some notes on dictatorship and totalitarianism

Orwell wrote Animal farm to satirise dictatorship in general.

According to him, all dictators have similar characteristics, some of which include:



1. The pursuit of power

- they are power-hungry and will do anything to maintain it



2. Total control

- dictators insist on wanting to control every aspect of people's lives --> how they behave and also how they think! This makes them feel more secure that no one will rebel against them or even have opposing views from theirs.



3. Hero-worship

- this is what I also refer to as making themselves like a cult-personality.

- the people are required to hero-worship the dictator and regard him as a sort of god.

- e.g. at the bottom of pg 72 --> Napoleon rarely appears in public and when he does, it is in a very ceremonial manner, with his dogs as bodyguards, who prevent anyone from coming too close to him.



4. Making themselves appear perfect and flawless

- dictators often make it seem as if they are not capable of making any mistakes --> so that the people under him will think that their 'God' can never make a mistake.

- rather than make a mistake, the totalitarian leader/dictator will brainwash the people under him or use propaganda to change history so that it 'agrees' with his opinions and decisions. Only his beliefs and version of truth will be circulated because in dictatorships/totalitarian societies, only one opinion is allowed at any given point.