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Hope isn't just an activisty, touchy-feely kinda emotion. Within the realm of political possibility, hope has tremendous power. Dictators recognize this and focus so much of their attention on demoralizing and crushing hope out of their rivals
If you *think* you've been defeated, you will stop fighting. You've then already submitted, in advanced. The opponent, even if he's just seconds away from falling, will have been handed a victory.
Also, if you have no confidence in your own cause, how can you inspire others, outsiders who can tip the scale for you or against you? Dictators spread cynicism, and if you allow it to infect you, that is true defeat.
And if we allow that kinda cynicism to spread, its scourge won't stop at our own countries. It will infect the world (as it has). And when people take decisions or create policy within an atmosphere of cynicism, they create the worst possible policy - the most myopic possible.
Cynicism is obedience in advance.
