participates in an institution makes this exact decision. Arguably the most despicable aspect of anarchy is the adherent's willful irresponsibility regarding these decisions. They cannot live with less than ideal perfection, and so they pretend that chaotic squalor is divinity.
People involved in the world make choices. Everyone who makes choices confronts failure. The movie "Underworld" is a well made, relatively low budget, stylish, and worthwhile metaphor for this truth. I recommend it strongly for people who can accept that truth and who like seeing
Kate Beckinsale kicking a lot of ass.
