9Bs
Coltrane:
“The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws.” -Cornelius Tacitus (55 -117 A.D.)
Fear is the glue that annexes a totalitarian society; be it communist or fascist, the synonymous president reigns true that the implicit nature of the society is, “a boot stamping on a human face-forever.” From birth, you are immersed in an endless sea of nationalism, praise for the regime, praise, for the leader, praise for the whip. Life as the citizens of such a society would be unimaginable and unbearable by our standards, but really, would it really seem evil if you were confronted by it on a daily basis?
1984 contained a message which exhorted a totalitarian society by giving us ironically, an example of the epitome of control. With constant themes like big brother and trust no one, it gives a a very acute snapshot of what life in a totalitarian regime would be similar to.
Because of the Newspeak in 1984, and people being idiots obsessed with the feed in feed, it seems that an underlying factor in ay totalitarian society is language. Newspeak essential tried to debase the language to such an extent that eventually any thoughts of rebellion would be impossible because there would be no words to express that and without the words for it, it doesn’t exist. Feed also preys of this moral by making humans seemingly regress in their ability to utilize words and giving them the opportunity to just search it in the feed and avoid actually learning new words.
Adolf Hitler lead one of the most successful totalitarian regimes in history, oppressive and absolute, individual liberties were abolished and only propaganda supporting the Nazi power remained. Some of the citizens of Nazi Germany were considered “Ariens” or the master race; others were smashed into the ground and persecuted.
The regime lead by Stalin was perpetuated not only by his ruthless decisions, but also by his propaganda which he used to sugarcoat and avert the transgressions of his choices. Many hymns were written for stalin singing of his bravery and dedication to his shared country; About his love for all citizens and his belief in communism. Shows targeting children were produced, preaching of the goodness of Stalin as well as the evils of the rest of the world.
Feed presented a culture adsorbed in their need to buy. Created by the corporations and used to make people want to buy, the Feeds had an internal mode of control which tended
Bobby Ellis: Rough draft 1 final essay
In a totalitarian society the people suffer, while a false mood is put on by the totalitarian power to still get their support, while those that don’t go along with the mood are shot down.
In the book Feed most people have a chip in their head and are constantly monitored. The corporations can do almost anything they want since they are literally in the people’s heads. In the excerpt from feed they specifically state how people don’t really care that they give up privacy and a lot of security to be able to use the feeds. People aren’t the only thing suffering though. The environment is ruined, since the ocean is so polluted that it isn’t even water anymore and nothing can live in it, and also the forests are gone entirely. The world is rotting away around them, including whats urban, like how the fake sky where violet lives at is peeling off, or how air is leaking from the hospital on the moon from the broken down room. All of these things, yet no one seems to notice how wrong it is. Violet and Titus looked at the leaking air and thought it was cool. Titus’ dad went whaling and got whales with plastic coating on them so they don’t die from the pollution, thinking of the whole thing as fun, not at all disturbing at how unnatural it is, but rather showing it to his family. People are even cutting down trees to make air factories, and when the last forests fell people looked back at it as good memories seeing animals in their yard, lost because their natural habitats had been destroyed. Another thing that’s out of place is the global issues, which seem pretty devastating, yet the only people that notice then are violet and her father. No one seems to care that their skin is falling off or why, but they are concerned about the latest trend. Another thing that I’ve noticed is how there’s some sort of dispute going on but you only get little bits, like people whipped out, and covered in some black substance. There’s all of these problems going on, the world and humanity with it rotting away, yet the corporations are able to put a positive spin on it that people get caught up in, like sales, and what’s the latest thing out. The people that don’t believe the corporations lies are looked at as weird and cast out from other people, like violet, just because she was more intelligent than the average person. It’s not that the people are forced to obey this totalitarian power, its that they want to.
In the book 1984 no one has any freedom. Everything is decided for you and enforced. Any form of resistance, even a word against big brother, and the thought police will make you disappear and every one lives on poverty. In the excerpt from 1984 Winston talks about a man who disappeared after he had done some writing that wasn’t very supportive of big brother. How ever party is very good with manipulation, so good that you can never tell what is real, false, or just not yet noticed. They have everyone under their power completely convinced that they are living in paradise and that big brother protects them all, except for a select few, such as Winston and Julia, who despise big brother. People like that are snatched up by the thought police, and tortured into submission until they fit the party’s description of a perfect slave of big brother.
In Hitlers Nazi Germany people worked, and they worked long and hard. There was no exception, because everyone had to work. Some how hitler was able to make work seem like a good thing by using it to drop unemployment, while rebuilding Germany and telling every one to look at what they’ve accomplished at the end of a work day. People were also kept in line with the constant flow of propaganda. It used hitler as an icon to look up to a lot of times. In the one nazi propaganda document there is a map for kids with Germany’s small military surrounded by other countries and their large militaries telling kids to stand up for Germany. Another document about nazi propaganda would be the one with the woman and her baby, along with a peaceful country in the background telling people to fight for what’s in the picture, without actually telling people. The Gestapo were Hitlers secret police. They were the thought police of Nazi Germany, because just like in 1984, if anyone said anything against the totalitarian power they would disappear. Many went to concentration camps where they would be sent for their crimes, and often die there after living in poor conditions. Jews especially suffered since they were the most of the upper class, so hitler made them into a target to blame and take possessions from. To this day in Germany you are not allowed to deny the holocaust happened because of how gruesome it was, even though some people even today look up to Hitler. He might even be admired openly here in America if he hadn’t gone after the Jews and steeped on so many people. America even has its own Nazi party, but most sites on it are blocked on my iPad by the school, maybe because they don’t want any Nazi influence on us?
In Stalins Soviet Russia people must work and the five year plans set unreasonably high expectations are set. Kulaks were forced to work in poor conditions to their death, after loosing all they own. In the one document of ours we looked at a picture of Stalin with a boy, next to the same picture but without the boy. This document tells the viewer that Stalin gets rid of who ever he doesn’t like, such as the kulaks who because they refused to give up their farms were forced into working to death. Another, but very different, document that we went over was some Russian propaganda. It had Lenin standing heroically in front of a soviet Russian flag and the number 1917 behind him. This was meant to have people remember Lenin and how he helped bring in communism. Stalin used propaganda and enthusiasm towards work to keep people in line, while forcing work and punishment upon people who resisted or became threats, like the kulaks. Today Stalin is making a come back and is even becoming popular in Russia as a hero in history. Despite the massive deaths that he caused, people are looking at him as a role model for their leaders today.
What makes a totalitarian power really lethal isn’t its physical strength and power, but rather its manipulation of the people it rules over.
Bradley:
Hanna Arendt was basing her ideas off real world experiences of attempted totalitarian ruled government. There is one problem with this, and that is there has never been any real totalitarian attempts, just bad leaders of communist states. This is why I disagree with Hanna Arendt because there is another ways of ruling a totalitarianism regime.
Feed was a book about teenagers that had a device transplanted into there head and were having there thoughts fed to them. Without looking deep down into this book you can not tell that it is about a totalitarianism regime and that is how it is different. If you look at stalin anything any body did wrong was killed. Also something about feed that setts it apart from hannah Arendt’s definition is that she says they wish to control every aspect of there lives, but in feed they still have a normal life but if you speak out you get “broke” like violet.
Hanna Arendt had the right idea for her time and for her experiences, but she drew to big of a conclusion.
Noah F:What is totalitarianism? Totalitarianism is a political system in which the state holds total authority over the society and seeks to control all aspects of public and private life whenever necessary. What does living in on feel like? Well, that’s what I am going to be talking about. I will show how 1984, Feed, Hitler, Stalin, and documents from WWI through WWII all use similar systems; totalitarianism. I’ve seen that in these documents and books there is not much self knowledge known, which ill be getting into no freedom, and believing is hopeless. These people don’t know what’s wrong from right.
Knowledge in a system like this is useless from what I’ve see. You think you know what’s right when you actually don’t. During Hitlers and Stalins era, as a child in school they are teaching you what they want. They were teaching how the outer countries hated them and they should hate them back. Also, if you follow them as leaders you will be victorious and happy. They made camps such as the concentration camp which was made to torture, follow the leader, and put you in shape incase they need you for the war. This is the same as 1984 in which they showed propaganda all over the place which was making you wonder if you should follow them. They even tried changing the language. In feed, they gave you the feed when you were little and this was to feed of your feelings since you were young and make you believe that the feed is all you need to rely on.
In a system like this you have no freedom at all, the dictator is very strict on the country. In Hitlers and Stalins time, there were secret police. These secret police invaded your public and private life, and if you didn’t listen these were the people to take you in. They were on duty on 24/7 giving you no freedom in here. Conformity allowed no freedom at all. People hated Hitler and Stalin inside but in the outside they showed they loved him. They loved him because they were influenced by the people in their society. If everyone loves him, how are you suppose to act upon? Your not, this would be like at school, if everyone wears the same shoes, are you going to be the one who differs from everyone else? It takes a lot of bravery and courage to do a thing like this. This was like in 1984 also but, 1984 had a different a different twist to theirs. They had a thought police system and tele screens. Tele screens could see what you are doing and see what you feel. In 1984, big brother allowed no feelings in his party which was different from Feed, Hitlers, and Stalins party. This I think took totalitarianism to a whole new level. Having no feelings, your basically an alive zombie in a society like this. In feed they used the feed to take your feelings, which would then allow them to use it to make you buy their products. Buying their products would make you waste your money and with no money your done.
This has come to make me conclude is there a way to rebel in system like this? Is there even a way to start? With no knowledge and no freedom what are you suppose to do? I suppose people try to rebel in Hitlers and Stalins era but the question to ask is did they succeed? I don’t think so, that’s why they were still dictators at the time. These people were smart to control these people. You teach these people when they are children, the way you want things. As kids we believe anything anyone tells us, which makes us grow up to believe this, and makes us pass our knowledge to the next generation and so on so forth. I’m the middle of this, for top security these dictators added the secret police or spies to make sure no once could start rebelling. If you try to they take you in and your life is done. This has been proven in 1984 by Winston, they were onto him since the beginning of the book. When him and O’Brien exchanged looks. And you could say it has been proven by Hitler and Stalin because they probably caught these rebellious people. This is what it’s like living a totalitarian system… An alive zombie.
Fansler:
Totalitarianism is a form of government dictated by a group or one person. What are the experiences of living in a totalitarian society? What are the effects on people? Well in this document I am going to talk about four different societies based off of totalitarianism. The first one is the book 1984. The book is about a society controlled by a man named Big Brother. In this novel it reflects around a man named Winston who is against the government and Big Brother. Second, there is the book the feed. In the feed there is a chip implanted in to every humans brain. Giving the people another brain or Internet. Which is controlled by the government of the society. Third, Stalin of the Soviet Union. He is the dictator of Russia through World War II. There to create a strong independent society. The last is Hitler of Germany. He as we all know was considered the most evil man to ever live the past generation. The affect on individuals is that they live a two face life, that outside they follow the rules and like the leader, but on the inside they are hating and crushed.
What are the feelings toward the societies? In 1984 Winston does not agree with Big Brother’s rules. With Winston his feeling toward Big Brother is fear as well as everyone else in the society. He knows of secret police in the society that watch anyone that goes against him. If found opposing against him the person will be executed. Outside Winston acts normal but hidden he is very secretive. He chooses to look in to the history of the past deaths of lawbreakers. With Violet she hates the feed. She believed it was a way of mind control the government used to influence people to follow what they believed is the right thing to do. The feed had helped you with knowledge and choices. It was like a second brain. But their are some in the feed who reley on the feed to help them. They enjoyed it, seeing it as a helper. With Stalin and Hitler they were considered evil dictators through out their countries. The reason for that is what they had done. Their goal was to creat the strongest most independent countries the world had ever seen, but with that came choices. They choice massacres. With Stalin he was responsible for over 15 million deaths from famine for peasants and workers of Germany. With Hitler he was responsible for the Holocaust. The death of over 11 million Jews. With feeling came lying. But there are some people that think Stalin is a saint. Some people think he is one the greatest leader because Stalin made Russia a very strong industrial based economy.
In a totalitarian society there are fake moods of the people. 1984 had to be the biggest example of fake moods. In the book everyone outside of their home acts happy as can be hanging out, no sex, loving Big Brother. But on the inside everyone hates him. This is the same with Hitler and Stalin everybody dislikes them on the inside but treats them like gods on the outside. They do this because of the consequences of showing their true feelings toward the dictators. The consequence is death. This had happened to allies of Stalin. He had killed the Russian leader Trotsky. Because, he opposed him. The way Stalin had killed the people were he had them shot in the back of the head. He had done this to all of his allies. This way he had gained full power. In the feed, the fake mood was done by Violet. Her plan was to show interest in a bunch of random products, to prevent the corporations from developing a new profile.
