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It depends how specific you want to be with terminology. If tyranny/authoritarian/dictatorship/totalitarian/fascism is all mushy words used interchangeably, the

by nabla9 5y ago

It depends how specific you want to be with terminology. If tyranny/authoritarian/dictatorship/totalitarian/fascism is all mushy words used interchangeably, then why not. China is authoritarian. It has been one-party authoritarian country for a long time, now it's going towards strong man rule again. Totalitarianism describes the most extreme form of authoritarian rule that leaves no place for individual or other actors. China becoming more authoritarian rule but it's not close to the level the level totalitarian control over individuals it was during the Mao-era, or height of Stalinism, or Nazi Germany. Nor it is not at the same level as North Korea is totalitarian.

redis_mlc 5y ago
> now it's going towards strong man rule again. Xi has been "dictator for life" for a while. > it's not close to the level the level totalitarian control over individuals it was during the Mao-era Thanks to the smartphone, you're wrong. It sounds like you're a few years out of date.
theandrewbailey 5y ago
> China becoming more authoritarian rule but it's not close to the level the level totalitarian control over individuals it was during the Mao-era, or height of Stalinism, or Nazi Germany. Have you read about the Chinese social credit system?
- nabla9 5y ago
  Yes. And it's not as effective or as clever form of control as press tries to make it look like. It's typical authoritarian ineffective way to control people. Ends up being more corruption than control. In a totalitarian system, people who don't behave are not getting warnings, worse service etc.
- throwitaway1235 5y ago
  The West has the same thing. Journalists have had their bank accounts closed over political commentary. Classic social credit system.
username29376 5y ago
I agree that China is not a totalitarian state (yet), in that it is currently not uniformising thoughts, words and behaviour (cf. Gleichschaltung), even though civic freedom is gradually disassembled. But the tagline of the article, "China is governed by a totalitarian regime", is correct. The regime is both capable of establishing totalitarian rule and based on a totalitarian ideology.

by nabla9 5y ago

redis_mlc 5y ago

> now it's going towards strong man rule again. Xi has been "dictator for life" for a while. > it's not close to the level the level totalitarian control over individuals it was during the Mao-era Thanks to the smartphone, you're wrong. It sounds like you're a few years out of date.

theandrewbailey 5y ago

> China becoming more authoritarian rule but it's not close to the level the level totalitarian control over individuals it was during the Mao-era, or height of Stalinism, or Nazi Germany. Have you read about the Chinese social credit system?

nabla9 5y ago
Yes. And it's not as effective or as clever form of control as press tries to make it look like. It's typical authoritarian ineffective way to control people. Ends up being more corruption than control. In a totalitarian system, people who don't behave are not getting warnings, worse service etc.
throwitaway1235 5y ago
The West has the same thing. Journalists have had their bank accounts closed over political commentary. Classic social credit system.

username29376 5y ago

I agree that China is not a totalitarian state (yet), in that it is currently not uniformising thoughts, words and behaviour (cf. Gleichschaltung), even though civic freedom is gradually disassembled. But the tagline of the article, "China is governed by a totalitarian regime", is correct. The regime is both capable of establishing totalitarian rule and based on a totalitarian ideology.