Despise tyranny in all its forms

Hannah Arendt’s The Origin of Totalitarianism has been the most sound source of extensively researched and incisive information for academics and anyone interested in political history, and has provided considerable assistance as I have researched and written this series. Calling out the Nazis and totalitarians for their attempts at global conquest, total domination and antisemitism, Ms. Arendt makes frightening claims about the totalitarian’s victory possibly leading to the destruction of humanity and the origination of the destruction of the essence of man. Must this be the reality of this century as well? Hope for a better future demands that we despise tyranny in all its forms.

Totalitarian governments whether fascist, military rule, Nazism, dictatorship, — any form of despotism — will purge dissenters, strike out disapproval, execute enemies of the state, and propagandize their own damning “facts”.

Training ground for super-tyrants

Wherever the guardians of democracy are derailed and cultural/racial diversity is threatened, there will be an intentional void into which will arise a Peron, Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin or equal. Surrounding themselves with loyalists, a propaganda machine, and a devoted military and police force, their actions to remove voting rights, economic opportunities, free speech and press, even basic justice are veiled behind the illness of nationalism. They will force their population to stand with them, opposing their avowed enemies to achieve their goals quickly. Their fertile soil is deception, illusion, hate speech and often a desperate population. The seeds of nationalism never seem to die. Vigilance, justice and education successfully subdue them. But they survive to thrive again when the despots put in place the actions to corrode the constitution and corrupt the justice system.

Never underestimate the power of the uninformed voter!

HISTORIOGRAPHY

Despotism regains strength when misinformation and ignorance abound, and we buy into politicians’ lies. Historiography is the warning that perhaps history begins where memory fails. In the words of Ernesto “Che” Guevara, “We must struggle every day so that this love for humanity becomes a reality.”