With people against the government or dictator there is always a rebellion. In 1984 Winston goes against Big Brother by looking up the past of executed so called “Traitors.” He finds out that the people were innocent but the government portrayed them as traitors. They were portrayed as traitors because, they did the number one thing not to do, go against Big Brother. With Julia (Winston’s girlfriend) she has sex. Which is one of the things Big Brother says not to. That is one way to go against the dictator not attack them but go against what they say. As I said earlier Violet goes against the feed by creating a fake feed. With Stalin and Hitler no one really had opposed them. The only people that opposed them were politicians and leaders of Germany and the soviet. People such as: Lenin, Stokovach, Trotsky. They did not think Stalin and Hitler were good leaders. So they had opposed which had gotten them killed.
The only group that had opposed were the Jews. But they had stood no chance against Hitler. Hitler had them executed them because, he had felt they had power over the German people. The Jews were wealthy and had land. So Hitler killed them to have his country and people the most powerful. Where no one throughout his country would have power over other besides him.
But, over the years these dictators had controlled the people of the society had learned to accept the totalitarian system. The biggest thing were the people of Germany and Russia. They had learned to accept the society. With Hitler he had given them jobs. Hitler’s goal was to create a independent synthetic economy. With Stalin he too wanted to create an independent economy but based off of the industrial system. Both of them used propaganda to get to the people. Showing examples of a correct Russian or German citizen. In Germany their’s were a gold mother with children. On farms with lots of land. Also they gave the people hope. With Stalin he his propaganda was used with example of statues. Having German heroes that have done great things. Reminding people that if they can do it you can do it. Also to show that the people on the statues are the people with power. Hope meaning rewards. They used jobs, family, and land. Even with Hitler he had used the Volkswagon as an example that if a citizen gets a job they can one day get the Volkswagon. With the feed, the people accepted it because they saw it as a gift. It was used as an encyclopedia. Also it gave them advice on their choices.
In conclusion the people of totalitarian societies live a two faced life. The people follow the rules and obey what the dictator says. If not there are consequences normally resulting in death. But there are people who are against the system. These people still live a double life. They go home and they hide from the government. I believe that there is no escape from the totalitarian system. Because, if you go against or escape the system you will end up dead.
Noah S:Through out this study on totalitarian regime I learned that if they are built right they are impossible to take down. Through out the study with Hitler and Stalin I learned that they are very similar and yet entirely different. All of their citizens are unhappy with their lives. They put on a mask during the day but once they come home and take their mask off. Once they do that their true colors are revealed. Hitler and Stalin claim to be very different, they both hated each other. They believed that every thing they were doing was right. The way these men ran their societies was buy their own vision. They did not take in consideration of everyone else around them. Most of these men believed that the entire world would see things through their own eyes. The ideas were the structure of their regime. Hitler was all about blond hare and being German, he believed that one day Germany will be separated from the rest of the world. He visualizes that Germany would eventually be self sustaining. In a way he is like the Islamic extremist today, if people did not see things the way he did he would erase them. Stalin was all about communism but he was doing it in a different way. What he was doing was not communism he was just making things in the way of his eyes. He killed all of those people not because of the their race it was because of their vision. They wanted to join Hitler. Obviously Stalin did not want his territory to be engulfed into Hitler’s empire so he took that buy killing all those people. The thing that separates Hitler and Stalin is that Hitler is viewed as a mass murder that is absolutely mad. There is no doubt in any place in the world that they hate this mad man. But now in Russia they are staring to like what Stalin did for them he is not being viewed as the same as Hitler, he is being viewed as a hero. Also people think that the all time bad guy is Hitler. He has made more of an impression on history than Stalin.
Totalitarian societies come out of the dust of a fight. They rise because every one is looking for a better life but more often than not, the society gets corrupt and life goes bad again. Once a person is engulfed by the society there is no escape. They have to play their part in the society weather they like it or not, they have to put a smile on and play their part. The mood of the society is happy and cheerful, I look like every one is there to help one and other there is peace and kindness. The leader is shown as their equal and made to be the savior. When you enter a citizens mind you see a completely different thing. The citizens have learned one rule 2+2= whatever the leader says.
Part of a lie, in a totalitarian society every thing is made to look happy and cheerful. They find strength in their leader and they use their strength to enforce the leaders vision. They are look for some thing or some one they can count on. Belief is so easy to control when times are hard. The times in Germany and the times in Russia made it so that people like Hitler and Stalin could arise with out a big fight. As a group it seems like every thing is fine nothing can go wrong. That is usually true in the early beginnings of the society. This is the period where they see their leader as a visionary. They are blinded by all the lies so they miss the things that the leader is doing behind their backs. Hitler would be viewed as a genius and a strong military leader. He brought his country out of a depression. He made the unemployment percentage 0%. He succeeded in making their government self-sustaining; every thing he did for his country made it stronger and improved the quality of living. Most leaders today would look up to him today if he did not go crazy. The mood of the societies in Hitler’s, Stalin’s and 1984’s feels so depressing and glum but every one seems to have a smile on their face. The only one that I believe has a happy mood is in Feed. Every one is out having a good time they are all happy and the society in my mind is not panted as a rainy and gloomy. I picture it with the sun out and every one with smiles on their face. All the others societies feel depressing. The reason that the society is like this is because there is not a strong presence of authority there is just people and the feed.
“Every thing big brother is doing is wrong he changes history by meaning all the wrong things he does sound right.” You don’t mater your thoughts your words every thing belongs to your leader. This is the type of things that are shown when a person steeps off the radar. The majority of the population has a strong dislike for their superiors but they are too scared to rebel. Their lives are in the hands o their leader. In 1984 and in Hitler’s Germany there is one prominent leader and they are viewed as a dictator. The person has control of everyone life and they can monitor everyone actions. A large armed force maintains both Hitler and 1984. While in Feed and in Stalin’s Russia there is not a large armed force, There is not a dictator. Stalin is viewed as an equal to everyone. The corporation is viewed as a business. In Feed everyone is happy. They are content with their lives. They are not trying to get ahead of everyone around them.
Fenton:
One major experience that people have in a totalitarian society is their communication is controlled by the leader and it changes people’s natural disposition and behavior. They do not get to see normal newspapers, news, or television. This concept can be illustrated in 1984 when the characters are monitored so closely it causes them to betray one another. The computer feed also controls the thoughts and actions of the characters in Feed. More importantly, history showed us in Nazi Germany that a totalitarian society can cause people to passively accept a horrible situation and change their behavior and beliefs as a survival tactic.
The books Feed and 1984 illustrate how communication that is controlled by a leader can affect people’s behavior. In the book Feed, the feed constantly bombards the characters thoughts and brains with information. When the characters feed turns off, they don’t remember how to think on their own or plan their days. They feel lost. Also, in 1984 communication is manipulated by the Party. The truth is manipulated by Winston at the Ministry of Truth. People don’t even know what the truth is. Also, the characters are constantly monitored by the tele screen, secret microphones, and mandatory announcements. Even Syme and his Newspeak dictionary are changing the old language to control communication.
Communication has also been used in history to control people and influence how they think. People were poor in Germany and there was food rationing in 1943. Hitler used propaganda to fool the people in Germany into believing that he was a good leader. There were posters showing happy people behind Hitler and the message was clear that he was the leader that would change things for the better. People thought Hitler would take them to “World Domination” and the propaganda kept their morale high even when times were terrible.
The effects on people can be drastic when their thoughts and information are controlled by another person or party. The books 1984 and Feed showed how people that had their communication channels controlled by others became lonely, out for themselves, and not team players. For example, in 1984 Parson’s children turned him into the thought police and did not care what happened to their own father as a result. The children were loyal to their party not their family. They learned what they were taught.
Furthermore, in Feed, Titus knew the feed controlled him but said “There is no good getting pissy about it because they’re still going to control everything whether you like it or not.” Also, the characters were suspicious and not accepting of Violet because her thoughts were different than theirs and they were threatened by this.
History has also shown us that peoples’ behavior can by changed by living in a totalitarian society. In the times of Hitler’s rule, nice and normal people betrayed their neighbors to support Hitler. They believed his propaganda. Young men were attracted by Hitler’s power and the bold uniforms with emblems. They wanted to belong to this strong and powerful group. Sadly, even those that did not agree or believe in what Hitler stood for accepted his anti-Jewish policies. They were not able to stop Hitler’s Party from killing over six million Jewish people.
We are at an interesting point in our society. Technology and the way we communicate information are changing quickly. Our country needs to think about how we respond to these changes. For example, remote control robots let people be in two places at one time; drone gliders can float around for weeks at a time and collect information. Technology is exciting but we as a country need to pay attention to history and not let technology get out of control and invade our privacy. The horrible tragedies that happened under Hitler’s control can be avoided and it should be a top priority.
Ethan:
“The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws.” -Cornelius Tacitus (55 -117 A.D.)
Fear is the glue that annexes a totalitarian society; be it communist or fascist, the synonymous president reigns true that the implicit nature of the society is, “a boot stamping on a human face-forever.” From birth, you are immersed in an endless sea of nationalism, praise for the regime, praise, for the leader, praise for the whip. Life as the citizens of such a society would be unimaginable and unbearable by our standards, but really, would it really seem evil if you were confronted by it on a daily basis?
1984 contained a message which exhorted a totalitarian society by giving us ironically, an example of the epitome of control. With constant themes like big brother and trust no one, it gives a a very acute snapshot of what life in a totalitarian regime would be similar to.
Because of the Newspeak in 1984, and people being idiots obsessed with the feed in feed, it seems that an underlying factor in ay totalitarian society is language. Newspeak essential tried to debase the language to such an extent that eventually any thoughts of rebellion would be impossible because there would be no words to express that and without the words for it, it doesn’t exist. Feed also preys of this moral by making humans seemingly regress in their ability to utilize words and giving them the opportunity to just search it in the feed and avoid actually learning new words.
Adolf Hitler lead one of the most successful totalitarian regimes in history, oppressive and absolute, individual liberties were abolished and only propaganda supporting the Nazi power remained. Some of the citizens of Nazi Germany were considered “Ariens” or the master race; others were smashed into the ground and persecuted.
The regime lead by Stalin was perpetuated not only by his ruthless decisions, but also by his propaganda which he used to sugarcoat and avert the transgressions of his choices. Many hymns were written for stalin singing of his bravery and dedication to his shared country; About his love for all citizens and his belief in communism. Shows targeting children were produced, preaching of the goodness of Stalin as well as the evils of the rest of the world.
Feed presented a culture adsorbed in their need to buy. Created by the corporations and used to make people want to buy, the Feeds had an internal mode of control which tended
Bobby Ellis: Rough draft 1 final essay
In a totalitarian society the people suffer, while a false mood is put on by the totalitarian power to still get their support, while those that don’t go along with the mood are shot down.
In the book Feed most people have a chip in their head and are constantly monitored. The corporations can do almost anything they want since they are literally in the people’s heads. In the excerpt from feed they specifically state how people don’t really care that they give up privacy and a lot of security to be able to use the feeds. People aren’t the only thing suffering though. The environment is ruined, since the ocean is so polluted that it isn’t even water anymore and nothing can live in it, and also the forests are gone entirely. The world is rotting away around them, including whats urban, like how the fake sky where violet lives at is peeling off, or how air is leaking from the hospital on the moon from the broken down room. All of these things, yet no one seems to notice how wrong it is. Violet and Titus looked at the leaking air and thought it was cool. Titus’ dad went whaling and got whales with plastic coating on them so they don’t die from the pollution, thinking of the whole thing as fun, not at all disturbing at how unnatural it is, but rather showing it to his family. People are even cutting down trees to make air factories, and when the last forests fell people looked back at it as good memories seeing animals in their yard, lost because their natural habitats had been destroyed. Another thing that’s out of place is the global issues, which seem pretty devastating, yet the only people that notice then are violet and her father. No one seems to care that their skin is falling off or why, but they are concerned about the latest trend. Another thing that I’ve noticed is how there’s some sort of dispute going on but you only get little bits, like people whipped out, and covered in some black substance. There’s all of these problems going on, the world and humanity with it rotting away, yet the corporations are able to put a positive spin on it that people get caught up in, like sales, and what’s the latest thing out. The people that don’t believe the corporations lies are looked at as weird and cast out from other people, like violet, just because she was more intelligent than the average person. It’s not that the people are forced to obey this totalitarian power, its that they want to.
In the book 1984 no one has any freedom. Everything is decided for you and enforced. Any form of resistance, even a word against big brother, and the thought police will make you disappear and every one lives on poverty. In the excerpt from 1984 Winston talks about a man who disappeared after he had done some writing that wasn’t very supportive of big brother. How ever party is very good with manipulation, so good that you can never tell what is real, false, or just not yet noticed. They have everyone under their power completely convinced that they are living in paradise and that big brother protects them all, except for a select few, such as Winston and Julia, who despise big brother. People like that are snatched up by the thought police, and tortured into submission until they fit the party’s description of a perfect slave of big brother.
