It's not "totalitarianism" if people get tired of your whatever-ism. It's basic human nature.
Instead of decrying that mechanism, be happy that people tell you to shut up/stop inviting you to parties/block you on Twitter.
Because all those are low-intensity interventions. They give you essential feedback, and do so rather early in the process.
Most importantly, they make it unnecessary to use the other method society has to enforce common rules: the criminal justice system.
If you believe society today is less free than it was in the past, just remember that until the 80s, most Americans lived in small towns. Nothing I see people today complaining about compares to the essential small-town experience of your church community (i. e. "the town") ostracising you for wearing white after Labor day, or having disabled child, or being too friendly to <anyone they don't like>.
And that's the premium experience reserved for the John Sinclairs. If you happen not to white and/or a man, your life had to follow a template like a MySpace page: you get to decide on decorations, and it's horrible either way.
"It's not "totalitarianism" if people get tired of your whatever-ism. It's basic human nature."
These two things do not contradict each other. Given how often do ideologically controlled societies emerge throughout history, I would argue that basic human nature contains some seeds of totalitarian thought: "Shut up the heretic, or better kill him."
"be happy that people tell you to shut up/stop inviting you to parties/block you on Twitter."
That is not what the author had in mind (probably). The consequences such as being fired or expelled from a school are what bothers people like him and probably me.
There isn't a clean 1-0 spectrum of "being told to shut up o Twitter" and "being thrown in prison". Consequences such as being fired from your job are somewhere in the middle, not totally devastating, but still causing a pretty strong chilling effect. This is a pretty serious punishment that should be used sparingly, not over a stupid Tweet.
I am almost certain that over next 10-20 years, current willingness of bosses or directors to act on Twitter mobbing will be seen akin to other hysterias of the past.
> If you believe society today is less free than it was in the past, just remember that until the 80s, most Americans lived in small towns. Nothing I see people today complaining about compares to the essential small-town experience of your church community (i. e. "the town") ostracising you for wearing white after Labor day, or having disabled child, or being too friendly to <anyone they don't like>.
If you didn't like it, you could move to a different small-town. As I understand it, that was a strong motivator for many people to move to the new world, that they could live in a different way that they wanted to.
It's not "totalitarianism" if people get tired of your whatever-ism. It's basic human nature.
Instead of decrying that mechanism, be happy that people tell you to shut up/stop inviting you to parties/block you on Twitter.
Because all those are low-intensity interventions. They give you essential feedback, and do so rather early in the process.
Most importantly, they make it unnecessary to use the other method society has to enforce common rules: the criminal justice system.
If you believe society today is less free than it was in the past, just remember that until the 80s, most Americans lived in small towns. Nothing I see people today complaining about compares to the essential small-town experience of your church community (i. e. "the town") ostracising you for wearing white after Labor day, or having disabled child, or being too friendly to <anyone they don't like>.
And that's the premium experience reserved for the John Sinclairs. If you happen not to white and/or a man, your life had to follow a template like a MySpace page: you get to decide on decorations, and it's horrible either way.