Having ready many books (both fiction and non-fiction) on totalitarianism and distopias in general I'd like to know, where does it all end?
Let me explain.
Totalitarianism is generally a system of absolute power. Every author I have read in this field generally appears to support the thesis that totalitarianism is used by those who exercise it for personal emotional gain, that is, they enjoy the absolute power and dominance over others, and will continue to work towards achieving absolute power.
Winston Smith is told this at the end of 1984. In "WE" (Zamyatin) D503, after having undergone surgery, watches his former 'girlfriend' die slowly. A factual example would be the Nazi party, North Korea is another.
The question is, if this is a psychological illness/trait (is it?), what would happen if the person with this power were to reach a point where all his subjects (every one of them) were totally under control, where there was absolutely no possibility of deviant behaviour (in all of the fiction books I have read the possibility of deviant behaviour exists. In 1984 the epilogue actually makes reference to the fact that Big Brother's state was actually overcome in some way, because it refers to it in the past tense).
What would be left for the totalitarian in control to do in terms of satisfying urges of power? If the subjects had absolutely no way of dissenting (just imagine if the whole world were under control), how would this person go on? Surely merely torturing or abusing subjects in other ways would be meaningless, as there would be nothing left to suppress?
2006-11-17
01:48:26
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6 answers
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asked by
martin
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Philosophy