In Hitlers Nazi Germany people worked, and they worked long and hard. There was no exception, because everyone had to work. Some how hitler was able to make work seem like a good thing by using it to drop unemployment, while rebuilding Germany and telling every one to look at what they’ve accomplished at the end of a work day. People were also kept in line with the constant flow of propaganda. It used hitler as an icon to look up to a lot of times. In the one nazi propaganda document there is a map for kids with Germany’s small military surrounded by other countries and their large militaries telling kids to stand up for Germany. Another document about nazi propaganda would be the one with the woman and her baby, along with a peaceful country in the background telling people to fight for what’s in the picture, without actually telling people. The Gestapo were Hitlers secret police. They were the thought police of Nazi Germany, because just like in 1984, if anyone said anything against the totalitarian power they would disappear. Many went to concentration camps where they would be sent for their crimes, and often die there after living in poor conditions. Jews especially suffered since they were the most of the upper class, so hitler made them into a target to blame and take possessions from. To this day in Germany you are not allowed to deny the holocaust happened because of how gruesome it was, even though some people even today look up to Hitler. He might even be admired openly here in America if he hadn’t gone after the Jews and steeped on so many people. America even has its own Nazi party, but most sites on it are blocked on my iPad by the school, maybe because they don’t want any Nazi influence on us?
In Stalins Soviet Russia people must work and the five year plans set unreasonably high expectations are set. Kulaks were forced to work in poor conditions to their death, after loosing all they own. In the one document of ours we looked at a picture of Stalin with a boy, next to the same picture but without the boy. This document tells the viewer that Stalin gets rid of who ever he doesn’t like, such as the kulaks who because they refused to give up their farms were forced into working to death. Another, but very different, document that we went over was some Russian propaganda. It had Lenin standing heroically in front of a soviet Russian flag and the number 1917 behind him. This was meant to have people remember Lenin and how he helped bring in communism. Stalin used propaganda and enthusiasm towards work to keep people in line, while forcing work and punishment upon people who resisted or became threats, like the kulaks. Today Stalin is making a come back and is even becoming popular in Russia as a hero in history. Despite the massive deaths that he caused, people are looking at him as a role model for their leaders today.
What makes a totalitarian power really lethal isn’t its physical strength and power, but rather its manipulation of the people it rules over.
Bradley:
Hanna Arendt was basing her ideas off real world experiences of attempted totalitarian ruled government. There is one problem with this, and that is there has never been any real totalitarian attempts, just bad leaders of communist states. This is why I disagree with Hanna Arendt because there is another ways of ruling a totalitarianism regime.
Feed was a book about teenagers that had a device transplanted into there head and were having there thoughts fed to them. Without looking deep down into this book you can not tell that it is about a totalitarianism regime and that is how it is different. If you look at stalin anything any body did wrong was killed. Also something about feed that setts it apart from hannah Arendt’s definition is that she says they wish to control every aspect of there lives, but in feed they still have a normal life but if you speak out you get “broke” like violet.
Hanna Arendt had the right idea for her time and for her experiences, but she drew to big of a conclusion.
Noah F:What is totalitarianism? Totalitarianism is a political system in which the state holds total authority over the society and seeks to control all aspects of public and private life whenever necessary. What does living in on feel like? Well, that’s what I am going to be talking about. I will show how 1984, Feed, Hitler, Stalin, and documents from WWI through WWII all use similar systems; totalitarianism. I’ve seen that in these documents and books there is not much self knowledge known, which ill be getting into no freedom, and believing is hopeless. These people don’t know what’s wrong from right.
Knowledge in a system like this is useless from what I’ve see. You think you know what’s right when you actually don’t. During Hitlers and Stalins era, as a child in school they are teaching you what they want. They were teaching how the outer countries hated them and they should hate them back. Also, if you follow them as leaders you will be victorious and happy. They made camps such as the concentration camp which was made to torture, follow the leader, and put you in shape incase they need you for the war. This is the same as 1984 in which they showed propaganda all over the place which was making you wonder if you should follow them. They even tried changing the language. In feed, they gave you the feed when you were little and this was to feed of your feelings since you were young and make you believe that the feed is all you need to rely on.
In a system like this you have no freedom at all, the dictator is very strict on the country. In Hitlers and Stalins time, there were secret police. These secret police invaded your public and private life, and if you didn’t listen these were the people to take you in. They were on duty on 24/7 giving you no freedom in here. Conformity allowed no freedom at all. People hated Hitler and Stalin inside but in the outside they showed they loved him. They loved him because they were influenced by the people in their society. If everyone loves him, how are you suppose to act upon? Your not, this would be like at school, if everyone wears the same shoes, are you going to be the one who differs from everyone else? It takes a lot of bravery and courage to do a thing like this. This was like in 1984 also but, 1984 had a different a different twist to theirs. They had a thought police system and tele screens. Tele screens could see what you are doing and see what you feel. In 1984, big brother allowed no feelings in his party which was different from Feed, Hitlers, and Stalins party. This I think took totalitarianism to a whole new level. Having no feelings, your basically an alive zombie in a society like this. In feed they used the feed to take your feelings, which would then allow them to use it to make you buy their products. Buying their products would make you waste your money and with no money your done.
This has come to make me conclude is there a way to rebel in system like this? Is there even a way to start? With no knowledge and no freedom what are you suppose to do? I suppose people try to rebel in Hitlers and Stalins era but the question to ask is did they succeed? I don’t think so, that’s why they were still dictators at the time. These people were smart to control these people. You teach these people when they are children, the way you want things. As kids we believe anything anyone tells us, which makes us grow up to believe this, and makes us pass our knowledge to the next generation and so on so forth. I’m the middle of this, for top security these dictators added the secret police or spies to make sure no once could start rebelling. If you try to they take you in and your life is done. This has been proven in 1984 by Winston, they were onto him since the beginning of the book. When him and O’Brien exchanged looks. And you could say it has been proven by Hitler and Stalin because they probably caught these rebellious people. This is what it’s like living a totalitarian system… An alive zombie.
Fansler:
Totalitarianism is a form of government dictated by a group or one person. What are the experiences of living in a totalitarian society? What are the effects on people? Well in this document I am going to talk about four different societies based off of totalitarianism. The first one is the book 1984. The book is about a society controlled by a man named Big Brother. In this novel it reflects around a man named Winston who is against the government and Big Brother. Second, there is the book the feed. In the feed there is a chip implanted in to every humans brain. Giving the people another brain or Internet. Which is controlled by the government of the society. Third, Stalin of the Soviet Union. He is the dictator of Russia through World War II. There to create a strong independent society. The last is Hitler of Germany. He as we all know was considered the most evil man to ever live the past generation. The affect on individuals is that they live a two face life, that outside they follow the rules and like the leader, but on the inside they are hating and crushed.
What are the feelings toward the societies? In 1984 Winston does not agree with Big Brother’s rules. With Winston his feeling toward Big Brother is fear as well as everyone else in the society. He knows of secret police in the society that watch anyone that goes against him. If found opposing against him the person will be executed. Outside Winston acts normal but hidden he is very secretive. He chooses to look in to the history of the past deaths of lawbreakers. With Violet she hates the feed. She believed it was a way of mind control the government used to influence people to follow what they believed is the right thing to do. The feed had helped you with knowledge and choices. It was like a second brain. But their are some in the feed who reley on the feed to help them. They enjoyed it, seeing it as a helper. With Stalin and Hitler they were considered evil dictators through out their countries. The reason for that is what they had done. Their goal was to creat the strongest most independent countries the world had ever seen, but with that came choices. They choice massacres. With Stalin he was responsible for over 15 million deaths from famine for peasants and workers of Germany. With Hitler he was responsible for the Holocaust. The death of over 11 million Jews. With feeling came lying. But there are some people that think Stalin is a saint. Some people think he is one the greatest leader because Stalin made Russia a very strong industrial based economy.
In a totalitarian society there are fake moods of the people. 1984 had to be the biggest example of fake moods. In the book everyone outside of their home acts happy as can be hanging out, no sex, loving Big Brother. But on the inside everyone hates him. This is the same with Hitler and Stalin everybody dislikes them on the inside but treats them like gods on the outside. They do this because of the consequences of showing their true feelings toward the dictators. The consequence is death. This had happened to allies of Stalin. He had killed the Russian leader Trotsky. Because, he opposed him. The way Stalin had killed the people were he had them shot in the back of the head. He had done this to all of his allies. This way he had gained full power. In the feed, the fake mood was done by Violet. Her plan was to show interest in a bunch of random products, to prevent the corporations from developing a new profile.
With people against the government or dictator there is always a rebellion. In 1984 Winston goes against Big Brother by looking up the past of executed so called “Traitors.” He finds out that the people were innocent but the government portrayed them as traitors. They were portrayed as traitors because, they did the number one thing not to do, go against Big Brother. With Julia (Winston’s girlfriend) she has sex. Which is one of the things Big Brother says not to. That is one way to go against the dictator not attack them but go against what they say. As I said earlier Violet goes against the feed by creating a fake feed. With Stalin and Hitler no one really had opposed them. The only people that opposed them were politicians and leaders of Germany and the soviet. People such as: Lenin, Stokovach, Trotsky. They did not think Stalin and Hitler were good leaders. So they had opposed which had gotten them killed.
The only group that had opposed were the Jews. But they had stood no chance against Hitler. Hitler had them executed them because, he had felt they had power over the German people. The Jews were wealthy and had land. So Hitler killed them to have his country and people the most powerful. Where no one throughout his country would have power over other besides him.
But, over the years these dictators had controlled the people of the society had learned to accept the totalitarian system. The biggest thing were the people of Germany and Russia. They had learned to accept the society. With Hitler he had given them jobs. Hitler’s goal was to create a independent synthetic economy. With Stalin he too wanted to create an independent economy but based off of the industrial system. Both of them used propaganda to get to the people. Showing examples of a correct Russian or German citizen. In Germany their’s were a gold mother with children. On farms with lots of land. Also they gave the people hope. With Stalin he his propaganda was used with example of statues. Having German heroes that have done great things. Reminding people that if they can do it you can do it. Also to show that the people on the statues are the people with power. Hope meaning rewards. They used jobs, family, and land. Even with Hitler he had used the Volkswagon as an example that if a citizen gets a job they can one day get the Volkswagon. With the feed, the people accepted it because they saw it as a gift. It was used as an encyclopedia. Also it gave them advice on their choices.
In conclusion the people of totalitarian societies live a two faced life. The people follow the rules and obey what the dictator says. If not there are consequences normally resulting in death. But there are people who are against the system. These people still live a double life. They go home and they hide from the government. I believe that there is no escape from the totalitarian system. Because, if you go against or escape the system you will end up dead.
Noah S:Through out this study on totalitarian regime I learned that if they are built right they are impossible to take down. Through out the study with Hitler and Stalin I learned that they are very similar and yet entirely different. All of their citizens are unhappy with their lives. They put on a mask during the day but once they come home and take their mask off. Once they do that their true colors are revealed. Hitler and Stalin claim to be very different, they both hated each other. They believed that every thing they were doing was right. The way these men ran their societies was buy their own vision. They did not take in consideration of everyone else around them. Most of these men believed that the entire world would see things through their own eyes. The ideas were the structure of their regime. Hitler was all about blond hare and being German, he believed that one day Germany will be separated from the rest of the world. He visualizes that Germany would eventually be self sustaining. In a way he is like the Islamic extremist today, if people did not see things the way he did he would erase them. Stalin was all about communism but he was doing it in a different way. What he was doing was not communism he was just making things in the way of his eyes. He killed all of those people not because of the their race it was because of their vision. They wanted to join Hitler. Obviously Stalin did not want his territory to be engulfed into Hitler’s empire so he took that buy killing all those people. The thing that separates Hitler and Stalin is that Hitler is viewed as a mass murder that is absolutely mad. There is no doubt in any place in the world that they hate this mad man. But now in Russia they are staring to like what Stalin did for them he is not being viewed as the same as Hitler, he is being viewed as a hero. Also people think that the all time bad guy is Hitler. He has made more of an impression on history than Stalin.
Totalitarian societies come out of the dust of a fight. They rise because every one is looking for a better life but more often than not, the society gets corrupt and life goes bad again. Once a person is engulfed by the society there is no escape. They have to play their part in the society weather they like it or not, they have to put a smile on and play their part. The mood of the society is happy and cheerful, I look like every one is there to help one and other there is peace and kindness. The leader is shown as their equal and made to be the savior. When you enter a citizens mind you see a completely different thing. The citizens have learned one rule 2+2= whatever the leader says.
