“The true essence of a dictatorship is in fact not its regularity but its unpredictability and caprice; those who live under it must never be able to relax, must never be quite sure if they have followed the rules correctly or not.”
-- Christopher Hitchens
Thirty years ago, it would have been very easy to go and identify dictatorships around the globe: Algeria, Ethiopia, Lesotho, etc.
For a period of time in Greece (mid-1960s to mid-1970s)....they were readily identified under a dictatorship.
Over the past hundred years...in Turkey....there's six different periods where they were under a dictatorship.
The general problem is that we've now reached a new era where things happen....rules change....social media that seemed free six months ago....might not be so open and free today.
People exist today with jobs to invent controls and be inventive on new rules to carry society forward. You wonder who these people are, and how they got their jobs....but it's best not to ask because the discussion is not one for a free and open society.
In some comical view that I hold today....people like Socrates, John Locke, Isaac Newton, and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz would likely be shut down at least once a month on Twitter or Facebook for discussing things that are risky.
I doubt if Aristotle would have lasted more than 100 days on Twitter before he was banned for life.
I say this because yesterday....this odd thing happened in New Zealand. They've been designing their approach to climate change. They pushed their plan out.
Greta (of Thunberg fame) went over it and did a condemnation. Thirty years ago....no one in New Zealand would have cared what a sixteen year kid said. Today? Things are different.
The PM of New Zealand had to rush out and do a defensive posture over Greta, and explain that adults there rationalized the situation. In their mind....this is the best that New Zealand can do. Some New Zealanders are looking at this whole discussion and even asking....how does some non-islander fit into this whole discussion or why her chatter matters to them.
Presently, with Twitter and social media as it is.....New Zealand can still respond and do push-back. In five years, at the pace of things.....they might not be allowed to push back.
Every week and month that passes.....a new standard pops into play, and you stand....asking yourself, where did this come from? Eventually, some folks will ask if we are approaching the outer limits of a dictatorship and just not recognize it. Don't worry though....by that point....we won't be able to discuss the matter and just huddle in fear over our future.
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