Totalitarianism Destroys Humanity Essay Example for Free

Totalitarianism Destroys Humanity Essay Totalitarianism is a form of government that is ruled by a leader who possesses absolute power and permits no privacy and freedom among its citizens. Countries that practice totalitarian government have unhappy citizens because the government has complete control of their lives, like Oceania in Orwell’s novel, 1984. Totalitarianism is harmful because it dehumanizes citizens in so many ways and as a result, it only leads to human extinction. Living in a country like Oceania in 1984 without freedom of thought, action and expression is horrible because these things are fragments of humanity and without these reedoms, it makes people ignorant, unintelligent and unhappy. Moreover, a totalitarian government invades peoples’ privacy to track everything they do in their lives even in their own homes to make sure they obey the totalitarian government laws and rules and this is unfair because people need privacy to preserve their anonymity and individuality. Additionally, totalitarian government uses torture to punish and convert people so that people will obey the government without hesitation and this causes people to become comparable with animals. Therefore, totalitarianism is a serious threat to humanity because t makes human beings incapable of thinking and unable to do things on their own which causes them to stop thinking and considered as mentally dead. To begin, totalitarianism takes away people’s freedom, which is essential for humanity, and it gives the government complete control over people’s lives. In 1984, Newspeak is enforced by the government to limit the expression and thought of people; consequently, making the citizens of Oceania easily controlled by the government. This is evident when Syme says, â€Å"Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible because there will be no word to express it† (Orwell 55). This is important because the limitation of words affects people’s mind because there will be not enough words to express their thoughts and people might become illiterate. When people become illiterate, they will follow and believe anything the government tells them and they cannot defend themselves because of their inability to put their thoughts together and their inability to speak. Hence, lacking freedom of thought and expression makes eople become unconscious of reality and this is a problem because consciousness plays a vital role for human beings. Furthermore, totalitarian states restrict their citizens to act independently which causes most people to become depressed because they can never reach eternal state of happiness without freedom. A prisoner from Thailand says, â€Å"Without freedom, humans are not human† (Pruksakasemsuk 2011). The ability to act freely is important to human beings because it is the main factor of happiness. Freedom permits human beings to do things that make them happy and taking this away from them is asically like taking their happiness as well. For instance, in North Korea people are not allowed to leave their country because it is one of their totalitarian rules. In 1984, Oceania citizens are also not allowed to escape their country and they are separated from the rest of the world. They are completely clueless of what is outside of their country aside from knowing there are Eastasia and Eurasia. If a person’s dream from North Korea or Oceania is to travel the world, their dream is automatically crushed because they are not allowed to leave their country. Therefore, lack of freedom makes people despair, unresponsive and passive which cause human beings to become unable to think and unknowing. Also, privacy is important to human beings because this is where people express their true emotions. A totalitarian state has completely no privacy and this causes people to restrict from showing their true self because they are being watched all the time. In 1984, telescreens can be found everywhere in Oceania even in their own homes so that the government can see everything they do. This becomes clear when the narrator explains, any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it; moreover, so long as he remained within the field of vision which the metal plague commanded, he could be seen as well as heard† (Orwell 4). This is significant because it makes people to become self-conscious and afraid all the time and thus, causes them to fake themselves into whatever the government wants them to be. In a place like this, expressing one’s self is almost impossible and their emotions might build up inside them and it can lead to self-destruction. Hence, emotions are important for human beings but the government’s invasion of people’s privacy restricts its citizens to do so. In addition, privacy is also needed to preserve individuality and to have our needs of respect and dignity because these are foundations of humanity. According to Schneier, â€Å"Privacy is an inherent human right and a requirement for maintaining the human condition with dignity and respect† (Schneier 2006). This is significant because living the way you want in a totalitarian state is so unlikely to happen because the government technically tells people how to live heir lives. In 1984, telescreens are also found in people’s homes and the government literally sees everything people do in their houses which means respect and dignity do not really apply to people anymore because they have no privacy. People have things that they want to keep only for themselves but things do not work like that in a totalitarian state and living the way you want is considered as thoughtcrime. Therefore, totalitarianism destructs the necessities of human beings to have respect, dignity and individuality and ultimately disturbs humanity which can lead to ur extinction. Finally, torture is practiced by totalitarian governments to control and reform people so that a rebellion would be impossible. Continuous torture makes people believe in something they are totally against with due to the unendurable pain that affects one’s mind. This is evident when Winston gets tortured and says, â€Å"I don’t know. You will kill me if you do that again. Four, five, six, in all honesty I don’t know† (Orwell 264). This brainwashing makes people ignore their knowledge and go with whatever the government wants them to say or believe just to stop the pain. Torture causes people to change and forget what they used to believe to survive. By being submissive and ignorant, people are incapable of realizing the reality and they become incapable of thinking which is bad because thinking is the most important thing for human beings. For that reason, torture shouldn’t be practiced by anyone because they do not only physically hurt the person but the mentality of the person is also affected causes them to become unconscious. Also, psychological torture such as using fear to torture people makes them elfish and causes them to become isolated. This becomes clear when Winston says while he is being tortured, â€Å"Do it to Julia! Not me! Julia! I don’t care what you do to her†¦. † (Orwell 300). This torture causes betrayal to someone no matter how important or how much they love that person. Torture makes people selfish because fear is something people cannot bear and thus, makes them become isolated. Isolation is what exactly the government wants to establish but humans are not supposed to be isolated because that causes them to their downfall. When people are alone, they die because they have no one to share their problems with. Therefore, torture makes people depart away from humanity because it makes them alienated and forces them to ignore their own knowledge and reality which cause them to become like a sheep. Human beings must be knowledgeable of what’s happening around them and they must also not lose their ability to think because without thinking humans are mentally dead. Thinking is very critical to all human beings because that is the only thing that differentiates us from animals. Totalitarianism robs this ability from us, human beings, causing us to become unaware of reality and believe in some things that are totally untrue. Freedom of thought, act and expression are essential for humanity because they keep us conscious and do things that make us happy. Privacy is also important to humanity because human beings need dignity, respect and individuality because these things make humans live their own lives the way they want to and totalitarianism objects this idea. The use of torture in totalitarian state is also against humanity because it does not only physically abuse human beings but s well as psychologically and this is an issue because torture affects people’s brain that causes them to become unknowledgeable and oblivious of their surroundings. That’s why people should fight for their freedoms to live happily without the government controlling their own lives. No countries should practice totalitarian government because they are useless and it will only cause human beings to cease to exist in this world. Overall, totalitarian government should be ban in the world so we can save humanity and keep people to exist on Earth as conscious and well aware human beings.