Part of a lie, in a totalitarian society every thing is made to look happy and cheerful. They find strength in their leader and they use their strength to enforce the leaders vision. They are look for some thing or some one they can count on. Belief is so easy to control when times are hard. The times in Germany and the times in Russia made it so that people like Hitler and Stalin could arise with out a big fight. As a group it seems like every thing is fine nothing can go wrong. That is usually true in the early beginnings of the society. This is the period where they see their leader as a visionary. They are blinded by all the lies so they miss the things that the leader is doing behind their backs. Hitler would be viewed as a genius and a strong military leader. He brought his country out of a depression. He made the unemployment percentage 0%. He succeeded in making their government self-sustaining; every thing he did for his country made it stronger and improved the quality of living. Most leaders today would look up to him today if he did not go crazy. The mood of the societies in Hitler’s, Stalin’s and 1984’s feels so depressing and glum but every one seems to have a smile on their face. The only one that I believe has a happy mood is in Feed. Every one is out having a good time they are all happy and the society in my mind is not panted as a rainy and gloomy. I picture it with the sun out and every one with smiles on their face. All the others societies feel depressing. The reason that the society is like this is because there is not a strong presence of authority there is just people and the feed.
“Every thing big brother is doing is wrong he changes history by meaning all the wrong things he does sound right.” You don’t mater your thoughts your words every thing belongs to your leader. This is the type of things that are shown when a person steeps off the radar. The majority of the population has a strong dislike for their superiors but they are too scared to rebel. Their lives are in the hands o their leader. In 1984 and in Hitler’s Germany there is one prominent leader and they are viewed as a dictator. The person has control of everyone life and they can monitor everyone actions. A large armed force maintains both Hitler and 1984. While in Feed and in Stalin’s Russia there is not a large armed force, There is not a dictator. Stalin is viewed as an equal to everyone. The corporation is viewed as a business. In Feed everyone is happy. They are content with their lives. They are not trying to get ahead of everyone around them.
Fenton:
One major experience that people have in a totalitarian society is their communication is controlled by the leader and it changes people’s natural disposition and behavior. They do not get to see normal newspapers, news, or television. This concept can be illustrated in 1984 when the characters are monitored so closely it causes them to betray one another. The computer feed also controls the thoughts and actions of the characters in Feed. More importantly, history showed us in Nazi Germany that a totalitarian society can cause people to passively accept a horrible situation and change their behavior and beliefs as a survival tactic.
The books Feed and 1984 illustrate how communication that is controlled by a leader can affect people’s behavior. In the book Feed, the feed constantly bombards the characters thoughts and brains with information. When the characters feed turns off, they don’t remember how to think on their own or plan their days. They feel lost. Also, in 1984 communication is manipulated by the Party. The truth is manipulated by Winston at the Ministry of Truth. People don’t even know what the truth is. Also, the characters are constantly monitored by the tele screen, secret microphones, and mandatory announcements. Even Syme and his Newspeak dictionary are changing the old language to control communication.
Communication has also been used in history to control people and influence how they think. People were poor in Germany and there was food rationing in 1943. Hitler used propaganda to fool the people in Germany into believing that he was a good leader. There were posters showing happy people behind Hitler and the message was clear that he was the leader that would change things for the better. People thought Hitler would take them to “World Domination” and the propaganda kept their morale high even when times were terrible.
The effects on people can be drastic when their thoughts and information are controlled by another person or party. The books 1984 and Feed showed how people that had their communication channels controlled by others became lonely, out for themselves, and not team players. For example, in 1984 Parson’s children turned him into the thought police and did not care what happened to their own father as a result. The children were loyal to their party not their family. They learned what they were taught.
Furthermore, in Feed, Titus knew the feed controlled him but said “There is no good getting pissy about it because they’re still going to control everything whether you like it or not.” Also, the characters were suspicious and not accepting of Violet because her thoughts were different than theirs and they were threatened by this.
History has also shown us that peoples’ behavior can by changed by living in a totalitarian society. In the times of Hitler’s rule, nice and normal people betrayed their neighbors to support Hitler. They believed his propaganda. Young men were attracted by Hitler’s power and the bold uniforms with emblems. They wanted to belong to this strong and powerful group. Sadly, even those that did not agree or believe in what Hitler stood for accepted his anti-Jewish policies. They were not able to stop Hitler’s Party from killing over six million Jewish people.
We are at an interesting point in our society. Technology and the way we communicate information are changing quickly. Our country needs to think about how we respond to these changes. For example, remote control robots let people be in two places at one time; drone gliders can float around for weeks at a time and collect information. Technology is exciting but we as a country need to pay attention to history and not let technology get out of control and invade our privacy. The horrible tragedies that happened under Hitler’s control can be avoided and it should be a top priority.
Ethan:
9As
Nikki:The experiences of living in a totalitarian society are detrimental to the mind, body, and personality which forms all people to become victims of the regimes. Physical harm and death is one dreadful experience that citizens in the society face. In Feed, Humanity is dying. People are constantly becoming sick and ill but no one seems to notice. The Feed kills such as when Violet died from the Feed. In this society people have lesions or cuts in their body because they think that it is cool. In 1984, everyday you watch people being hung. Knowing that people you know have disappeared and are most likely dead or tortured to death. In Russia, there is extreme poverty, people dying from starvation. Teachers, politics, all dying. Working at camps and freezing to death. In Germany people are also tortured, killed. Any enemy is killed including communists or jews.
What gets people the most is the mental struggle and harm that these societies have. In Feed, nobody knows that the Feed is harming them but yet they see people in riots for reasons that no one knows. As the excerpt from Feed showed, people need the Feed, it becomes apart of them. If you wish to escape the Feed, you can’t. In 1984, you are mentally always under pressured, you know that you are always being watched. You can’t make any emotion or noise without being worried that you will be caught. You see that history is changing but yet you can’t change it. From the excerpt from 1984, it shows that everyone must love Big Brother. To the people in Oceania it is better to love Big Brother than to see reality. People in Russia either trust Stalin or don’t. In the Hymn to Stalin, the author loves Stalin most likely because he does not see what he is doing. Some people don’t know that Stalin is killing people because he covers up his traces. Such as the picture of Stalin and a man who was shot. In Germany, you must not be an enemy, you must do everything because you love Hitler and the Nazis. People are scared because anyone can turn you in. They are brainwashed by propaganda in who they must think is the enemy.
Most of the people in these regimes loose their individuality. In Feed, trends are always changing and people always want to fit in. People are afraid to talk and show emotions, instead they use the Feed to communicate. They all have a general vocabulary that they use such as meg or unit. In 1984, Newspeak allows only certain words to show less emotion. Everyday is a rerun and you must not do anything but to hate the enemy and love Big Brother. You must not show love either. In Russia, there is Capitalism. Everyone must work. Stalin does not take complaints, he does not care about what he does. You must love Stalin. Those who try to help or stand out will die because they are “not trustworthy” This is very similar to HItler as Hannah Arendts points out. The Nazis killed many people also. Those who were Jews or Communist died. Women were used to reproduce from mutter und kind. In the end, you must also love Hitler and no one else. Totalitarian societies creating suffering throughout the people.
Emma:
Totalitarian governments have a huge impact on people’s lives and the experiences they have throughout that time. Life in a totalitarian government is not easy for mostly anyone. This is because a totalitarian government is when one single person rules the state and they have complete control. A totalitarian truly affects the society that they are ruling because the people must follow everything that is being done, changed, etc. by the ruler. (go back and refer to the totalitarianism document on the weebly page next to the area that describes the definition of a totalitarian government.)
A key fact that effects the peoples lives in a totalitarian government would be the fact the government feeds them lies and is brainwashing the society. In the case of the Nazis the army would hang around the children and they would be taught about the war etc. They had it where at a point there had been a 5th grade textbook for children that would talk about animals and how they survive in their habitats etc, etc. But then It would somehow relate it to on of Hitler’s famous quotes and being taught that what Hitler is doing is for the best and is going to better their community. There is also an area in the novel 1984, where the children are in love with Big Brother, who is the leader in this society, and will do anything to help serve him. For example, if they believe their parents have committed a crime against him, they will gladly turn them into the police and feel proud of themselves. There is also a whole completely different take on how this would look in a totalitarian government, which is shown in the book Feed. In the story the greater amount of the population has a feed, which is like having a computer in your brain. But if you are a part of percentage that doesn’t have the feed then gets it later in life there are great chances that you will die because of the malfunctions it will go through. So this point is that in this situation if you didn’t follow the changes the government makes, you will face consequences later because you chose not to.
A major action that occurs in a totalitarian government would be consequences for rebelling against the government, since there are so many rules and guidelines for the societies to follow in a totalitarian government. Many examples of this are shown throughout the Nazis and Soviets, as well as the two novels, Feed and 1984. This is shown from the Soviets because of their poor camps and working camps that they had throughout their time. People would be sent there and have to work 24/7 until eventually they would die. This caused many deaths as a consequence to being sent to the camps. Another example of how consequences were given to people who attempted to rebel would be from George Orwell’s book 1984. The two main characters rebelled against the government by loving each other and having a passionate relationship. They had success hiding it from the government, until one day they were caught and imprisoned. They were then tortured very crucially until they gave in and did what the government had wanted them to do.
One last important effect that a totalitarian government has on the society it is ruling is that it kills the happiness from that community. In all of the situations (except for the book feed) everyone’s lives are miserable. The Nazis, Soviets, and people of 1984 are all sad and don’t enjoy life as much as they possible truly could. But instead they lived in a life of fear, not wanting to screw up because of the consequences that they could possibly face if they did. In thought of these three societies they all 3 had a type of secret organization that would creep around the corners and always be watching over you. These organizations were just waiting for you to make a mistake and screw up so that they could turn you in eventually. An example of fear and lack of happiness from 1984 would be how everyone was always only doing their jobs. The streets were dirty and run down, there was a time when the main character Winston was walking in the street and a building had just exploded and he found a mans hand just lying in the middle of the street. It is far from any happy wonderlands that are thought up in fairytales.
In conclusion, totalitarian governments have a huge impact on people’s lives and the experiences they have throughout that time. It is shown throughout history as well as novels that were based off of it. All showing many different situations and experiences that are possible to happen.
Josh:
In this essay I will be talking about people being brainwashed, how people got physical punishment, and how even normal people who live none rebellious lives still lose freedom, choice and opinion. All these will be compared from Stalin Russia, Nazi Germany, 1984 and Feed all of those topics have totalitarian regimes in them. The questions I will have to answer are what are the experiences of living in a totalitarian society? What are the effects on people? Include material from our fiction as well as history studies. People who live in totalitarian societies have their freedom, choice and opinion taken through brainwashing, physical control and torture.
In totalitarian regime you have to have control of people and you do this by brains washing people. In Nazi Germany they brainwash kids from a young age by putting Nazi officer’s into the school system so that they can control what they think from a young age. They put it in there text book to control what they read and learn as well from Biology for the Middle School For 5th Grade Girls, Germany, 1942 (excerpt). In Stalin Russia and Nazi Germany they have camps for kids its so that young kids learn good health habits at a young age, and it is to control their thoughts and make sure they warship Hitler and Stalin. In Feed they had the Feed to control what people did and the different trends. They were unknowingly being controlled by the Feed. In 1984 you had to love Big Brother if you didn’t you were turned in. In 1984, Nazi Germany and Stalin Russia there were secret police watching you every move, and in these societies since the kids were raised and brainwashed they would turn in family and people that they knew. In all of these societies they used propaganda to plant ideas into the citizens head. In Nazi Germany Stalin Russia they used kids on the poster to make it look like they were better people and that there first need were making sure the families were flourishing. Hitler used this in the mutter and kind poster. In these societies they were being controlled to love the surrounding and the people in charge. People couldn’t say anything about what they actually thought about the because if you said something someone might turn you in. This is where people lose there opinion.
In these societies to make sure that you were task and obeyed the rules at all times they had camps and room 101 these were a constant lingering thought that would make you second guess your acts, because you know if you got caught you would be so miserable and the conditions were so terrible. In the camps you had to work with such rigorous conditions. In russia the weather was extremely bad and in germany and russia they would hardly feed you and the work load was so much. In 1984 they had room 101 this was a room that terrified the citizens no one knew what went on in it but when you came out of the room you were never the same again. In room 101 they tortured you to get information out of you, after they got what they wanted you were so emotionally broken down that you were just a walking body so out of it just walking around soulless and worshiping big brother. In Feed they didn’t have a torture place were you went to. I feel like the everyday torture of the lesions were so bad and unbearable even though the people in Feed didn’t know what was really up behind closed doors. The feed was actually deteriorating there body. The companies were smart and they told people on the feed that they were cool and they look sexy on people and to look at the lesion as a positive day to day thing. In these societies they used physical torture as a controlling aspect so people do what they are told and they listen and are scared to rebel.
Tyler:
Totalitarianism is government type. It basically means total control. The definition of totalitarianism is when a government takes total control over a society controlling even public and private life whenever necessary. Like the document, Origins of Totalitarianism says, “What emerges is a portrait of an entity that seeks to establish total control within the state, absolute control not only of the government but also of every aspect of the lives of those who reside within it.” This type of government was used in Russia and Germany, by Hitler and Stalin who you probably know because of the bad cruel things they have done. It is also used in two books called 1984 and Feed. This type of society really affects the society in a negative way.
