Thought of the day: Ideologies are tools to reach and secure power. The most effective ideologies divide people in “us” and “them” groups and stimulate group divisions. One such division even has a name, “identity politics”. However, the divisions could be based on race, social class, color, sex, gender, religion or any potential group classifier such as ethnicity or some minority characteristic.
Historically, nazism explored divisions based on race and communism explored divisions based on social class. These older types of divisions have been replaced in modern times by divisions based on much subtler social and cultural characteristics, namely perceived identity, gender, ethnicity or religion*. Precisely for this reason, they are harder to identify and thus can be even more dangerous.
All ideologies suppress freedom in some measure, as they are geared towards ensuring that a selected group reaches and maintains power. Some even suppress just about all freedom, because they try to advance totalitarianism.
Fascism and communism (including its many extreme socialist variants, such as Stalinist, Leninist, Trotskyist,…) are two sides of the same coin. Both ideologies propose totalitarian regimes that control and oppress people. In fact, they are nowadays one and the same ideology: totalitarianism.
Wake up, people! Do not allow modern reincarnations of these ideologies to take control of your minds. Their ideologues do not care about anything but reaching and securing power. They are cynical hypocrites.
Freedom is precious, but civilisation is just a very thin layer in human History. However, freedom carries a price: responsibility. We can only reach freedom through responsibility. It’s our choice.
*Especially when based on questionable interpretations of medieval texts made by self-proclaimed intermediaries.
