The Authoritarian Blues

“I was only following orders” is the authoritarians’ favorite excuse.

It justifies and blesses the surrender of one’s humanity in service of the dehumanization of others.

It abrogates them not only from individual responsibility but from personal reflection as well; authoritarians aren’t required to think, aren’t required to examine their own lives and lies and beliefs and biases and motives.

They all pass the buck further and further up the line until it reaches the Supreme leader (and there always is a supreme leader, always), who in turn claims he is above and beyond the law because what he decrees is the law and he need answer to no one or nothing.

Thus authoritarianism is immoral (it allows no judgment against external standards), unethical (in that it does not hold all equal in terms of responsibility or conscience), and cowardly (as it excuses evil performed at the behest of another).

Authoritarianism, by definition, is inherently evil because evil is a willingness to add to the misery of the world.

And without some system of checks and balances, authoritarianism will inevitably produce misery.

© Buzz Dixon