One thing that is very effective in totalitarian governments is propaganda. Propaganda is used in many different ways. One way it is used is it promotes the leader of the country. Another way is putting down another person, race, or government. Hitler did this to make Jews outcasts. This technique is very successful in stating an opinion and getting it out to the public.
In a totalitarian society, there is a set of rules that you need to follow or there will be consequences. One major rule is to love whatever the government tells you to love and they are very forceful upon doing this. In this type of society, you lose your free will. For example, if the government’s leader is Stalin, and you talk bad about Stalin and get caught, you will die. Like in 1984, Winston who hates the government that he lives in, was tortured until he started to love it and it’s leader. If you made a different rebellious act, you were either sent to an army camp where you were worked to death, shot in the head, or sent to jail. To make sure people obeyed, the government would have secret police that would walk around as normal people but actually be working for the government. You are always being watched in a totalitarian society and can’t get away with anything.
One of the reasons these totalitarian societies are so successful is because they brainwash the people of the society. They brainwash them to think that what the government is doing is good. They even teach the kids to love Hitler and all that he is doing. They did that because they figured that the kids were the future and if they brainwash them, they brainwash the future. A great example of brainwash is the document “Hymn To Stalin” which basically means, thank you Stalin. Here is a poem that is part of the document, it pretty much explains how Stalin has brainwashed his people, “O great Stalin, O leader of the peoples,
Thou who broughtest man to birth.
Thou who fructifies the earth,
Thou who restorest to centuries,
Thou who makest bloom the spring,
Thou who makest vibrate the musical chords…
Thou, splendour of my spring, O thou,
Sun reflected by millions of hearts.” This just goes to show what totalitarianism does do a person. In a totalitarian society, they control everything including your thoughts and decisions just like in Feed and 1984. In 1984, they have something called thought police that control your thoughts. In Feed, they have this technology in their heads called Feeds that control the decisions they make. A perfect example of this is in Feed, the feeds make the people think that lesions are attractive. But actually, they are really trying to cover up the fact that the Feed factories are making a ton of pollution which the lesions are coming from. Brainwash is used commonly in totalitarian governments, but be careful because we are also being brainwashed….
Everything that the totalitarianism government causes leads to many different feelings that are all bad. With a society where everyone is being captured, killed, sent away, etc.. depression kicks in. With the secret police and government watching your every move makes you scared and fearful. Without being able to make decisions or have a say, you become freedom less and sad. Because of the totalitarianism ways, people who live in this sort of government can’t live their lives to their fullest. These negative feelings are all effects of the totalitarian government.
Reyn:
2. What best explains the origin and nature of totalitarian regimes? How do they arise and sustain themselves?
While being a unusual concept in current times, it was quite the rave a while back, I think it became big when Lenin started his. He was a brutal man, he was what many people think would be a horrible man, a monster, he was this in most peoples’ eyes. However, he may have seen himself doing the right thing, trying to make equality possible in our nature, strange isn’t? Animals have a natural order, and everything runs perfectly however, humans disturb this balance and they also can’t have peace themselves, and when one comes to try to achieve this, and push humanity in his regime to its limit he is considered a monster.
These regimes are usually someone who did something impressive, or well known, for example, Hitler served in the war getting him friend s that became very powerful in the government later on. In the end, he got power because the people persuaded the ruler too; his friends fought for him and helped him achieve his prestige. This man also has to be somewhat insane; I mean going against the system completely, something that is a giant part of the book “1984” a person who lives in a futuristic society designed like one that is a replica of a totalitarian society. He has to act like he is part of the society; he is someone who is under control. Winston, the man under control, has to pretend to think of something he is not, it is almost, or possibly could be brainwashing. The many people in the area feel the same way possibly however the ruler seems like he may possibly know what he is doing and want to trust him. This is what Hitler and Stalin did, the people wanted to believe that things were going to get better, the people in these societies thought that sending letter would help the people, plead to the official to get what they wanted, the result a letter back from the ruler apologizing. I think that the rulers may have been striving for what they thought the society needed, compared to what it wanted. This ideology inspire most people to work hard, the rulers tried to show that they wanted to work also, by sometimes going out into the public work places and working. This is just another tool in their control. They could easily inspire people with simple easy work, the people want a leader and to see that he works too would be a big relief to anyone working really hard. The people are also persuaded by neighbors and the mass of people joining these leaders of the future. Another example is from the book “Feed” The people in those books always wanted to fit in with the population. They would get a new fashion on their feeds and almost instantly try to get that fashion; they also see it fit to get everything that they wanted. If someone in the society of Feed were to do something interesting, it may be all over the place and everyone trying it in the next couple seconds. Totalitarian societies usually consist of the police and the secret police, the secret police send people to camps, while the regular police send people to jail, usually you don’t even know who the secret police are, they could be your best friend your neighbor.
Now that they have the ability to manipulate people, they need to make sure to control this powerful power; they want to keep them thinking the way that they are thinking. To keep themselves they usually give themselves most of the power so they can make any laws they want or deny any the people might think they want. People who want to start a revolution are usually hated on, found and killed or even, humiliated then killed. They are always being instructed on what to do. The rulers are not heartless though, they still want the people to be happy (or at least look happy) they really want them to at least have some joys while still doing what the ruler wants they to do. The rulers most want to appease the rich who have the most power; they want them to support their movements. The people who thought of resisting at first are then prone to join the movement. The many people joining allowing none to resist and no one would betray their own party; at least not start a major movement involving a riot. This means that it is like a UH player rooting for the other team during a match. The people in these societies sincerely believe in whatever their dictator feeds them. The people in these societies think that it is okay to do what everyone else is doing even if that involves them doing something they did not believe in. This is proven through a video we watched about how Hitler made Germans hate Jews, something they may have previously not done, however, they did now that everyone else hated them, this goes on to how people used to think about life, how everyone wanted to mess with the Jews and even go on extremes to kill them, they could’ve been someone’s really good friend however, now they were enemies and the jews stood no chance against the number of Nazis against them, even jews that we in the Nazis were killed. The jews were portrayed as ugly and the germans saw them that way, they were so brainwashed that if you showed them a picture of something completely irrelevant to the jews and you could make them believe in that and put it against the people. The posters that they used to brainwash people were easy to read if you would and the picture would explain it if you couldn’t. The reason for this is that it was almost like a ripple effect, which as it happens to one it starts to happen to everyone else and everyone is persuaded that, that is the way that they need to do it, that is exactly the way they need to go, with everyone.
Marshall:
A life in a totalitarian society involves being in total control over the people by the government or party. Citizens are being constantly watched by the government knowing that any negative emotion or threat to the party can result in deadly consequences. The government controls the people with physical and mental control that leads to physical and mental effects. Hitler and Stalin’s regime and also 1984 and Feed all have similar characteristics of those methods and effects of it. The documents that I observed contain information about individual citizen’s experience under the control of the government. The effects in being in this type of environment can change their mentality into loving the government or intentions to rebel against the government.
All governments of totalitarianism societies have the same goal of absolute control. The government use physical ways of controlling the people. In 1984, Winston was controlled by tele screens and propaganda. The tele screens are a type of surveillance that was used to observe what actions that the people do to see if they break any of the rules such as thought crime. Propaganda was posted everywhere around the society to influence fear and paranoia into the people. “The great purges involving thousands of people, with public trials of traitors and thought-criminals who made abject confessions of their crimes and were afterwards executed, were special show- pieces not occurring oftener than once in a couple of years.” – Excerpt from 1984, by George Orwell. Torture impacted the people physically and mentally. As seen in 1984, physical pain can change their mental attitude towards the government into loving the party or to never commit a crime again. After they were tortured in 1984 or sent to work camps in Hitler and Stalin regime, they were killed or lived a life of fear and regret. The government’s methods of physical control results in physical effects on the people.
The constant fear and torture of control leads physical effects that impact the whole society of people. In all regimes, control was the number one priority. They never cared about the health of the people because they only focus on control. In 1984, Winston developed some type of skin problem because the government didn’t care that he had health issues because as long as he doesn’t commit a crime they won’t bother him. In Feed, some people developed skin lesions because of the environment that they live in. Stalin and Hitler regime basically didn’t really care at all for the people. A regular person in Germany or Russia would get a minimum amount of food which wasn’t enough to survive. Around 4.5 million people died in Russia because of starvation. Because of the physical health fatalities, the population in all of the regimes decreased tremendously.
Mental problems are one of the key effects of control. The experience of being a citizen of a totalitarian society can lead to deep depression or paranoia. People like Winston are always blank and show no emotion because they have no motivation to do something with their life. He has no motivation because he has barely any freedom to do what he wants. In Feed, the people always want to use their feed. They can’t stop using it because it’s implanted into their brain. Without the feed they won’t be able to mentally do things because they are used to relying on the Feed. Because they are constantly under control, the people mainly just care for themselves. Titus only cared for himself and didn’t care about Violet or his other friends because all he wanted to do was use his feed. “And perhaps you might pretend, afterwards, that I was only a trick and that you just said it to make them stop and didn’t really mean it. But that isn’t true. At the time, when it happened you do mean it. You think there’s no other way of saving yourself and you’re quite ready to save yourself that way. You want it to happen to the other person. You don’t give a damn what they suffer. All you care about is yourself.”-1984. Winston gave up to the party and betrayed to save himself from more physical pain. He wasn’t mentally strong to withstand the physical control of torture given by O’Brien.
Propaganda is the main method of mental control. The government influenced the people’s minds to potentially prevent the people from breaking the rules. Hitler and Stalin used a variety of posters, cartoons and many other types of propaganda. The propaganda would bring fear or convince the people to do certain things. “In the end the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would half to believe it. It was inevitable that they should make that claim sooner or later: the logic of their position demanded it. Not merely the validity of experience, but the very existence of external reality was tacitly denied by their philosophy.” -1984. The governments would change what reality is and the people would go along with it or else they face consequences. They would have to believe in something that is wrong or be punished by the government. Overall, the system of control mentally and physically effect the people in a totalitarian society.
Blaine:
A totalarlism government is not a good government for the people under the government. It affects the people physically and mentally. Most of the people don’t no what there doing themselves and they don’t no what’s going on outside of the government. People under the totalarlism government are really hurt and really have no idea what is going on. They are hurt physically and mentally.
In a totalitarian government, people have no idea what is going on. People read papers full of lies. They have no idea what is going on in the outside world. In Germany hitler would made up his own education. He changed facts in the books to what he wants and what he wants the kids in Germany to learn. He changed it because they are the future and he needs them. In feed, they have a feed. It controls how they think. People no about the feed but they don’t no what it is doing to them. In 1984, they have 1 leader named big brother. He controls the people. He wants everyone in the society to love big brother. He has rules and he has police to make sure people follow the rules. Stalin used propaganda to make himself use good. He also made friends with the government. Once Lenin went down, he stepped in. Once he was in power, everyone listened to him.
They also hurt people physically. Although in feed they didn’t really hurt anyone accept the feed killed violet. In 1984, they would torture people who rebelled against the government. The government didn’t want anyone to rebel and find out the truth of everything. In germany, they would send people to camps and wouldn’t feed them. Hitler also killed all the Jews. Both Stalin and hitler physically hurt people and made the people think they never want to live.
In conclusion, a totalitarian government is bad for the people. It hurts people in every way. Especially physically and mentally. The 2 books we read and hitler and Stalin are both pretty similar on how they treat people.
Aly:
Totalitarian societies effects every person who lives in it and effects there way of life. The citizens were corrupted with torture, death, and disappearances. In these society’s they faced many terrible events which affected everyone’s life who was involved with this society. In “1984” the citizens were faced with torture, disappearing of there friends and family, and having no freedom what so ever. In “Feed” they are corrupted with death. The citizens realize that the feed is taking over the bodies of the people. For the two countries that face this problem they also make drastic measures to make the lives of there citizens terrifying and a terrible place to live in. Russia faces a large threat with poverty and lack of resources. Germany tried killing off an entire race which were the Jews. These two countries show that dictatorships affect everyone who is surrounded with them. This makes things difficult for people who Actually want to live.
Caelin:The best explanation of the origin and nature of a totalitarian regime would be finding the definition of totalitarianism to begin with. Totalitarianism defined by Britannica Encyclopedia is: a form of government that subordinates all aspects of its citizens’ lives to the authority of the state, with a single charismatic leader as the ultimate authority.
This was seen in Stalin, Hitler and many other leaders in communist and totalitarian societies.
