Thread by @MistaMonteith

1/9 All Totalitarian states need mass formation to succeed because they rely on the compliance of the population to make people within their governments and any dissident voices obey.

2/9 Dr. Mattias Desmet Professor of Psychology at Ghent University explaining the difference between a classic dictatorship and a Totalitarian regime
The people in the mass become an extended voice for the Authoritarian leader...willing to snitch on their own neighbour's.

3/9 "Mass formation is a phenomenon which is provoked by the human voice-that is why leaders of the masses usually always use propaganda. For instance if you look at Totalitarian regimes of the 20th century they are all based on mass formation.

4/9 The difference between a classical dictatorship and and a Totalitarian regime is that the second one, the Totalitarian regime is based on the psychological process of mass formation, while the classical dictatorship isn't.

5/9 A classical dictatorship is based on a much more primitive psychological mechanism of the population just being afraid of the physical power of the dictator and his regime. In a Totalitarian regime it is much different.

6/9 In a Totalitarian regime it is based on this process of mass formation and in this respect it shows a completely different structure and dynamic than a classical dictatorship.

7/9 For instance if a classical dictator succeeds in silencing the opposition then usually his aggression will mitigate-will become milder.
If the same happens in a Totalitarian state-if a Totalitarian state succeeds in silencing the opposition in public space then the >

8/9 Totalitarian state starts to use its power and it starts to commit it's atrocities and starts to become cruel in a completely absurd way.

9/9 To use the words of Hannah Arendt...one of the major scholars on the phenomenon of Totalitarianism, "Then the Totalitarian State will become a monster that divorces it's own children." Something extremely important to think about."

#massformation
#COVID19
#war
#Dr.Desmet

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