Når jeg advarer at f.eks. færdselslovene er bevis på en snigende totalitarisme i Vesten, er der flere der synes at det lyder (vildt?) overdrevet.
Men her skal en amerikansk humorist citeres. Før vi gør det, imidlertid, lad os huske hvordan, i bogen Vejen til Trældom, Friedrich Hayek forklarer at "det er sjældent, at nogensom helst form for frihed går tabt på én eneste gang."
Lad os så vende til George Carlin: når fascismen, eller kommunismen, overtager USA og resten af Vesten, forklarer humoristen, bliver det ikke i form af kulsorte uniformer og "marching jackboots", men med en smileyface ("Vi er fra regeringen og vi er her for at hjælpe dig!").
Det er noget som Joel Kotkin kalder tilskynderi eller nusseri (the great nudge) – blide skub.
Når vi tænker på undertrykkende regimer, tænker vi straks på den stalinistiske model portrætteret i Orwells "Nineteen Eighty-Four" [1984], den hårdhændede tankekontrol forbundet med Hitlers rige eller Maos Kina
skriver Spike's Joel Kotkin hvis seneste bog er The Coming of Neo-Feudalism:
Men hvor den gamle propaganda var højlydt, rå og ofte dødelig, tager den nutidige stil af tankekontrol form af et blidt skub i retning af ortodoksi – et blidt skub, der gradvist lukker for ens kritiske evner og fører til, at man overholder nænsomt givne direktiver. Regeringer over hele verden, herunder i Storbritannien, bemærker the Guardian, har taget denne tilgang til sig med voksende entusiasme.
… nudging har også en autoritær fordel ved at anvende teknikker og teknologier, som Gestapo eller NKVD kun kunne drømme om for at fremme den 'korrekte adfærd'.
… Ikke underligt, at så mange nudgers ser Kina som et ideal, et sted uden USAs grimme First Amendment, der beskytter de anderledes tænkende.
Læs hele artiklen, fordi det er en af de allervigtigste i de sidste 21 år…
Her er en del af den originale på engelsk:
When we think of oppressive regimes, we immediately think of the Stalinist model portrayed in Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, the heavy-handed thought control associated with Hitler’s Reich or Mao’s China.
But where the old propaganda was loud, crude and often lethal, the contemporary style of thought control takes the form of a gentle nudging towards orthodoxy – a gentle push that gradually closes off one’s critical faculties and leads one to comply with gently given directives. Governments around the world, including in the UK, notes the Guardian, have been embracing this approach with growing enthusiasm.
… nudging also has an authoritarian edge, employing techniques and technologies that the Gestapo or NKVD could only dream about to promote the ‘right behaviour’.
… This situation is made worse because the people running our most powerful institutions, from the media to the government, increasingly share the same opinions and often have little tolerance for outliers. Their views on dissent and freedom of speech do not stem from Jefferson or Madison.
… The nudgers focus on three areas: identity (ie, race / gender), the pandemic, and, most critically, climate. In terms of race issues, they rule out scepticism towards Black Lives Matter, including criticism of last year’s ‘mostly peaceful’ BLM demonstrations, which featured looting, arson and general mayhem. Many media outlets will also characterise anyone who does not embrace the new ‘anti-racist’ orthodoxy as a ‘white nationalist’.
The pandemic has rained manna for nudgers. Across the high-income world, we now see a form of hygiene authoritarianism, promoted and enforced by nudgers in government and media. This goes beyond debunking clearly unhinged and unsupported claims. It also includes purging anyone opposed to particular government Covid policies, including recognised professionals. The most egregious example was the cancelling and marginalisation of the authors of the Great Barrington Declaration, written by leading epidemiologists from Harvard, Oxford and Stanford – all for the ‘thoughtcrime’ of opposing lockdowns.
… No wonder so many nudgers see China as an ideal, a place without a nasty First Amendment that protects dissenters.