Totalitarian regimes come to power when a country is weak, poor and desperate. Much like Russia, when Stalin came into power. They were in need of a great leader and the promise of a better life. They were brainwashed by the government into believing everything they said and never questioned it. They are able to sustain themselves and stay in political power through an all-encompassing propaganda campaign. This is controlled through the state controlled mass media. There is control over the economy and regulation and forbidden freedom of speech. Due to all the surveillance and use of terror they are able to maintain power over the people. They brain wash the people and country into believing what they are doing is the best for them. If anyone disagrees or protests in the slightest, then they are usually killed immediately and made an example of so no one else rebels. It is all about control and keeping the country from wanting to think for themselves. If they can rule with an iron fist and not allow you to hear or see anyone doing better for themselves, then the regimes will continue to sustain itself. For instance, N Korea does not allow any outside news or information including GOOGLE, to penetrate their walls. They only want their citizens to hear what THEY put out.
Millions of civilians have died at the hands of these governments, but only a small amount of brutality was necessary to retain their power. The main function of the totalitarian regimes was to change human behavior. To transform normal human beings into willing servants of their rulers. People do not normally want to change their behavior in a drastic fashion, so they have to be convinced. To make them change requires credible threats of brutal punishment, and the main way to make such threats credible is to carry them out on a massive scale. Even if people believe your threats, some will resist anyway or seem likely to resist later on. This is why so many people were killed or tortured if they did not give in, and go along with the ideas of the government. It is necessary for the state to make the citizens dependent on them for their livelihood. This will help them maintain control and keep them in power.
There are only four ways in which a ruling group can fall from power. Either it is conquered from without, or it governs so inefficiently that the masses are stirred to revolt, or it allows a strong and discontented middle group to come into being, or it loses its own self confidence and willingness to govern… a ruling class which could guard against all of them would remain in power permanently. Ultimately the determining factor is the mental attitude of the ruling class itself.
George Orwell, 1984
The problem with most of the regimes in the past was that the highest officials saw the outside world first hand and saw people were richer and happier in other countries. They lost faith in their own system. The best way to sustain a totalitarian society is to cut off contact with the non totalitarian world. The problem with cutting off contact with the outside world is they have trouble growing and their economics and military dominance eventually fails.
Totalitarianism would also be more stable than it was in the 20th century if the world were divided between a small number of totalitarian states. Orwell’s idea in 1984; Oceania, Eurasia, and Eastasia control the earth’s surface and wage perpetual war against one another. In a world like this, every country would be poor and miserable in a typical totalitarian society, and no one would make anyone look bad.
Kai:
“What is of prime importance is the state itself. The state is above the individual, and both the individual and the party exist for the state. The state itself is the cause, the cause to which all belong and in which all submerge their individual identities and become one.”-Hannah Arendt. Hannah Arendt’s assessment and belief that ideology is, in fact, secondary to a supreme goal of solid power is correct and Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia’s past and tyrant leaders support this. In the two books 1984, and feed, although they differ in many ways, have a supreme power expressed in the book. Even though both books have been written many years apart, from different people, in different eras, they are more similar than you would think. This power has erased people from record books, tortured people into compliance, created camps and forced work upon enemies, and ultimately made an ignorant empire for them easily to rule with ease. Although many of these things may sound outrages and far from true, they are so close to the truth that these stories of control and misery where based and directed toward one thing. The past of two nations; Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia.
Before becoming global pests, these two “soon to be rulers” didn’t make such a smooth rise into power either. While growing up they were delinquents and thugs. They both stole, committed crimes and lived a horrid life. Although they would have committed different crimes many times, they both went to jail for stuff like going around and breaking someones leg. Later in life Stalin became a huge loyal supporter of Lenin’s and was appointed commissar of nationalities. Stalin then used this position to appoint his loyal comrades into higher positions. He was then named General Party Sec’y in 1922, pretty much by himself. Lenin becomes ill and is slowly dying. While he is dying two people are jockeying for power, Trotsky and Stalin. When Lenin dies on the 4th of January 1924, despite common belief Stalin was announced the ruler. Hitler’s past…..
Now after both people got high enough in power they started taking out competition. Killing opposing leaders, sending possible traitors of to work and more. They would order their men to go and find and kill a man because he is agains his belief. They also used the current times to gain more power. Because Stalin was in a communist russia he promised and worked on stuff that is focused on industrialism, tried to make everyone equal, expanding communism to other countries, and he used Lenin’s name to say he was doing what Lenin would have or what he couldn’t do or wanted to. Hitler used his current times in Germany to gain power too. Like in assessment document 3, after WW1 Germany had lost a lot and was quiet weak. So Hitler made promises that he would rise Germany up, bring back its military power, give strength back to the people of this country and etc.
Both rulers had four goals when staying in power, militarizing society, targeting enemies media control and remaining in power.
It truly doesn’t matter whatever the political philosophy—and political philosophies differed greatly between Nazism and Communism—no deviance in thought or action was permitted. What was the real fact is that method is the big deal. Both Hitler and Stalin and hitler had goals of controlling every aspect of life, and to gain and remain in control. Which is the main point of totalitarianism. Hannah Arednt and document 1 explains that even though they both hated each other on political views or philosophies, the main goals or method of totalitarian regimes caused them to come together. Which also relates to the countries in 1984! Eastasia, Eurasia, and Oceania would all have had to have the same method and goal of a totalitarian regime to make the world work in this manner. They would all be connected in someway to control the world. Which supports the point that the main goal, drive, and platform for a totalitarian world or regime is to gain and stay in power. In fact, to a totalitarian regime, ideology is secondary.”What is of prime importance is the state itself. The state is above the individual, and both the individual and the party exist for the state. The state itself is the cause, the cause to which all belong and in which all submerge their individual identities and become one.”
Kris:
Living in a totalitarian society brings down the hope and life of a citizen. Totalitarian means that the government has complete power over its country. A totalitarian society controls not only the rules you follow, but also how you think. A large continent living by this is Europe. Europe has been ruled by many rulers that follow out this type or ruling. Stalin and Hitler were two of the main men to cause many deaths and was good at changing someones personal view of everything. Two similar examples of ruling come from recent books that I have read; 1984 and Feed. The book 1984 by George Orwell, is powered as well by a government. In Feed people are taken over by
Hitler was a man that made use of his resources. He used posters, children, speeches, metaphors, etc to get him up to power. Hitler wanted things to happen and you would be part of the scheme. That was how he rose to power. In 1934 it was called the "Night of the Long Knives," when Hitler had used men to help get rid of any threats towards him. He was the type of man that if you were his friend and you stood in his way, your life would be sacrificed. (Doc E)
Austin:
Totalitarian regimes are usually formed by a powerful government that will take control through a democratic government. All of these different regimes are so similar, yet they hold completely different ideals. How these governments come into power, and the way they rule their people are just some ways that they can be similar. All of these regimes came into power the same way, by having the people vote them into power, and then exploit the people and other things in order to keep themselves in power.
all of the regimes put themselves into power by influencing the minds of the people. The most obvious way that they had done this was through the power of propaganda. Propaganda is a powerful tool in a dictators bag of tricks. Propaganda allows them to exploit a person so that the people viewing the propaganda either see that person as a saint, or a demon. All of the totalitarian regimes that we looked at used propaganda as a tool. Stalin and Hitler both would use posters in their regimes. They'd plaster themselves up as these heroes fighting the enemy, which in often case was each other. A fine example of this would be document b and document f. Document b is a poster of Lenin, looking like a superhero. He's well shaded and looks tall and regal. Document f, is a nazi poster saying "mother and child". The German idea was to have the people focus on how important the mother and her child were. They wanted the people to thinks that they thought the most important thing was the mother and child, that those two things founded their country. Both of these were use masterfully, painting the picture that they were these kind or epic people that you could put your trust in. 1984 and Feed also had societies which mastered this. However, what sets Feed apart is that propaganda was pretty much their one solid method of control. Their big propaganda delivering device feed advertisements and other things directly into you minds so you wouldn't me able to clearly focus on anything else. 1984 has rather direct propaganda. Their entire idea is focused around Big Brother. You're supposed to love Big Brother to the point of radicalism. All of these regimes have this tactic of applying these posters into your mind. The message is clear and easy to understand, and it's convincing. They are a powerful tool in allowing them to rise into power.
Another thing that most regimes have in common is physical punishments. Most often, this punishment would either be death or torture. The reason that they would do this is so that they can eliminate the people within the population that are opposing them. This would be their internal methods of control and oppression that they used. This is most commonly seen in Hitler, Stalin and 1984. Within Feed, it is not very evident, although there is the mention that the hacker was killed afterwards by the police. All of these regimes are trying to express their control over everyone through whatever means necessary. In all of these societies, killing the people against you is a prominent factor, and seemed to be the only way that they know how to deal with all of these major threats.
Another linking similarity would be how the people sustain them. These societies only seem to come around through a democracy, meaning in order for them to be successful, they needed the people's approval. How they did this is generally by making the people love the government, and then hate an outside source. That outside source could be anything, as long as the would be able to direct their hate towards it.
Kainoa:
Nikki:The experiences of living in a totalitarian society are detrimental to the mind, body, and personality which forms all people to become victims of the regimes. Physical harm and death is one dreadful experience that citizens in the society face. In Feed, Humanity is dying. People are constantly becoming sick and ill but no one seems to notice. The Feed kills such as when Violet died from the Feed. In this society people have lesions or cuts in their body because they think that it is cool. In 1984, everyday you watch people being hung. Knowing that people you know have disappeared and are most likely dead or tortured to death. In Russia, there is extreme poverty, people dying from starvation. Teachers, politics, all dying. Working at camps and freezing to death. In Germany people are also tortured, killed. Any enemy is killed including communists or jews.
What gets people the most is the mental struggle and harm that these societies have. In Feed, nobody knows that the Feed is harming them but yet they see people in riots for reasons that no one knows. As the excerpt from Feed showed, people need the Feed, it becomes apart of them. If you wish to escape the Feed, you can’t. In 1984, you are mentally always under pressured, you know that you are always being watched. You can’t make any emotion or noise without being worried that you will be caught. You see that history is changing but yet you can’t change it. From the excerpt from 1984, it shows that everyone must love Big Brother. To the people in Oceania it is better to love Big Brother than to see reality. People in Russia either trust Stalin or don’t. In the Hymn to Stalin, the author loves Stalin most likely because he does not see what he is doing. Some people don’t know that Stalin is killing people because he covers up his traces. Such as the picture of Stalin and a man who was shot. In Germany, you must not be an enemy, you must do everything because you love Hitler and the Nazis. People are scared because anyone can turn you in. They are brainwashed by propaganda in who they must think is the enemy.
Most of the people in these regimes loose their individuality. In Feed, trends are always changing and people always want to fit in. People are afraid to talk and show emotions, instead they use the Feed to communicate. They all have a general vocabulary that they use such as meg or unit. In 1984, Newspeak allows only certain words to show less emotion. Everyday is a rerun and you must not do anything but to hate the enemy and love Big Brother. You must not show love either. In Russia, there is Capitalism. Everyone must work. Stalin does not take complaints, he does not care about what he does. You must love Stalin. Those who try to help or stand out will die because they are “not trustworthy” This is very similar to HItler as Hannah Arendts points out. The Nazis killed many people also. Those who were Jews or Communist died. Women were used to reproduce from mutter und kind. In the end, you must also love Hitler and no one else. Totalitarian societies creating suffering throughout the people.
Emma:
Totalitarian governments have a huge impact on people’s lives and the experiences they have throughout that time. Life in a totalitarian government is not easy for mostly anyone. This is because a totalitarian government is when one single person rules the state and they have complete control. A totalitarian truly affects the society that they are ruling because the people must follow everything that is being done, changed, etc. by the ruler. (go back and refer to the totalitarianism document on the weebly page next to the area that describes the definition of a totalitarian government.)
A key fact that effects the peoples lives in a totalitarian government would be the fact the government feeds them lies and is brainwashing the society. In the case of the Nazis the army would hang around the children and they would be taught about the war etc. They had it where at a point there had been a 5th grade textbook for children that would talk about animals and how they survive in their habitats etc, etc. But then It would somehow relate it to on of Hitler’s famous quotes and being taught that what Hitler is doing is for the best and is going to better their community. There is also an area in the novel 1984, where the children are in love with Big Brother, who is the leader in this society, and will do anything to help serve him. For example, if they believe their parents have committed a crime against him, they will gladly turn them into the police and feel proud of themselves. There is also a whole completely different take on how this would look in a totalitarian government, which is shown in the book Feed. In the story the greater amount of the population has a feed, which is like having a computer in your brain. But if you are a part of percentage that doesn’t have the feed then gets it later in life there are great chances that you will die because of the malfunctions it will go through. So this point is that in this situation if you didn’t follow the changes the government makes, you will face consequences later because you chose not to.
A major action that occurs in a totalitarian government would be consequences for rebelling against the government, since there are so many rules and guidelines for the societies to follow in a totalitarian government. Many examples of this are shown throughout the Nazis and Soviets, as well as the two novels, Feed and 1984. This is shown from the Soviets because of their poor camps and working camps that they had throughout their time. People would be sent there and have to work 24/7 until eventually they would die. This caused many deaths as a consequence to being sent to the camps. Another example of how consequences were given to people who attempted to rebel would be from George Orwell’s book 1984. The two main characters rebelled against the government by loving each other and having a passionate relationship. They had success hiding it from the government, until one day they were caught and imprisoned. They were then tortured very crucially until they gave in and did what the government had wanted them to do.
