Untangling the Chaos
Why the term, incompetent authoritarianism, makes sense
I chose the tagline, words make stories—stories make our crazy world make sense, because it helps me stay focused. Sure, writing is done to create entertainment, to help people live in another world for a little while, but stories have helped people document and understand what’s happening around them since writing implements were invented.
Right now, I’m having a hard time trying to make sense of what’s happening in our country. I’ve always advocated for democracy, which at its fundamental core means to accept differences of opinion, to share experiences, and work to achieve a common goal. It’s not some figure at the top telling people what they should be doing. How they should think. What they should care about. We fought battles to break away from a sovereign ruler and form a new kind of government.
But that government has been tested during this past year. We’ve seen censorship and attacks on media that don’t report reality as the government wants. Weaponization of governmental agencies to attack enemies who also happen to be citizens with endowed unalienable rights. Purging of civil servants who don’t adhere to loyalty oaths. Elimination of oversight agencies. And the shocking killing of two protestors in Minnesota, where what we saw with our own eyes—videos of a mom trying to flee and a VA nurse shot--were completely different than what the government told us we saw.
Are we slipping into Orwellian Totalitarianism?
In some ways, we are. We’ve seen attempts at rewriting history. And our cellphones could certainly be spying on our actions and reporting them. And we are being told we should think a certain way about economic hoaxes, even though we’re experiencing rising prices on several fronts. But more likely, instead of authoritarianism, we’re experiencing an attempt to tire us out of trying to figure out what the truth is anymore. Because it is exhausting.
Orwell’s dystopia was competent tyranny. A regime so powerful that it could shape reality to reach its goals. What we’re seeing now is far messier. Chaotic. I recently heard the term ‘incompetent authoritarianism’, and I have to say that it hits the nail on the head.
In order to abuse our constitutional system of checks and balances, you have to understand how it’s been designed. Luckily, our court system has stemmed the tide of retribution, ensuring charges are based on factual evidence. People are still protesting and standing up for constitutional rights. Enough media outlets are pushing back, and the rise of independent people documenting brutality has made it hard to portray that the government is doing good work for the people.
It’s enough to give me hope that people will vote for a brighter future.