#totalitarian

A totalitarian state is in effect a theocracy, and its ruling caste, in order to keep its position, has to be thought of as infallible. But since, in practice, no one is infallible, it is frequently necessary to rearrange past events in order to show that this or that mistake was not made, or that this or that imaginary triumph actually happened. ↗

— George Orwell

#theocracy #totalitarianism #religion

The savior who wants to turn men into angels is as much a hater of human nature as the totalitarian despot who wants to turn them into puppets. ↗

— Eric Hoffer

#despot #hater #human #human nature #into

For 73 years a totalitarian regime ruled the country. Totalitarian regime. ↗

— Aleksandr Lebed

#regime #ruled #totalitarian #years

Culture's worth huge, huge risks. Without culture we're all totalitarian beasts. ↗

— Norman Mailer

#culture #huge #risks #totalitarian #without

To us Americans much has been given; of us much is required. With all our faults and mistakes, it is our strength in support of the freedom our forefathers loved which has saved mankind from subjection to totalitarian power. ↗

— Norman Thomas

#faults #forefathers #freedom #given #loved

Russia needs a strong state power and must have it. But I am not calling for totalitarianism. ↗

— Vladimir Putin

#calling #i #i am #must #needs

A całą tę sprawę, tak spokojnie i godnie poprowadzoną, minister uznał za sukces, zaś nasza prasa określiła jako zwycięstwo. Tak zawsze jakoś minister kierował, że wszystko na sukces wychodziło i dobrze było, a baliśmy się, że gdyby ministra onego nie stało, wnet by smętkiem powiało, co się potem sprawdziło, kiedy nam go ubyło. ↗

— Ryszard Kapuściński

#political-maneuvering #political-mechanisms #totalitarian-system-mechanisms #totalitarianism

There must be no worse punishment to a totalitarian nation than the withdrawal of capital. ↗

— Jerzy Kosinski

#must #nation #punishment #than #totalitarian

It was sometimes feebly argued, as the political and military war against this enemy ran into difficulties, that it was 'a war without end.' I never saw the point of this plaintive objection. The war against superstition and the totalitarian mentality is an endless war. In protean forms, it is fought and refought in every country and every generation. In bin Ladenism we confront again the awful combination of the highly authoritarian personality with the chaotically nihilist and anarchic one. Temporary victories can be registered against this, but not permanent ones. As Bertold Brecht's character says over the corpse of the terrible Arturo Ui, the bitch that bore him is always in heat. But it is in this struggle that we develop the muscles and sinews that enable us to defend civilization, and the moral courage to name it as something worth fighting for. ↗

— Christopher Hitchens

#authoritarianism #bertold-brecht #islamism #nihilism #osama-bin-laden

Disorder is inherent in stability. Civilized man doesn't understand stability. He's confused it with rigidity. Our political and economic and social leaders drool about stability constantly. It's their favorite word, next to 'power.' 'Gotta stabilize the political situation in Southeast Asia, gotta stabilize oil production and consumption, gotta stabilize student opposition to the government' and so forth. Stabilization to them means order, uniformity, control. And that's a half-witted and potentially genocidal misconception. No matter how thoroughly they control a system, disorder invariably leaks into it. Then the managers panic, rush to plug the leak and endeavor to tighten the controls. Therefore, totalitarianism grows in viciousness and scope. And the blind pity is, rigidity isn't the same as stability at all. True stability results when presumed order and presumed disorder are balanced. A truly stable system expects the unexpected, is prepared to be disrupted, waits to be transformed. ↗

— Tom Robbins

#order #rigidity #stability #totalitarianism #totalitarianism