One last important effect that a totalitarian government has on the society it is ruling is that it kills the happiness from that community. In all of the situations (except for the book feed) everyone’s lives are miserable. The Nazis, Soviets, and people of 1984 are all sad and don’t enjoy life as much as they possible truly could. But instead they lived in a life of fear, not wanting to screw up because of the consequences that they could possibly face if they did. In thought of these three societies they all 3 had a type of secret organization that would creep around the corners and always be watching over you. These organizations were just waiting for you to make a mistake and screw up so that they could turn you in eventually. An example of fear and lack of happiness from 1984 would be how everyone was always only doing their jobs. The streets were dirty and run down, there was a time when the main character Winston was walking in the street and a building had just exploded and he found a mans hand just lying in the middle of the street. It is far from any happy wonderlands that are thought up in fairytales.
In conclusion, totalitarian governments have a huge impact on people’s lives and the experiences they have throughout that time. It is shown throughout history as well as novels that were based off of it. All showing many different situations and experiences that are possible to happen.
Josh:
In this essay I will be talking about people being brainwashed, how people got physical punishment, and how even normal people who live none rebellious lives still lose freedom, choice and opinion. All these will be compared from Stalin Russia, Nazi Germany, 1984 and Feed all of those topics have totalitarian regimes in them. The questions I will have to answer are what are the experiences of living in a totalitarian society? What are the effects on people? Include material from our fiction as well as history studies. People who live in totalitarian societies have their freedom, choice and opinion taken through brainwashing, physical control and torture.
In totalitarian regime you have to have control of people and you do this by brains washing people. In Nazi Germany they brainwash kids from a young age by putting Nazi officer’s into the school system so that they can control what they think from a young age. They put it in there text book to control what they read and learn as well from Biology for the Middle School For 5th Grade Girls, Germany, 1942 (excerpt). In Stalin Russia and Nazi Germany they have camps for kids its so that young kids learn good health habits at a young age, and it is to control their thoughts and make sure they warship Hitler and Stalin. In Feed they had the Feed to control what people did and the different trends. They were unknowingly being controlled by the Feed. In 1984 you had to love Big Brother if you didn’t you were turned in. In 1984, Nazi Germany and Stalin Russia there were secret police watching you every move, and in these societies since the kids were raised and brainwashed they would turn in family and people that they knew. In all of these societies they used propaganda to plant ideas into the citizens head. In Nazi Germany Stalin Russia they used kids on the poster to make it look like they were better people and that there first need were making sure the families were flourishing. Hitler used this in the mutter and kind poster. In these societies they were being controlled to love the surrounding and the people in charge. People couldn’t say anything about what they actually thought about the because if you said something someone might turn you in. This is where people lose there opinion.
In these societies to make sure that you were task and obeyed the rules at all times they had camps and room 101 these were a constant lingering thought that would make you second guess your acts, because you know if you got caught you would be so miserable and the conditions were so terrible. In the camps you had to work with such rigorous conditions. In russia the weather was extremely bad and in germany and russia they would hardly feed you and the work load was so much. In 1984 they had room 101 this was a room that terrified the citizens no one knew what went on in it but when you came out of the room you were never the same again. In room 101 they tortured you to get information out of you, after they got what they wanted you were so emotionally broken down that you were just a walking body so out of it just walking around soulless and worshiping big brother. In Feed they didn’t have a torture place were you went to. I feel like the everyday torture of the lesions were so bad and unbearable even though the people in Feed didn’t know what was really up behind closed doors. The feed was actually deteriorating there body. The companies were smart and they told people on the feed that they were cool and they look sexy on people and to look at the lesion as a positive day to day thing. In these societies they used physical torture as a controlling aspect so people do what they are told and they listen and are scared to rebel.
Tyler:
Totalitarianism is government type. It basically means total control. The definition of totalitarianism is when a government takes total control over a society controlling even public and private life whenever necessary. Like the document, Origins of Totalitarianism says, “What emerges is a portrait of an entity that seeks to establish total control within the state, absolute control not only of the government but also of every aspect of the lives of those who reside within it.” This type of government was used in Russia and Germany, by Hitler and Stalin who you probably know because of the bad cruel things they have done. It is also used in two books called 1984 and Feed. This type of society really affects the society in a negative way.
One thing that is very effective in totalitarian governments is propaganda. Propaganda is used in many different ways. One way it is used is it promotes the leader of the country. Another way is putting down another person, race, or government. Hitler did this to make Jews outcasts. This technique is very successful in stating an opinion and getting it out to the public.
In a totalitarian society, there is a set of rules that you need to follow or there will be consequences. One major rule is to love whatever the government tells you to love and they are very forceful upon doing this. In this type of society, you lose your free will. For example, if the government’s leader is Stalin, and you talk bad about Stalin and get caught, you will die. Like in 1984, Winston who hates the government that he lives in, was tortured until he started to love it and it’s leader. If you made a different rebellious act, you were either sent to an army camp where you were worked to death, shot in the head, or sent to jail. To make sure people obeyed, the government would have secret police that would walk around as normal people but actually be working for the government. You are always being watched in a totalitarian society and can’t get away with anything.
One of the reasons these totalitarian societies are so successful is because they brainwash the people of the society. They brainwash them to think that what the government is doing is good. They even teach the kids to love Hitler and all that he is doing. They did that because they figured that the kids were the future and if they brainwash them, they brainwash the future. A great example of brainwash is the document “Hymn To Stalin” which basically means, thank you Stalin. Here is a poem that is part of the document, it pretty much explains how Stalin has brainwashed his people, “O great Stalin, O leader of the peoples,
Thou who broughtest man to birth.
Thou who fructifies the earth,
Thou who restorest to centuries,
Thou who makest bloom the spring,
Thou who makest vibrate the musical chords…
Thou, splendour of my spring, O thou,
Sun reflected by millions of hearts.” This just goes to show what totalitarianism does do a person. In a totalitarian society, they control everything including your thoughts and decisions just like in Feed and 1984. In 1984, they have something called thought police that control your thoughts. In Feed, they have this technology in their heads called Feeds that control the decisions they make. A perfect example of this is in Feed, the feeds make the people think that lesions are attractive. But actually, they are really trying to cover up the fact that the Feed factories are making a ton of pollution which the lesions are coming from. Brainwash is used commonly in totalitarian governments, but be careful because we are also being brainwashed….
Everything that the totalitarianism government causes leads to many different feelings that are all bad. With a society where everyone is being captured, killed, sent away, etc.. depression kicks in. With the secret police and government watching your every move makes you scared and fearful. Without being able to make decisions or have a say, you become freedom less and sad. Because of the totalitarianism ways, people who live in this sort of government can’t live their lives to their fullest. These negative feelings are all effects of the totalitarian government.
Reyn:
2. What best explains the origin and nature of totalitarian regimes? How do they arise and sustain themselves?
While being a unusual concept in current times, it was quite the rave a while back, I think it became big when Lenin started his. He was a brutal man, he was what many people think would be a horrible man, a monster, he was this in most peoples’ eyes. However, he may have seen himself doing the right thing, trying to make equality possible in our nature, strange isn’t? Animals have a natural order, and everything runs perfectly however, humans disturb this balance and they also can’t have peace themselves, and when one comes to try to achieve this, and push humanity in his regime to its limit he is considered a monster.
These regimes are usually someone who did something impressive, or well known, for example, Hitler served in the war getting him friend s that became very powerful in the government later on. In the end, he got power because the people persuaded the ruler too; his friends fought for him and helped him achieve his prestige. This man also has to be somewhat insane; I mean going against the system completely, something that is a giant part of the book “1984” a person who lives in a futuristic society designed like one that is a replica of a totalitarian society. He has to act like he is part of the society; he is someone who is under control. Winston, the man under control, has to pretend to think of something he is not, it is almost, or possibly could be brainwashing. The many people in the area feel the same way possibly however the ruler seems like he may possibly know what he is doing and want to trust him. This is what Hitler and Stalin did, the people wanted to believe that things were going to get better, the people in these societies thought that sending letter would help the people, plead to the official to get what they wanted, the result a letter back from the ruler apologizing. I think that the rulers may have been striving for what they thought the society needed, compared to what it wanted. This ideology inspire most people to work hard, the rulers tried to show that they wanted to work also, by sometimes going out into the public work places and working. This is just another tool in their control. They could easily inspire people with simple easy work, the people want a leader and to see that he works too would be a big relief to anyone working really hard. The people are also persuaded by neighbors and the mass of people joining these leaders of the future. Another example is from the book “Feed” The people in those books always wanted to fit in with the population. They would get a new fashion on their feeds and almost instantly try to get that fashion; they also see it fit to get everything that they wanted. If someone in the society of Feed were to do something interesting, it may be all over the place and everyone trying it in the next couple seconds. Totalitarian societies usually consist of the police and the secret police, the secret police send people to camps, while the regular police send people to jail, usually you don’t even know who the secret police are, they could be your best friend your neighbor.
Now that they have the ability to manipulate people, they need to make sure to control this powerful power; they want to keep them thinking the way that they are thinking. To keep themselves they usually give themselves most of the power so they can make any laws they want or deny any the people might think they want. People who want to start a revolution are usually hated on, found and killed or even, humiliated then killed. They are always being instructed on what to do. The rulers are not heartless though, they still want the people to be happy (or at least look happy) they really want them to at least have some joys while still doing what the ruler wants they to do. The rulers most want to appease the rich who have the most power; they want them to support their movements. The people who thought of resisting at first are then prone to join the movement. The many people joining allowing none to resist and no one would betray their own party; at least not start a major movement involving a riot. This means that it is like a UH player rooting for the other team during a match. The people in these societies sincerely believe in whatever their dictator feeds them. The people in these societies think that it is okay to do what everyone else is doing even if that involves them doing something they did not believe in. This is proven through a video we watched about how Hitler made Germans hate Jews, something they may have previously not done, however, they did now that everyone else hated them, this goes on to how people used to think about life, how everyone wanted to mess with the Jews and even go on extremes to kill them, they could’ve been someone’s really good friend however, now they were enemies and the jews stood no chance against the number of Nazis against them, even jews that we in the Nazis were killed. The jews were portrayed as ugly and the germans saw them that way, they were so brainwashed that if you showed them a picture of something completely irrelevant to the jews and you could make them believe in that and put it against the people. The posters that they used to brainwash people were easy to read if you would and the picture would explain it if you couldn’t. The reason for this is that it was almost like a ripple effect, which as it happens to one it starts to happen to everyone else and everyone is persuaded that, that is the way that they need to do it, that is exactly the way they need to go, with everyone.
Marshall:
A life in a totalitarian society involves being in total control over the people by the government or party. Citizens are being constantly watched by the government knowing that any negative emotion or threat to the party can result in deadly consequences. The government controls the people with physical and mental control that leads to physical and mental effects. Hitler and Stalin’s regime and also 1984 and Feed all have similar characteristics of those methods and effects of it. The documents that I observed contain information about individual citizen’s experience under the control of the government. The effects in being in this type of environment can change their mentality into loving the government or intentions to rebel against the government.
All governments of totalitarianism societies have the same goal of absolute control. The government use physical ways of controlling the people. In 1984, Winston was controlled by tele screens and propaganda. The tele screens are a type of surveillance that was used to observe what actions that the people do to see if they break any of the rules such as thought crime. Propaganda was posted everywhere around the society to influence fear and paranoia into the people. “The great purges involving thousands of people, with public trials of traitors and thought-criminals who made abject confessions of their crimes and were afterwards executed, were special show- pieces not occurring oftener than once in a couple of years.” – Excerpt from 1984, by George Orwell. Torture impacted the people physically and mentally. As seen in 1984, physical pain can change their mental attitude towards the government into loving the party or to never commit a crime again. After they were tortured in 1984 or sent to work camps in Hitler and Stalin regime, they were killed or lived a life of fear and regret. The government’s methods of physical control results in physical effects on the people.
The constant fear and torture of control leads physical effects that impact the whole society of people. In all regimes, control was the number one priority. They never cared about the health of the people because they only focus on control. In 1984, Winston developed some type of skin problem because the government didn’t care that he had health issues because as long as he doesn’t commit a crime they won’t bother him. In Feed, some people developed skin lesions because of the environment that they live in. Stalin and Hitler regime basically didn’t really care at all for the people. A regular person in Germany or Russia would get a minimum amount of food which wasn’t enough to survive. Around 4.5 million people died in Russia because of starvation. Because of the physical health fatalities, the population in all of the regimes decreased tremendously.
Mental problems are one of the key effects of control. The experience of being a citizen of a totalitarian society can lead to deep depression or paranoia. People like Winston are always blank and show no emotion because they have no motivation to do something with their life. He has no motivation because he has barely any freedom to do what he wants. In Feed, the people always want to use their feed. They can’t stop using it because it’s implanted into their brain. Without the feed they won’t be able to mentally do things because they are used to relying on the Feed. Because they are constantly under control, the people mainly just care for themselves. Titus only cared for himself and didn’t care about Violet or his other friends because all he wanted to do was use his feed. “And perhaps you might pretend, afterwards, that I was only a trick and that you just said it to make them stop and didn’t really mean it. But that isn’t true. At the time, when it happened you do mean it. You think there’s no other way of saving yourself and you’re quite ready to save yourself that way. You want it to happen to the other person. You don’t give a damn what they suffer. All you care about is yourself.”-1984. Winston gave up to the party and betrayed to save himself from more physical pain. He wasn’t mentally strong to withstand the physical control of torture given by O’Brien.
Propaganda is the main method of mental control. The government influenced the people’s minds to potentially prevent the people from breaking the rules. Hitler and Stalin used a variety of posters, cartoons and many other types of propaganda. The propaganda would bring fear or convince the people to do certain things. “In the end the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would half to believe it. It was inevitable that they should make that claim sooner or later: the logic of their position demanded it. Not merely the validity of experience, but the very existence of external reality was tacitly denied by their philosophy.” -1984. The governments would change what reality is and the people would go along with it or else they face consequences. They would have to believe in something that is wrong or be punished by the government. Overall, the system of control mentally and physically effect the people in a totalitarian society.
Blaine:
A totalarlism government is not a good government for the people under the government. It affects the people physically and mentally. Most of the people don’t no what there doing themselves and they don’t no what’s going on outside of the government. People under the totalarlism government are really hurt and really have no idea what is going on. They are hurt physically and mentally.
In a totalitarian government, people have no idea what is going on. People read papers full of lies. They have no idea what is going on in the outside world. In Germany hitler would made up his own education. He changed facts in the books to what he wants and what he wants the kids in Germany to learn. He changed it because they are the future and he needs them. In feed, they have a feed. It controls how they think. People no about the feed but they don’t no what it is doing to them. In 1984, they have 1 leader named big brother. He controls the people. He wants everyone in the society to love big brother. He has rules and he has police to make sure people follow the rules. Stalin used propaganda to make himself use good. He also made friends with the government. Once Lenin went down, he stepped in. Once he was in power, everyone listened to him.
They also hurt people physically. Although in feed they didn’t really hurt anyone accept the feed killed violet. In 1984, they would torture people who rebelled against the government. The government didn’t want anyone to rebel and find out the truth of everything. In germany, they would send people to camps and wouldn’t feed them. Hitler also killed all the Jews. Both Stalin and hitler physically hurt people and made the people think they never want to live.
In conclusion, a totalitarian government is bad for the people. It hurts people in every way. Especially physically and mentally. The 2 books we read and hitler and Stalin are both pretty similar on how they treat people.
Aly:
Totalitarian societies effects every person who lives in it and effects there way of life. The citizens were corrupted with torture, death, and disappearances. In these society’s they faced many terrible events which affected everyone’s life who was involved with this society. In “1984” the citizens were faced with torture, disappearing of there friends and family, and having no freedom what so ever. In “Feed” they are corrupted with death. The citizens realize that the feed is taking over the bodies of the people. For the two countries that face this problem they also make drastic measures to make the lives of there citizens terrifying and a terrible place to live in. Russia faces a large threat with poverty and lack of resources. Germany tried killing off an entire race which were the Jews. These two countries show that dictatorships affect everyone who is surrounded with them. This makes things difficult for people who Actually want to live.
Caelin:The best explanation of the origin and nature of a totalitarian regime would be finding the definition of totalitarianism to begin with. Totalitarianism defined by Britannica Encyclopedia is: a form of government that subordinates all aspects of its citizens’ lives to the authority of the state, with a single charismatic leader as the ultimate authority.
This was seen in Stalin, Hitler and many other leaders in communist and totalitarian societies.
Totalitarian regimes come to power when a country is weak, poor and desperate. Much like Russia, when Stalin came into power. They were in need of a great leader and the promise of a better life. They were brainwashed by the government into believing everything they said and never questioned it. They are able to sustain themselves and stay in political power through an all-encompassing propaganda campaign. This is controlled through the state controlled mass media. There is control over the economy and regulation and forbidden freedom of speech. Due to all the surveillance and use of terror they are able to maintain power over the people. They brain wash the people and country into believing what they are doing is the best for them. If anyone disagrees or protests in the slightest, then they are usually killed immediately and made an example of so no one else rebels. It is all about control and keeping the country from wanting to think for themselves. If they can rule with an iron fist and not allow you to hear or see anyone doing better for themselves, then the regimes will continue to sustain itself. For instance, N Korea does not allow any outside news or information including GOOGLE, to penetrate their walls. They only want their citizens to hear what THEY put out.
Millions of civilians have died at the hands of these governments, but only a small amount of brutality was necessary to retain their power. The main function of the totalitarian regimes was to change human behavior. To transform normal human beings into willing servants of their rulers. People do not normally want to change their behavior in a drastic fashion, so they have to be convinced. To make them change requires credible threats of brutal punishment, and the main way to make such threats credible is to carry them out on a massive scale. Even if people believe your threats, some will resist anyway or seem likely to resist later on. This is why so many people were killed or tortured if they did not give in, and go along with the ideas of the government. It is necessary for the state to make the citizens dependent on them for their livelihood. This will help them maintain control and keep them in power.
There are only four ways in which a ruling group can fall from power. Either it is conquered from without, or it governs so inefficiently that the masses are stirred to revolt, or it allows a strong and discontented middle group to come into being, or it loses its own self confidence and willingness to govern… a ruling class which could guard against all of them would remain in power permanently. Ultimately the determining factor is the mental attitude of the ruling class itself.
George Orwell, 1984
The problem with most of the regimes in the past was that the highest officials saw the outside world first hand and saw people were richer and happier in other countries. They lost faith in their own system. The best way to sustain a totalitarian society is to cut off contact with the non totalitarian world. The problem with cutting off contact with the outside world is they have trouble growing and their economics and military dominance eventually fails.
Totalitarianism would also be more stable than it was in the 20th century if the world were divided between a small number of totalitarian states. Orwell’s idea in 1984; Oceania, Eurasia, and Eastasia control the earth’s surface and wage perpetual war against one another. In a world like this, every country would be poor and miserable in a typical totalitarian society, and no one would make anyone look bad.
Kai:
“What is of prime importance is the state itself. The state is above the individual, and both the individual and the party exist for the state. The state itself is the cause, the cause to which all belong and in which all submerge their individual identities and become one.”-Hannah Arendt. Hannah Arendt’s assessment and belief that ideology is, in fact, secondary to a supreme goal of solid power is correct and Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia’s past and tyrant leaders support this. In the two books 1984, and feed, although they differ in many ways, have a supreme power expressed in the book. Even though both books have been written many years apart, from different people, in different eras, they are more similar than you would think. This power has erased people from record books, tortured people into compliance, created camps and forced work upon enemies, and ultimately made an ignorant empire for them easily to rule with ease. Although many of these things may sound outrages and far from true, they are so close to the truth that these stories of control and misery where based and directed toward one thing. The past of two nations; Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia.
Before becoming global pests, these two “soon to be rulers” didn’t make such a smooth rise into power either. While growing up they were delinquents and thugs. They both stole, committed crimes and lived a horrid life. Although they would have committed different crimes many times, they both went to jail for stuff like going around and breaking someones leg. Later in life Stalin became a huge loyal supporter of Lenin’s and was appointed commissar of nationalities. Stalin then used this position to appoint his loyal comrades into higher positions. He was then named General Party Sec’y in 1922, pretty much by himself. Lenin becomes ill and is slowly dying. While he is dying two people are jockeying for power, Trotsky and Stalin. When Lenin dies on the 4th of January 1924, despite common belief Stalin was announced the ruler. Hitler’s past…..
Now after both people got high enough in power they started taking out competition. Killing opposing leaders, sending possible traitors of to work and more. They would order their men to go and find and kill a man because he is agains his belief. They also used the current times to gain more power. Because Stalin was in a communist russia he promised and worked on stuff that is focused on industrialism, tried to make everyone equal, expanding communism to other countries, and he used Lenin’s name to say he was doing what Lenin would have or what he couldn’t do or wanted to. Hitler used his current times in Germany to gain power too. Like in assessment document 3, after WW1 Germany had lost a lot and was quiet weak. So Hitler made promises that he would rise Germany up, bring back its military power, give strength back to the people of this country and etc.
Both rulers had four goals when staying in power, militarizing society, targeting enemies media control and remaining in power.
It truly doesn’t matter whatever the political philosophy—and political philosophies differed greatly between Nazism and Communism—no deviance in thought or action was permitted. What was the real fact is that method is the big deal. Both Hitler and Stalin and hitler had goals of controlling every aspect of life, and to gain and remain in control. Which is the main point of totalitarianism. Hannah Arednt and document 1 explains that even though they both hated each other on political views or philosophies, the main goals or method of totalitarian regimes caused them to come together. Which also relates to the countries in 1984! Eastasia, Eurasia, and Oceania would all have had to have the same method and goal of a totalitarian regime to make the world work in this manner. They would all be connected in someway to control the world. Which supports the point that the main goal, drive, and platform for a totalitarian world or regime is to gain and stay in power. In fact, to a totalitarian regime, ideology is secondary.”What is of prime importance is the state itself. The state is above the individual, and both the individual and the party exist for the state. The state itself is the cause, the cause to which all belong and in which all submerge their individual identities and become one.”
Kris:
Living in a totalitarian society brings down the hope and life of a citizen. Totalitarian means that the government has complete power over its country. A totalitarian society controls not only the rules you follow, but also how you think. A large continent living by this is Europe. Europe has been ruled by many rulers that follow out this type or ruling. Stalin and Hitler were two of the main men to cause many deaths and was good at changing someones personal view of everything. Two similar examples of ruling come from recent books that I have read; 1984 and Feed. The book 1984 by George Orwell, is powered as well by a government. In Feed people are taken over by
Hitler was a man that made use of his resources. He used posters, children, speeches, metaphors, etc to get him up to power. Hitler wanted things to happen and you would be part of the scheme. That was how he rose to power. In 1934 it was called the "Night of the Long Knives," when Hitler had used men to help get rid of any threats towards him. He was the type of man that if you were his friend and you stood in his way, your life would be sacrificed. (Doc E)
Austin:
Totalitarian regimes are usually formed by a powerful government that will take control through a democratic government. All of these different regimes are so similar, yet they hold completely different ideals. How these governments come into power, and the way they rule their people are just some ways that they can be similar. All of these regimes came into power the same way, by having the people vote them into power, and then exploit the people and other things in order to keep themselves in power.
all of the regimes put themselves into power by influencing the minds of the people. The most obvious way that they had done this was through the power of propaganda. Propaganda is a powerful tool in a dictators bag of tricks. Propaganda allows them to exploit a person so that the people viewing the propaganda either see that person as a saint, or a demon. All of the totalitarian regimes that we looked at used propaganda as a tool. Stalin and Hitler both would use posters in their regimes. They'd plaster themselves up as these heroes fighting the enemy, which in often case was each other. A fine example of this would be document b and document f. Document b is a poster of Lenin, looking like a superhero. He's well shaded and looks tall and regal. Document f, is a nazi poster saying "mother and child". The German idea was to have the people focus on how important the mother and her child were. They wanted the people to thinks that they thought the most important thing was the mother and child, that those two things founded their country. Both of these were use masterfully, painting the picture that they were these kind or epic people that you could put your trust in. 1984 and Feed also had societies which mastered this. However, what sets Feed apart is that propaganda was pretty much their one solid method of control. Their big propaganda delivering device feed advertisements and other things directly into you minds so you wouldn't me able to clearly focus on anything else. 1984 has rather direct propaganda. Their entire idea is focused around Big Brother. You're supposed to love Big Brother to the point of radicalism. All of these regimes have this tactic of applying these posters into your mind. The message is clear and easy to understand, and it's convincing. They are a powerful tool in allowing them to rise into power.
Another thing that most regimes have in common is physical punishments. Most often, this punishment would either be death or torture. The reason that they would do this is so that they can eliminate the people within the population that are opposing them. This would be their internal methods of control and oppression that they used. This is most commonly seen in Hitler, Stalin and 1984. Within Feed, it is not very evident, although there is the mention that the hacker was killed afterwards by the police. All of these regimes are trying to express their control over everyone through whatever means necessary. In all of these societies, killing the people against you is a prominent factor, and seemed to be the only way that they know how to deal with all of these major threats.
Another linking similarity would be how the people sustain them. These societies only seem to come around through a democracy, meaning in order for them to be successful, they needed the people's approval. How they did this is generally by making the people love the government, and then hate an outside source. That outside source could be anything, as long as the would be able to direct their hate towards it.
Kainoa: